Top Medical Conditions that Massage Therapy Can Treat
Whether you suffer from physical or mental health issues, massage therapy offers an essential primary or complementary treatment option. Massage for wellness comes with many health benefits that help treat a variety of diseases and conditions. Read on to learn more about the different types of massages and how a holistic treatment plan can include massage therapy!
What is Massage Therapy?
A type of integrative medicine, massage therapy involves a certified massage therapist who manipulates the soft tissues of the body, including muscle, connective tissue, tendons, ligaments, and skin. By using varying degrees of pressure and movement, the massage therapist can induce pain relief for health conditions or relaxation for overall well-being. 
Massage therapy has its roots in both Eastern and Western medicine and has been practiced in most cultures to some extent. In fact, it’s one of the oldest remedies people have used for pain relief with a history that dates back about 5,000 years ago.
What are the Types of Massage Therapy?
There’s an array of different massage techniques, including:
Medical Massage
Unlike other forms of massage, which focus on relaxation, a medical massage is for medical needs and is prescribed by a physician as a form of treatment for diagnosed medical conditions. It’s also billed to insurance companies in fifteen-minute increments. The massage therapist may use a variety of techniques that will focus on the area of the body that is being affected by the medical diagnosis.
Swedish Massage
Swedish massage is a gentle full-body massage that helps to especially release muscle knots and fully relax patients.
Hot Stone Massage
While this kind of massage therapy is similar to Swedish massage, hot stone massage involves heated stones instead of or in addition to the massage therapist’s hands. The heated stones help to improve blood circulation and relieve muscle tension for relaxation and pain relief. Generally, hot stone massage relieves more muscle tension than the Swedish method due to the heat involved.
Aromatherapy Massage
This kind of massage therapy uses traditional massage techniques with the addition of essential oils. By combining gentle pressure with essential oils, this type of massage is designed for an emotional component. During treatment, the massage therapist will give a full-body massage while applying diluted essential oils to the skin.
Sports Massage
A sports massage is useful for treating repetitive muscle injuries from athletics or to help prevent a sports injury from occurring. This kind of treatment can also be used to increase flexibility and your overall athletic performance. Generally, a sports massage involves a full-body massage with the massage therapist focusing on certain muscles or parts of the body that need more attention.
Reflexology
Reflexology focuses on the pressure points in your hands, feet, and ears. During treatment, the massage therapist uses finger pressure, kneading, and rubbing on these different pressure points to induce relaxation.
Trigger Point Massage
This type of massage targets “trigger points,” or areas in the body that cause pain such as tightness in muscle tissue. The massage therapist focuses on relieving these trigger points with gentle strokes combined with deep pressure to reduce pain. Trigger point massage is ideal for those seeking to alleviate chronic pain.
Thai Massage
Thai massage is a unique blend of yoga, massage movements, and stretching. Unlike the other types of massage therapy, Thai massage is more active and involves the massage therapist moving and stretching the client in a sequence of postures, typically on a floor mat. In addition to being stretched in various positions, you will also have the massage therapist applying pressure to your body with their fingers and palms.
Top Conditions that Massage Therapy Can Help Treat
Massage therapy can help provide relief for many conditions, including:
1. Chronic Pain
Massage promotes relaxation, making it a great method for reducing a variety of pain conditions, from those caused by surgery or injury to chronic problems. Research has shown, for example, that massage therapy can help those who suffer from the common problem of low back pain. Massage can promote blood flow to parts of the body experiencing pain and release the body’s natural painkillers.
2. Anxiety
Massage for wellness can help those who suffer from mental health issues. For example, a study found that massage lowered the stress hormone cortisol in patients suffering from anxiety by 53%, according to the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA).
3. Depression
When your muscles and connective tissues become stiff or rigid, it can cause pain and limit your movement. Massage therapy can help relieve this tension in your muscles and connective tissues. It also increases your blood flow and promotes relaxation.
If you have depression, massage therapy probably won’t cure your condition – but it may help relieve the physical symptoms associated with it. For example, massage may help alleviate sluggishness, back pain, joint pain, and muscle aches, which in turn helps to relieve fatigue and sleeping problems.
4 Repetitive Strain Injuries
Massage helps reduce symptoms in people suffering from repetitive strain injuries, or issues that affect the muscles and joints and cause symptoms like tenderness, throbbing pain, tingling, or loss of sensation. These issues can be caused by overusing a group of muscles, maintaining a particular posture for a long period of time, heavy lifting, and other factors. Research on patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, for example, found that massage therapy helped reduce pain and increase grip strength.
5. Cancer Recovery
Research shows that breast cancer patients benefit from a reduction of stress and anxiety when treated with massage therapy. For example, in a 5-week study at the University of Miami in 2003, massage therapy and progressive muscle relaxation therapy were compared in 58 women with stage I and II breast cancer. Both groups reported feeling less anxious, and the massage group also reported feeling less depressed. The massage group also showed increased levels of a brain chemical called dopamine, which helps produce a feeling of well-being. In addition, for the massage group, there was an increase in protective white blood cells that help boost the immune system from the first to the last day of the study.
6. Migraines
Many factors contribute to headaches, including stress, fatigue, and other health issues, including disease. Massage helps ease tension and pain, which helps patients reduce the symptoms of headaches or avoid them altogether. Migraine sufferers who receive massage for wellness experience fewer episodes of head pain, less severe symptoms, and improved quality of sleep, according to research.
7. Osteoarthritis
While there is still a need for further research on massage therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee, current studies suggest that it may have short-term benefits in relieving knee pain. Of six studies that evaluated massage therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee (408 total participants), five studies found that it provided short-term pain relief. Two of the studies that showed pain relief (149 participants) involved the use of essential oils (aromatherapy massage).
Why Effective Massage Therapy Insurance Billing Matters When Treating Patients
When massage therapists deliver treatments, medical billing processes ensure that they receive reimbursements for their care. While medical billing is an integral function of the reimbursement process, it can be very complex; the slightest error can delay payments for weeks, if not longer. Ensuring the most accurate medical billing allows medical therapists more time to spend doing what they love – delivering care to their patients.
However, balancing your holistic practice’s insurance enrollments, billing, and coding while delivering care to your patients can be overwhelming. How can you manage them all? By outsourcing your massage therapy insurance billing, your holistic practice can streamline your revenue cycle management – and save you the time and energy you can devote to your patients!
As an experienced billing provider for holistic providers, including massage therapists, Holistic Billing Services can help your massage therapy practice navigate the medical billing process to minimize denials and delays so you can increase revenue. With an expert partner by your side, you can focus more on treating patients to help your practice grow rather than worrying about insurance billing. To learn more about our massage therapy billing services, talk to one of our billing and coding experts today.
