{"id":25119,"date":"2022-06-10T10:14:40","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T02:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spinefitchiro.com\/?p=25119"},"modified":"2022-06-10T17:15:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T09:15:52","slug":"case-study-whats-the-role-of-massage-soft-tissue-therapy-in-migraine-and-headache-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spinefitchiro.com\/cn\/case-study-whats-the-role-of-massage-soft-tissue-therapy-in-migraine-and-headache-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Study: What’s The Role of Massage\/Soft Tissue Therapy In Migraine and Headache Recovery?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massage often gets a bad rep in the world of rehabilitation or physiotherapy. If you\u2019re someone who follows the latest spotlights and trending fitness\/rehabilitation influencers on Instagram or Twitter, you might have come across \u2018discussions\u2019 (which look very similar to arguments and Internet fights!) where the therapeutic benefit of massage therapy is fought over and debated \u2014 often with the eye-catching conclusion that <\/span>\u201cMassage is over-rated\u201d<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>\u201cMassage is unlikely to help your pain for the long-term\u201d<\/span><\/i>, or even the well-intentioned <\/span>\u201cMovement is Medicine, not lying on a bed and getting massaged\u201d<\/span><\/i>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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While we get the point \u2014 we just want people to start moving, getting active, and live a healthier lifestyle without relying on passive care \u2014 I think that <\/span>we\u2019ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater<\/b>. If massage absolutely didn\u2019t work, there wouldn\u2019t be a need for registered massage therapists (RMT), nor their often two-year full-time courses, nor their acknowledgement and involvement in many Health Care Professions Act internationally such as in the US, Canada, and Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

While not a panacea for relieving every possible body ache and pain out there, massage (or often called soft tissue therapy) has many other positive effects that are scientifically backed to provide therapeutic benefits\u2026 Provided it is used at the <\/span>right time for the right person<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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How does massage help \u2014 scientifically?<\/b><\/h4>\n

If we take a stroll through the literature and look at what a recent<\/span> systematic review<\/span><\/a> says about massage, we find that the body of evidence generally agrees that massage therapy improves\u00a0 various patient-reported functional outcomes among populations experiencing musculoskeletal pain (e.g. back pain, neck pain, etc).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Big picture. Short summary. Massage therapy, or anything involving touch\/pressure, affects the neurological pathways between the brain and the target site.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our muscles contain structures sensitive to pressure and stretch (mechanosensitive structures). When activated through massage (that\u2019s pressure and stretch on the muscles!), it allows for signalling to occur, inducing relaxation and reducing pain signals.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A real life case study\u2026\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

Patient X* came in last year complaining of a <\/span>12-year long history of neck pain and headaches<\/b>. She had been going for regular chiropractic adjustments twice monthly to temporarily relieve her pain as, due to health conditions, she was not able to sustain a physical activity regimen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to the period of COVID-19 lockdown and an even greater reduction in activity levels, she began to develop<\/span> constant headaches everyday for 2 months <\/b>which affected her ability to work in front of the computer. Painkillers were also part of her daily regimen, and sometimes the headaches would progress into migraines that kept her in bed, to the point where her regular chiropractic adjustments were only providing relief for a day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Trust me when I say that our first consultation was NOT the most pleasant of encounters! And she really couldn\u2019t be blamed, because who would be cheerful when you\u2019ve been experiencing a constant head and neck pain for 2 months and someone is trying to ask you questions and get you moving in ways that you wouldn\u2019t normally want to be doing? (That\u2019s our initial consultation)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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