Massage for the poor

From the way I am seeing the health care situation, the next few years is going to open a flood gate of innovative ideas. Here is one of several that I have been working on.

It is commonly said that the secret to business is finding a solution to a problem that needs fixed. The poor tend to have the most problems, yet for some reason, most businesses chase after only the rich or those that are willing to pay. The richest people in the world have always been those who have found a solution for the masses, not the wealthy. So, my question becomes.... how can we use massage to help the poor?

In a few short years, nearly every American will have health insurance, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The problem is, already, the health care system is maxed out. An influx of new patients is predicted to create a demand on the system significantly beyond any reasonable capabilities. Already, a huge push is starting to train more primary care physicians. The nursing industry is ramping up Nurse Practitioner graduates to fill in the gap where primary care doctors are unable to (in terms of numbers). But both require graduate level degrees and beyond. Keep in mind, the majority of health problems in the United States are chronic diseases. For a large portion of the patients in health systems, when they go to the doctor, they leave without an answer or a clear path of what to do next. Or, they would leave not knowing how to do what they need to do (like eat better or exercise more), even if they do know what needs to be done.

Currently, in areas where most people do not have health insurance, one of two things happen. Either they are constantly utilizing public and community health clinics or they wait until they are so sick that they end up in the ER. Once these people have insurance, the clinics and primary care facilities will likely not be able to sustain the load. On the other hand, based on anecdotal evidence, those who regularly receive massage are more stable and better able to manage illness, thus reducing demand on the health systems. Individuals that truly do have a medical issue are more likely to seek help because the massage therapist will encourage them to do so, but then they will recover or get through what ever they are dealing with quicker, as well. According to the body of research on massage, massage is also very good at a few very specific things, like reducing depression, dealing with pain management, and reducing recovery times, which there are currently few other effective solutions for. Therefore, what would happen if massage therapists, dually trained as health coaches, worked in these at risk neighborhoods?

My hunch is that it would mitigate and modulate the flow of patients into the primary health and mental health system. Those who do enter into the primary health and mental health system would be less likely to over-utilize the system and would speed up recovery times. Even if the benefits reduced patient volume by only a few percentage points, it still might be worth the effort. Current research on massage therapy focuses on ancillary benefits, or tries to prove how massage is better than current methods and therefore should replace current treatment programs. No matter how hard we push, however, the health industry is not likely to simply get rid of decades worth of current practice. Massage, however, has several things that it can do for health that NO OTHER TREATMENT does as well, or is as easily administered. These strengths could be leverages in massage outreach programs in neighborhoods with high health risk factors. If the programs were subsidized by primary and mental health systems, then an effective public health monitoring program could be developed that many people in the community would likely be willing to participate in voluntarily. There are few other medical interventions as pleasurable as receiving massage, especially a massage that would cost you personally only a few dollars. Since these massage therapists are trained as health coaches, knowledgeable and reliable sources of information on health can be spread through the community at a deeper level than the typical public health campaign. Currently, public health and community clinics serve that role, but are limited in their ability to effectively carry this duty out, due to limitations in time and resources being at odds with work load and job responsibilities (ie: treat patients!).

Certainly, a large body of research would need to be conducted on something like this to verify its feasibility. As far as I know, the massage literature has not explored this type of role in the health system. Thus, I believe that a call to action is overdue in the massage industry. We are already working to redefine our role in the health system, but I don't think we are thinking outside the box enough. Ultimately, we are a health industry that has existed for centuries outside of conventional western medical boxes. Our role needs to leverage our strengths as an industry to redefine our role in the future of healthcare, instead of trying to stuff ourselves within the conventional medical system box that already exists.