Massage therapy and chiropractic care both offer benefits

Finding a fix for a sore back isn't always easy.

Where you go -- and what should be done for those achy muscles, nerves and joints -- depends on whether you're simply looking for a good way to relax or you need help healing chronic or acute pain.

"Some people just need a once-a-month oasis from reality," says Glen Kemp, a licensed massage therapist in Tampa. Others need medical treatment focused on injured muscles and bone structure.

Chiropractic care, therapeutic massage and relaxation therapy all offer physical and mental relief. But it's important to do your homework in advance to make sure the practitioners and their services meet your needs.

"Somebody is going to lay their hands on you. You should be able to trust them," says Mare Uranowski, a Tampa chiropractor since 1988.

First, know what distinguishes one treatment from another.

Massage therapy treats muscle and soft tissue on elongating and broadening muscle fibers so blood can flow and heal. It can take place in a variety of settings, from a doctor's office to a spa to the finish line of a marathon.

Chiropractic care involves a diagnosis and treatment that usually includes the loosening of deep muscle tissue and adjustment of the spine.

Massage therapy is often a part of a long-term chiropractic treatment plan that uses various tools and technologies, says Carl Conforti, owner of Conforti Chiropractic & Wellness Centers.

About half of the patients who come to Conforti's four area clinics are there for traumatic, acute pain. In those cases, treatment focuses first on controlling pain and swelling, and getting joints moving again. After that comes the treatment of the skeletal structure and its relationship to the nervous system, he says.

Uranowski says a primary care physician or chiropractor should look at any acute muscle or joint pain that lasts more than a few days. And chiropractors are trained to look for and diagnose problems just like a medical doctor, she says.

Chiropractors earn an advanced college degree, requiring 4,200 hours, or about four years, of specialized study.

Massage school training can take a few months to a year, or about 650 hours, and does not require a college degree.

Both chiropractors and massage therapists are required to pass national board exams before being eligible for a license in Florida.

Kemp, an active member of the Florida State Massage Therapy Association, says most clinical massage therapists have far more training than the minimum state guidelines. For example, he has extensive experience with sports massage for recreational and elite-level triathletes.

These therapists are a closer cousin to chiropractic than the practitioners at massage centers that offer soft lights, quiet music and aromatherapy, says Kemp, operations manager of Performance Massage of South Tampa.

"Seven months in the classroom does not a massage therapist make," says Kemp, who differentiates his therapy from relaxation massage centers offering services at about half his standard rate. He advises interviewing a potential therapist, "just as you do a doctor or lawyer."

Those massage centers geared more toward relaxation are a big reason why massage has grown in popularity and acceptance. A 2009 consumer survey by the American Massage Therapy Association showed that 40 percent of adult women and 29 percent of men received at least one massage in the past five years. And nearly a quarter of all adults who get a massage head for a spa.

Mark King, owner of the Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa in St. Petersburg, says a lot of the franchise's customers are first-timers to massage, but like many spas, they offer memberships with a monthly fee.

Therapists at Hand & Stone meet the state's classroom training requirement, says Whitney Sith, a licensed massage therapist and manager of the St. Petersburg location. But Hand & Stone is a spa, not a doctor's office, King says. The franchises do not accept insurance.

There is one area where all the practitioners agree: Good muscular and spinal health involves regular maintenance, on a monthly or bimonthly basis.

Kemp says it's a misconception that muscles and the spine only need help when they hurt or break down.

"We're not cars," he says. "We're living, breathing organisms."