AZ Blue Best Life Plus (HMO): Therapeutic Massage Services

Chronic pain originates from a previous injury, long-term repetitive motion or stress, and various medical conditions.  While chronic pain is commonly manageable with some combination of surgery, medications, physical therapy, and home exercise, many people cannot endure surgery or tolerate medications, and even those who can, may still need additional help getting that pain under control.  Many people who have chronic pain have found therapeutic massage to be helpful when other treatments aren’t achieving the desired level of pain relief.

Therapeutic massage is an alternative or adjunct therapy in the treatment of chronic pain.  It aims to release tense and painful muscle knots that cause physical discomfort, stress, headaches, and immobility through manipulation of the soft tissue of whole body areas. It can bring about generalized improvements in health, such as relaxation or improved sleep, or specific physical benefits, such as relief of muscular aches and pains.

Therapeutic massage is a general term that describes any massage modality that helps relieve pain, reduce stress, and work on a specific problem—such as a frozen shoulder. People tend to assume therapeutic massage means deep tissue massage, and that they will get a very strong massage, but this is not always the case. Deep tissue massage is great at breaking down scar tissue and getting blood circulating, but it may not be what is needed. A good therapist will apply the specific techniques and the right amount of pressure to address your loved one's need, and sometimes that’s a lighter touch.

There are several different types of therapeutic massage in addition to deep tissue massage, such as:

• neuromuscular massage

• myofascial massage

• trigger point therapy

• sports massage

Many therapists will use a combination of techniques depending on what your body needs. In addition, therapists will often take additional classes in different techniques.

While the research on therapeutic massage is growing, proper scientific evidence on its effectiveness remains weak, though many scientists and medical professionals support it and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health reports on analyses from dozens of studies that found beneficial effects of therapeutic massage, even months or years after the therapy.

Chronic pain often does not resolve completely and that should not be the goal.  The goal is to manage it to a point where the individual can function well and do the things they want to do with tolerable pain.  To illustrate, people tend to find that a pain level of 3–4/10 does not limit their abilities or enjoyment.