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AMTA Article

American Massage Therapy Association

Pain can make it difficult to enjoy everyday activities,
but for fibromyalgia patients, pain can be constant, interfering with sleep, work and daily tasks. According
to the American Chronic Pain Association, fibromyalgia affects more than 6 million Americans. The origins of
this disorder are still relatively unknown.
Though there is no cure, massage therapy may be one way to make life a little easier for people with
fibromyalgia. In 2010, Adelaida Maria Castro-Sánchez led scientists from the University of Almería in
Almería, Spain, to consider the effects of myofascial therapy on pain, anxiety, quality of sleep, depression
and quality of life in fibromyalgia patients. Using a randomized-controlled study, researchers assigned 64 fibromyalgia patients to receive one
of two types of therapy treatments over the course of 20 weeks. The experimental group received myofascial release therapy for 90 minutes once a
week. The control group received a therapy that used a disconnected magnetic therapy machine for 30 minutes once a week. Their pain was assessed at
baseline and at the end of the 20-week period, and then again at one and six months following the study’s completion. Researchers found the experimental group
experienced significantly improved anxiety, sleep, pain and quality of life—both immediately following the treatment and up to one month after. The control
group did not reap any of these benefits. The sixmonth follow-ups, however, showed that improvements in sleep were the only difference between the two
treatment groups. A similar study led by Castro-Sanchez in 2011 further examined how fibromyalgia patients respond to massage therapy and found reductions in sensitivity to their pain. Additionally, these results showed many improvements that lasted as long as one year after the study’s completion

1. Relieve stress 2. Relieve postoperative pain 3. Reduce anxiety 4. Manage low-back pain 5. Help fibromyalgia pain 6. Reduce muscle tension 7. Enhance exercise performance 8. Relieve tension headaches 9. Sleep better 10. Ease symptoms of depression 11. Improve cardiovascular health 12. Reduce pain of osteoarthritis 13. Decrease stress in cancer patients

14. Improve balance in older adults 15. Decrease rheumatoid arthritis pain 16. Temper effects of dementia 17. Promote relaxation 18. Lower blood pressure 19. Decrease symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome 20. Help chronic neck pain 21. Lower joint replacement pain 22. Increase range of motion 23. Decrease migraine frequency 24. Improve quality of life in hospice care 25. Reduce chemotherapy-related nausea