Argumentative Essay On Massage Therapy

From a young age I suffered from anxiety and chronic back pain that has followed me into my adult years. When my back pain would get overwhelming and impaired my functional ability, I would end up in my doctor’s office and leave with a prescription for pain medication and muscle relaxers. I hated the way I felt on medication and it never solved my problem, it was only a temporary band aide for my pain. When I began to look into non-pharmacological treatments I found an amazing amount of pain relief that was not short lived but a long-term solution that I managed with maintenance visits. I initially sought out massage therapy (MT) for treatment of my pain, but quickly realized that I no longer battled anxiety and panic attacks. Since insurance didn’t cover these treatments, it wasn’t long that these very beneficial and necessary treatments became a luxury to me. As the treatments became far and few, the pain and anxiety came back. The reason I share this story to bring awareness to the lack of integration of massage therapy for reimbursement in the American healthcare system and the implications of this exclusion on those who benefit from it. The issue of exclusion of MT in the U.S healthcare system is an important topic to me because I am passionate about holistic care. …show more content…
Today, people use many different types of massage therapy for a variety of health-related purposes. Some of the benefits of massage include pain relief, injury rehabilitation, to reduce stress, increase relaxation, address anxiety and depression, and support overall wellness. Summary of Evidence (2012) is a document citing over 900 research studies that shows how massage therapy can provide significant health improvement for a multitude of problems. From this research, it seems clear that there are many proven benefits of massage therapy on a variety of health-related