Most massage therapists are of the opinion that massage therapies should be limited to the superficial layers of the skin as they focus mainly on the motor control and structural elements of the body. However, new studies have revealed that the effects of massage therapy can extend beyond the skin and can have beneficial effects on the following areas: circulatory system, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory function, muscular tone, neuromuscular therapy, endocrine system and immune response. These results are consistent with the neuromuscular theory which states that motor activity and pain processing are tightly linked to the structures within the nervous system.
Recent clinical trials on the effectiveness of massage therapy in reducing pain have also shown positive results. One such study published in 2021 in the Annals of Internal Medicine reported that a total group of elderly participants who participated in weekly massage sessions were much less likely to report pain or stiffness when compared to a placebo group. Murrieta and colleagues report that the increase in muscle strength and the improvement in joint mobility seen by the participants was statistically significant (p =.001). Therefore, Murrieta and his team now believe that their findings are consistent with a model of muscular control that proposes the existence of a locus of control for pain processing.
Another area where neuromuscular therapy has been used to treat chronic pain is the acute neuromuscular therapy for muscular pain and stiffness in the legs. This type of therapy has its origins in the early 1970’s in Italy, where the technique called panneiplasty was introduced to treat muscle pain and stiffness in the legs after an accident. The technique involved a local electric stimulation of the sciatic nerve, which was found to reduce pain. Murrieta and colleagues reported that there was a reduction in muscle soreness and in the amount of time needed to recover from a single session of panneiplasty. The technique appears to be very successful in treating lower back pain and has recently been combined with deep tissue massage to produce better results.