Medical Massage: What is It?

Sean Brehmer is only 35, but because the salesman travels more than fifty thousand miles every year, his road-weary back can make him feel more like 60 or 70 at times.

Wary of back surgery, Brehmer turned to medical, or therapeutic, massage for relief. Unlike the traditional method, medical massage focuses on one particular area, and tries to go beyond relaxation.

Sean Brehmer is only 35, but because the salesman travels more than fifty thousand miles every year, his road-weary back can make him feel more like 60 or 70 at times.

Wary of back surgery, Brehmer turned to medical, or therapeutic, massage for relief. Unlike the traditional method, medical massage focuses on one particular area, and tries to go beyond relaxation.

“So, regular massage does not seek to alleviate pain,” explained licensed therapist Kathy Platt of Medical Massage of Plano. “Therapeutic massage seeks to find out what's wrong, and to fix the cause of that.”

Therapeutic massage can be used on various parts of the body that are ailing, ranging from lower and upper back pain to plantar fasciitis in the foot. And often, medical massage therapists are working to loosen chronic internal clumps, or scars, of gnarled muscles twisted by pain over months or years.

“And that can often alleviate the pain, especially for sciatica or carpal tunnel [syndrome],” said Platt. “But what we have found is that we can actually go in and pull up that scar tissue without the need for surgery and give the nerve room so that the pain is alleviated.”

Sean admits he's not completely out of pain, because he's been on the road too much. But when he was consistently coming in for therapy, he admits to being pain-free for three to four months. Now, he hopes to get back to that schedule soon.

Cost-wise, medical or therapeutic massage usually isn't any more expensive than a traditional massage, though it usually takes between four and ten sessions for your pain to be relieved. But compared to the cost of surgery and hospitalization it's much, much cheaper.