The Role of Medical Massage in Preventing Opioid Addiction

Ten years ago, I came across an article that caught my eye. Below are excerpts from my article, with a link included: https://www.medicalmassage-edu.com/blog/increasing-unwillingness-to-bear-even-small-pains.htm

Running Across This Article: Prescription Drug Abuse Surged 400 Percent in the Past Decade

I was amazed at how this topic resonated with my own thoughts, which I had been mulling over for a while. From the article: "A new White House study found a 400 percent jump in prescription drug abuse between 1998 and 2008. Experts blame a lack of monitoring programs as well as Americans’ increasing unwillingness to bear even small pains." This explanation seemed rather strange—more like a replacement of one unknown with another. Most are aware of addictions and their terrible outcomes. "Small pains," whatever that means, are not life-threatening. Why would people jeopardize their health and lives by consuming "legally prescribed" narcotics? I think what pushes people to take drugs is the exhaustion and desperation due to constant suffering from painful skeletal muscular disorders and, mostly, from stress. Stress that permeates all aspects of modern life and constantly attacks.

Reading this article awakened many emotions, including anger. In my opinion, it was an attempt to cover up the evil deeds of Big Pharma, as well as the complicity of medical doctors who have become distributors of legal opiates. And when people got addicted, the doctors would say, "I am sorry, I cannot prescribe anymore narcotics; my license could be jeopardized." Really? These poor addicted people, who trusted their doctors, ended up purchasing narcotics on the streets, losing everything, and becoming homeless.

After reading this article, I was so angry that it took me only 10 minutes to write a response article. Of course, if I had allowed myself to calm down, I might have written it differently, including more discussion about pain and what we can and must do to prevent people’s suffering and further massive addiction due to pain, stress, and prescription narcotics.

Long ago, at a local medical center, I participated in a panel discussion on so-called multidisciplinary psychosomatic medicine. I was invited by an M.D. who believed in medical massage and was trying to organize an integrative medicine department. About 200 patients were present and could ask questions.

Interestingly, when a question was directed at the psychiatrist, she recommended antipsychotics, antidepressants, antianxiety medications, steroid packs, and, for short periods, monitoring narcotics—without mentioning real therapy options. The pain management specialist spoke about his ability to contribute to pain management and monitor opiate prescriptions. The neurosurgeon talked about installing electrical devices to block pain impulses from reaching the brain. Everyone promoted their narrow specialties and views. I noticed that patients started with one specialist and, in case of failure of treatment, were referred to other specialists.

Although I was introduced, no one asked me any questions during the one-hour session. When everyone had exhausted their views and explanations, the M.D. who invited me reintroduced me and my specialty, asking how I could contribute in such cases. I knew I had to be brief and to the point. I said, "Although medical massage originates from general biomedical science, it is a specific science for the clinical application of medical massage." Then I briefly explained the holistic approach in medical massage as presented in Lesson/Discussion #1. If you missed my first lesson, please revisit it for the sake of discussion.

When you read my article on this subject, please pay attention to the body and mind presentation, where I explain phantom leg pain and our ability to stimulate the "cleaning" of this memory within the neuromatrix/network of neurons. We, as medical massage practitioners, understand that all pain is generated by the brain. The ability to generate pain in a leg that physically doesn't exist, as well as in cases of soft tissue injury generating pain impulses, illustrates that when these impulses reach the brain, the brain generates the sensation of pain. The intensity of pain depends on the severity of the trauma and the degree of the inflammatory response. We intensively address the causes of this pain, and therefore patients feel less pain, reducing the need for prescribed narcotics.

Of course, not just patients but also doctors on the panel asked many questions, and I was ready to answer. Everyone was surprised to hear that during a 10-minute introductory massage in an inhibitory regime, we activate pain gate control, significantly decrease pain intensity, and increase the pain threshold. I also talked about ice massage, which significantly decreases pain and stimulates the healing process. Fortunately, the doctor who invited me to participate in this panel referred many patients suffering from chronic and acute pain to me, and I succeeded in helping them. He testified about the efficiency of medical massage in pain management.

For those who missed it, please read my article on ice massage. https://www.medicalmassage-edu.com/blog/my-new-master-class.htm

in conclusion : Constant pain is a distressing and debilitating feeling that interferes with quality of life. People are desperate, to the point that despite knowing the harmful side effects of medications, they still consume them out of desperation. In all cases of pain generation, we don't have the luxury of time; we must deliver evidence of improvement as soon as possible. Therefore, medical massage protocols, including introductory massage and other techniques that address the causes of pain, along with ice massage, make an almost immediate difference. This is the only way to help people suffer less and prevent them from overtaking doses of prescribed or over-the-counter medications.

Please ask questions and share personal experiences.

Best wishes,

Boris