Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/588318
Chronic pain affects approximately 100 million Americans, almost one-third of the US population. 1 With mounting evidence showing that massage helps with pain reduction, it's likely that more chronic-pain sufferers will turn to massage for pain management. 2 On the whole, the massage therapy profession has focused on the physical application of massage to treat chronic pain, yet we remain distanced from the psychological factors that affect our clients' perception of pain and their treatment outcomes. 3 Pain models can help explain how psychological factors may influence chronic pain over time. Though massage therapists are not psychologists, viewing chronic- pain clients through the prism of pain models allows MTs to refine treatment plans (including knowing when additional help is needed), which can result in an improved quality of life for chronic-pain clients. 90 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k n o v e m b e r / d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 The Painful Truth Helping Clients Manage Chronic Pain By Mark Liskey