It's probably the tightest muscle on my body at all times. Moeschen, who plays the drums, finds massage also helps alleviate fatigue and tightness in his lower back, shoulders, arms and hands. Typically we are always trying to find the least pharmacological means to deal with pain because we know that pain medicines don't generally work very well, at least in the long term. Pittman says massage can provide people with neuromuscular disease with needed physical activity. Family members can stretch the person's limbs and perform basic massage.
Foot massage can help restore circulation and reduce edema.
Another benefit is simple physical contact. People seem to be afraid to touch the disabled and that may even apply to their own family members. Yet I think that everyone has a certain need to feel physical contact from people. Robert Lee Archer, MDA clinic director at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, also likes the symptomatic, palliative treatment massage can provide. Certainly it's not curative.