Why Massage Therapists Are The Key To Solving The Opioid Epidemic.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘖𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯-𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤.

𝘔𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥-𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴.

𝘐 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝟹 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴, "𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦."

𝘐𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵-𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺, 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴-𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴.

𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘐 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘴, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘦𝘺 𝘛𝘰 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘱𝘪𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤.

Why Massage Therapists Are The Key To Solving The Opioid Epidemic:

By Dr. Matt Maggio

According to the CDC, overdose from drug deaths was up a staggering 30 percent in 2020. More people are resorting to more potent drugs like Fentanyl, leading to a new epidemic that continues to get worse. A staggering number of people that get addicted to opioids begin in a medical doctor's office with the hopes of relieving pain. Unfortunately, I know firsthand the slippery slope of these interactions and how they can ruin people's lives. 

I lost my dad Fred, at the age of 58, in 2016 to a pain-pill overdose after he had seven lower body surgeries for injuries that he didn't even need. He had "tried" everything he possibly could do and was left with no choice but to start taking pain pills in 2014. The two-year demise and rapid destruction of his quality of life were brutal and disturbing to watch. 

In 2016, he lost his battle with addiction and lost his life. It was a horrible day in which he coded eight times and became brain-dead. I had to decide which was the right one to pull him off life support. Watching him die did something that I will never forget and changed me for the rest of my life.

I went through a vast array of emotions, from sadness to intense anger, that this happened at the hands of the medical system and continued to happen more frequently. Once my emotions settled down a few weeks later, I began to reflect on why all this happened and keeps happening at an alarming rate.

I went through the obvious culprits and played the blame game. Greedy doctors and Big Pharma completely disregard human life and only care about making money. I then went deeper and started to realize it was partially the patient's fault as well, as they will do anything to get out of pain in the short term and not think about the long-term ramifications of that shortsighted approach.

Then I decided to look internally and see how I directly impacted my dad's demise, and that was some of the hardest soul-searching I have ever done.

Just some quick background on me, I graduated with my Chiropractic degree in 2011. I am not a typical Chiropractor and am an outcast in my profession for the way I practice and treat.

I have never adjusted my clinical practice and only focused on delivering quality hands-on soft tissue-based treatments. Halfway through my schooling, I started questioning the validity of the adjustment and asked why we didn't just focus on the soft tissue portion because it's what holds the bones in place. My teachers didn't like that and told me to drop out of school "if I didn't believe in the true healing powers of Chiropractic."

Luckily I didn't listen to them and instead focused on soft tissue-specific treatments and did everything I could to learn more. I did what I had to do to pass my boards, but to this day, I can say I have never performed an adjustment in over ten years in practice.

So it is safe to say I am all in on the importance of quality hands-on soft tissue treatment. I realized with my inner reflections back in 2016 that what my dad needed earlier on in the treatment process was soft-tissue treatment. Unfortunately, I was still new in my career, and my skillsets weren't strong enough to help him get any long-lasting results.

I also started looking at the overall conservative care model, and it was full of problems as well.

I view conservative care practitioners as those that use modalities that don't involve drugs, injections, or surgeries. These are the primary providers in that model:

Chiropractors.

Physical Therapists.

Before I go into the problems with the above professions, I wanted to lay out the "order of operations" for successfully treating an injury.

1. Restore Range Of Motion.
2. Balance Strength.
3. Increase Overall Strength.
4. Re-Train The Nervous System **Usually isn't needed because nervous system dysfunction corrects once the tissue is healthy and functioning better***

I look at an injury as like a horrible house that needs repairs. You wouldn't put the siding or roof on before you ever lay the foundation would you?

Other criteria for any treatment to be considered beneficial must fit all 3 of the following:

1. Be safe.
2. Be effective. 
3. Be durable.

So sure, PT work and Chiropractic adjustments are safe. On the practical side, it depends on what the criteria for that truly are. Too many practitioners focus on subjective data from the client on how they feel instead of focusing on objective data, which is improvement in function and tests. Lastly, the durability portion is where the majority of treatment modalities miss the boat. Does it last for an extended amount of time? Can the client go more than a month in between treatments, and the objective measurements still hold?

After over ten years in practice and 15 plus years in advanced soft tissue training, I can confidently say the following statement:

Soft tissue dysfunction is the primary cause of decreased flexibility, weakness, and pain in the human body. That dysfunction that builds up is scar tissue, also known as adhesion. Proper evaluation and expert treatment will successfully remove scar tissue, which causes a significant improvement in overall functioning and long-lasting pain relief.

