Massage Therapy Journal Fall 2024

76 • Massage Therapy Journal

P ost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common term that is too often misunderstood. While it’s true that PTSD may develop after a traumatic event, not all traumatic events necessarily lead to PTSD.

health care offerings. As data start to be collected, early results indicate integrative therapies like massage therapy may have a very real role to play in veteran health care. A 2023 study 1 explored the questions of how many VA patients would use integrative approaches and chiropractic care if they were available at modest to no fee, and if patients with some health conditions or characteristics would be more likely than others to use these therapies. Researchers used electronic medical records to conduct a three-year, retrospective analysis of VA patients’ use of 11 VA-covered therapies, including but not limited to massage therapy, chiropractic care and acupuncture. The analysis found that veterans’ use of integrative approaches increased by 70% in three years (October 2016 to September 2019), with use among all VA patients reaching 5.7% by 2019. The top five most common reasons veterans accessed integrative health care included: • Chronic musculoskeletal pain (13.9%) • PTSD (10.6%) • Depression (10.4%) • Anxiety (10.2%) • Obesity (7.8%) Additionally, women were more likely than men to seek these approaches. Researchers noted that the veterans’ rapid adoption of integrative health care approaches could help shape federal and state health policy to guide other health care institutions that are considering providing this care. The Benefits Massage May Offer Clients with PTSD Before considering the benefits massage therapy may have for people with PTSD, understanding some of the effects of trauma—such as an internalized lack of safety, a high degree of anxiety or depression, difficulty sleeping, and challenges with social relationships—is important. “If you look at the literature, it becomes apparent that massage therapy can help with anxiety, depression and/or insomnia. These benefits have been documented many times,” says Pamela Fitch, M. Ad. Ed., RMT. “However,

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) defines PTSD this way: “The word ‘trauma’ is used for many different types of experiences that are stressful. But not all stressful events are the type of trauma that can lead to PTSD. To be at risk for PTSD, the trauma must be a shocking and dangerous event that you see or that happens to you. During this type of event, you think that your life or others’ lives are in danger.” About six of every 100 people in the U.S. will have PTSD at some point in their lives, according to va.gov . In 2020, an estimated 13 million Americans had PTSD. Additionally, veterans are more likely to have PTSD than civilians, and veterans who have been deployed to a war zone are more likely than those who did not deploy. Seven out of every 100 veterans will develop PTSD, according to the VA. The National Institute of Mental Health describes the following guidelines for diagnosing PTSD, suggesting that all of the following symptoms must be present for at least one month: • At least one re-experiencing symptom • At least one avoidance symptom • At least two arousal and reactivity symptoms • At least two cognition and mood symptoms Massage therapy has been shown to help with some of these symptoms. “My experience with massage therapy as it relates to PTSD is that it aids down-regulation of the sympathetic nervous system,” says Matthew Howe, HB, LMT, ICST, founder, instructor and therapist, Touch Education. “This can produce positive benefits that address hyper-vigilance, exaggerated startle response, problems in concentration and sleep disturbances.” Veterans are Increasingly Turning to Integrative Health Approaches Interest in integrative health care approaches continues to grow, especially among veterans, as partly evidenced by the VA’s recent expansion of

About six of every 100

people in the U.S. will have PTSD at some point in their lives, according to va.gov . In 2020, an

estimated 13 million Americans had PTSD.

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