An unusual complication: prolonged myopathy due to an alternative medical therapy with heat and massage
Two articles on PainSci cite Tanriover 2009: 1. Massage Therapy Side Effects 2. Poisoned by Massage
PainSci notes on Tanriover 2009:
This paper tells the horror story of one person’s awful experience with a severe reaction to (apparently) infrared heat and regular massage over several days. The trouble started after several days. His neck and arms became swollen, the pain “unbearable,” and his “serum muscle enzymes were increased” — probably some form or degree of rhabdomyolysis, which implicates the massage itself as a mechanism of injury.
Massage is not exclusively to blame, however — it was probably interacting with some unidentified vulnerability in the patient, such a muscle disease or a complication caused by a medication. Clearly massage and heat alone do not normally cause such severe side effects.
This is one of three case studies of massage-induced rhabdo in my bibliography: see also Chen and Lai.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
A 66-year-old male presented with swelling of the neck and arms, which was limiting his daily activities. Serum muscle enzymes were increased. A detailed history revealed that the patient received 10 cycles of infrared heat and massage therapy approximately 1 month before his first visit to the outpatient clinic. The swelling of the extremities began on day 11 of therapy, and the pain became unbearable. He was followed up with analgesics. There was a significant decrease in the muscle enzymes and a subjective improvement of 60-70% one month after discharge. Alternative therapies may have serious complications, and patients usually do not report them unless asked specifically.
related content
- “Fever with acute renal failure due to body massage-induced rhabdomyolysis,” Lai et al, Journal of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation, 2006.
- “{Rhabdomyolysis After the Use of Percussion Massage Gun: A Case Report},” Chen et al, Physical Therapy, 2020.
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.