The issue that comes with the conservative care model is that all the practitioners think what they do is the best. They evaluate and diagnose based on what they are trained in instead of what the client needs. There are lots of egos, arguments, and biases about what is the best.

My argument is that if all those modalities, PT and Chiropractic, were so great, then why is the pain-pill problem getting worse?

Because they are missing out on the critical component of soft tissue dysfunction, these practitioners haven't had the training or dedicated time to getting good at soft-tissue treatment. Instead of admitting that, they turn around and bash soft tissue modalities. They cherry-pick studies that fit their biased beliefs and cannot fathom that the solution comes from quality hands-on soft-tissue treatment.

The best in the world and most equipped to treat soft tissue issues are massage therapists. They have the best hands, the best palpation, and can get to the root cause of the injury. 

Massage therapists are the key to solving the pain pill epidemic, but they have too many limiting beliefs and often take a back seat to other practitioners, even though they are the best option to give someone injured and in pain a chance.

I have been training massage therapists exclusively over the past two years and have started to recognize why they aren't taking their rightful place as primary injury treatment providers. Some of it is their own limiting beliefs, some put on them by the industry and missing out on properly educating potential clients on how they can help solve their injuries.

Here are the four factors that are holding massage therapists back.

1. Subservient to other practitioners: If you couldn't tell with all the information above, I am all in on the importance of quality hands-on soft tissue treatment. Massage therapists have the best skills to deliver that treatment, not PTs or Chiropractors. Why do so many massage therapists work in Chiropractic offices? Because they are the ones making the difference, but the Chiropractor takes the credit and a lot more money than they deserve. I look at Chiropractic adjustments, and traditional Physical Therapy as an old and outdated Blackberry phone; quality soft tissue is like an iPhone 13! Which do you think the client would rather have? 
2. Labeled as non-essential or a luxury: When COVID hit, one of the first industries shut down was massage therapy. Nothing should sting more than being told you were "non-essential." Other problems came from being stuck in the label as a luxury, not something you genuinely need. There are many factors to blame for all this happening, and I could write a whole article just on this. Bottom line, massage therapy has taken a backseat to Chiropractic and Physical Therapists, even though they are more important and do more good. That's a shame that it even happened!
3. Focused on techniques and applying treatment right away: I get it. We are all manual therapists and want to get our hands on people and help them. Many treatment systems focus on just the treatment aspect and completely disregard figuring out precisely what is causing the issue. I always say to my coaching clients, "how can you ever expect to fix a problem if you don't know what it is in the first place? On the other side, some systems are too focused on the evaluation and diagnostic side, where you spend an hour just doing an assessment. You know what the problem could be but don't have enough time to apply the correct treatment. It needs to be somewhere in the middle, where the evaluation and treatment are just as critical, and you can't do one without the other!
4. They lack true belief in the power of what they can do: One of the first things I do when training and coaching massage therapists is to start by shifting their identity. No one is allowed to say, "I'm just a massage therapist." Instead, they must speak with confidence the following: "I am a soft tissue specialist that fixes chronic and unresolved injuries without the use of drugs, injections, and surgeries." It all starts with believing in what you can do and the changes you can make. I truly know and have seen firsthand the power of excellent soft tissue treatment. Heck, I'm someone that spent well over 150k on a Chiropractic education that I barely use, so it's clear to see how much I believe in soft tissue, primarily when delivered by someone who has dedicated to being great at it.

I hope some of the shortcomings mentioned above resonated with you or touched a nerve a bit. It should sting a bit. I was disappointed when COVID hit and shut down the massage profession very quickly. Even worse was a faction of leaders in the trade who agreed with it and believed massage WAS non-essential.

I want to give you some action steps you can implement right away to help combat what is holding the massage profession back:

The following are some immediate action steps you can take:

1. Educate your clients on how you are a solution to their problem: Too many massage therapists are stuck in the service-based model and market based on what they do, instead of educating on how and why they can help be a solution to injuries and pain.
2. Pick a specialty or niche: The human body is complicated, and it's even harder when you have to know the whole thing. In my clinics, we always had specific therapists focus on one region and be the in-house expert on that. People will listen to, respect more, and pay a lot more for a specialist than a generalist.
3. Invest in your skillset and knowledge: Don't pick a training or CEU course based on the most convenient or cheapest. The biggest problem with a cheap solution is that it will never work. Don't look at acquiring skills as a cost, instead of it's an investment.

In closing, none of the above will work until you start believing in yourself and unleashing the fantastic healing powers you have with your hands. Once you have that power, the true conviction of what you do will resonate with your clients, allowing them to get the treatment they need and keep them away from the traditional medical model, worsening their problems.