A Time for Massage

Conflicts of interest: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Army/Navy/Air Force, Department of Defense, or United States Government. There are no conflicts of interest to report. Disclosure: The Evidence for Massage Therapy (EMT) Working Group (diverse stake-holders making up the steering committee and subject matter experts) contributed to the protocol development and provided input throughout the entire project; all analyses were conducted independently by Samueli Institute. All recommendations set forth in this report were made collectively with the EMT Working Group and Samueli Institute during an expert round table and are based on the evidence revealed through the systematic review and gaps that emerged through the process. The effect of simple human touch, particularly in the allevi-ation of pain, is one of the oldest approaches to healing known to humankind. There is growing evidence for its efficacy against pain that has been summarized in this series of Pain Medicine, published in the July, August and September issues and highlighting therapeutic massage research. This series of three systematic reviews [1–3] demonstrates good evidence for massage in the management of musculoskeletal pain, cancer-associated pain, and surgical pain. Despite this evidence, it will be difficult to get the attention, time, and resources for widespread delivery of massage for pain. Full acceptance by conventional care providers remains a barrier. The lack of financial drivers undercuts other activities such as research, education, and training and systems integration, which are all needed to determine how we might implement massage for pain treatment in an integrative manner. Gradually, but all too slowly, the readiness and enthusiasm for non-pharmacological approaches to pain in the nation is increasing. The epidemic of chronic prescription opioid use and abuse, the gateway role its use has to street narcotics like heroin, the costs of inadequately managed pain, and the need for new approaches to its management are now front and center nationally. Reports from the military departments and veterans administration, the Institute of Medicine, [4] and even the President of the United States [5] have all made " calls to action " for better pain management with less dependence on opioid-centered therapeutic approaches. The link connecting the opioid drug prescriber to the heroin drug trade, the costs incurred in our justice system, and the toll on people, families, business , and the economy are harder to …