" Massage therapy would do so much more to relieve pain, with no negative side effects, than narcotics, for instance"

what's wrong with that picture is the phrase "much more"!

I know massage therapy...my wife DOES it,(professionally, for several years) and it can do some nice things, but it was NOT what I needed when I had a kidney stone, or a strained back. She can help 'some' headaches if they are related to stress and tension, but others respond ONLY to a bit of drugs.

It is not like I have not tried alternative therapies or seen them tried....my mother-in-law spent LARGE sums of money on healers and 'natural' medicines and had pyramids built with wires and metals to 'focus' healing thoughts..etc....and she got worse, and worse and died. Congestive heart failure does not seem to respond to "New Age" therapies.

The problem is, people remember good results, and assign causality to whatever they did just prior to feeling better, even if the results were due to natural results. (old joke...take these pills and repeat this mantra and your cold will be gone in 5-6 days. Or do nothing and your cold will be gone in 5-6 days)