According to 101 Back Pain Tips:
Touch is one of the best ways to heal, and Massage
therapy goes a long way toward attacking your back
and neck pain at its sources. An experienced Massage
Therapist can use one or more of these techniques to
help you with back pain:
Swedish massage: the most widespread treatment
used in the United States. Generally soothing, it involves
the use of kneading and friction in long strokes and
deep circular movements. Most well-known massage
techniques fall under the category of Swedish massage.
Myofascial therapy: targets the muscle and myofascial
systems, promoting flexibility and mobility of the body’s
connective tissues (fascia).
Trigger Point therapy: focuses deep pressure on
myofascial Trigger Points—knotted muscle fibers
that are painful and tender when pressed. (See Tip
#79 for more on Trigger Point Therapy)
Deep Tissue massage: involves intense pressure
and patterns of slow strokes to relieve tightness or
knotting in the deep layers of muscles.
Sustained Pressure: also known as ischemic or
digital pressure, it alleviates hypertonic (tight) areas
within muscle and fascia.
