The use of massage for low back pain is a generally accepted treatment. Since stress alone accounts for a significant proportion of low back pain cases, and massage relieves stress, massage is a good candidate for a low back pain protocol (Goodrick, Kneuper, & Steinbauer, 75).

             A controlled study is proposed for researching massage as a standard protocol for treating low back pain. A research group would be assembled, including patients between a set range of ages, such as 25-45, with low back pain that has no medical etiology other than stress, since massage might aggravate a medical injury. A control group would be set up using a second set of patients in the same age group that would undergo standard medical treatment for low back pain, with no massage (Field et al. 555).

             To measure the results of the study, a baseline pain measurement would be taken at the start (Block, Fernandez, Kramer 17). Patients would be asked to rate their pain on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most intense pain. Periodically throughout the study, they would rate their pain again, and at the termination of the study they would provide a final rating. This would indicate the percentage of relief obtained from massage and from standard treatments in the control group, as well as the rate of improvement for each.