Is massage therapy genuinely effective?

Three articles on PainSci cite Oppel 2000: 1. Does Massage Therapy Work? 2. The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain 3. Massage Therapy Kinda, Sorta Works for Back Pain 

PainSci notes on Oppel 2000:

A strong critical response to Preyde, pointing out serious flaws that negate the seemingly positive results. Some of the same criticisms are also perfectly applicable to the much more influential 2011 trial of massage for back pain by Cherkin et al.

related content

• “A review of the evidence for the effectiveness, safety, and cost of acupuncture, massage therapy, and spinal manipulation for back pain,” Cherkin et al, Annals of Internal Medicine, 2003.

Oppel 2000 is about:

• “Effectiveness of massage therapy for subacute low-back pain,” Preyde, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2000.

This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:

• Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms. Moore 2023 J Pain.
• Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
• Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
• Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
• Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.