It wouldn’t be contraindicated, though, would it? And while I understand the HIV patients, I’m a little surprised at you including your chronic pain patients, although I suppose it would depend on the cause of their pain. But still - wouldn’t the endorphin release alone make it worthwhile for them? Not to mention being able to relax - I think pain makes most people physically tense, doesn’t it?
Hey, it might help them. If they ask, I tell them to go ahead. But I don’t consider it proven enough to merit me prescribing it. I’ll authorize physical therapy for a variety of indications, but if they want a massage, they can get one themselves.
Well, maybe my patients these days can’t.
Exercise and activity is good, especially for treating chronic musculoskeltal disorders, but I don’t like to see claims made for things that haven’t been reasonably well proven yet.
Respectfully, from your answer I suspected you were a physician before I even looked at your profile. It’s very interesting that nurses are much more “in touch” with their bodies and the bodies of their patients than most doctors are. There is so much more to people and natural pain relief than is taught in the main-stream medical schools (or any schools, for that matter.) I honor you for having so much more formal education than I do and I am grateful for the skills of a physician when they are needed.
Regardless, over the years I have seen so many people have so much benefit from massage. Yes, the studies are small but they are conventional medical studies and more and more research is underway.
Massage therapists run the gamut from providing basic relaxation-type massage to deep therapeutic massage to correctional bodywork. A highly skilled therapist can attune the massage to needs of the client.
Hippocrates (the father of modern medicine) said a physician must be skilled in many things but most assuredly in the art of rubbing. Many physicians, physical therapy clinics, hospitals and other medical facilities are adding massage to their treatments for patients and with good reason. Massage is also used as medicine in most other parts of the world. It’s old medicine and still as good as ever with no side effects other than perhaps some local tenderness in an area where the muscles were tight.
I respectfully hope that you will look further into the benefits of massage both for your patients and for yourself. I do admit to being highly biased about the benefits of massage and bodywork. Why? Because it’s simple, natural, logical and it works.
Don’t lay it on too thick. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. 
Good. If it works, it can be shown to work in proper trials. Until then, it’s to be with some skepticism. (Skepticism = "is that claim true? How can I find out?)
I’ve worked with chiropracters, massage therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and been open to learning more about what they did. I’ve also had all of the above named folks work on me. I’ve found some benefit personally (from manipulation and massage specifically), but not enough for me to prescribe most of it for others. Recommend it at times, but not prescribe it.
I’m not closed minded, but assertions that certain things “boost one’s immune system” do not give credibility in the scientific world.
I await further studies, and will gladly adapt my practices as the science indicates.
Personal experience here. I have had chronic muscle pain since 1989, and a weekly massage is a large part of my pain management. Without it, my muscle tension seems to ratchet up just a little more each day; after three to four weeks without it I am in a lot of pain again. I am also under a doctor’s care, on meds, etc., but the massage makes a huge difference. Over time I’ve gone from being almost disabled to being the family breadwinner and maintaining a reasonably normal life. I believe firmly that people diagnosed with fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, etc., should look into whether massage might help them.
I’d gladly sign a release to be a subject for that research, though. Imagine: You get knocked out, and when you come to, they ask you–“Have you had a massage recently?”
But seriously, if a massage makes a person feel so good, why wouldn’t there be some kind chemical release the could be detected? Or something…