Health

18 HEALTH • Spring 2015 Practitioners call for integration, insurance coverage \\ By Phyllis Hanlon D ick Miller, who has been running for 30 years, suffered a calf injury in 2012 that he assumed would prevent him from running the Boston Marathon that year. Physical therapy, podiatry, stretching and icing the area brought no noticeable improvement. The one therapy that worked – medical massage – was not covered under the Shrewsbury resident's insurance policy. In 2009, Maryann Reid opened Orthomed Massage Clinic in Northborough, a medical massage practice specializing in pain conditions and injury prevention as well as traditional massage. "In our clinical massage clinic, 99 percent of the clients we see come in with some sort of pain syndrome, orthopedic condition or sports injury," she said. HOLISTIC SPORTS MEDICINE: Throughout her 10-year career, Reid has seen firsthand the power of medical massage in restoring health when traditional medical approaches failed. But while insurance covers workers' compensation cases and injuries relat- ed to automobile accidents, it doesn't extend that benefit to Orthomed's athlete clients. "We want very much to educate our adjunct conventional health professionals and show them how clinical massage therapy can help their patients," Reid said. "We feel there is a very important role for conventional medicine and for treating …with therapies like chiropractic, physi- cal therapy for functional strength and movement and from a Qi perspective in acupuncture." Qi, one of the underlying principles in traditional Chinese medicine, relates to the natural flow of energy in the body and literally translates as "breath." Athletes pay out of pocket Ed Ramsey, a physical therapist, and president and owner of Ramsey Rehabilitation in Leominster, faces a similar struggle. Yet when he opened his practice in 1997, insur- ance reimbursed for non- traditional therapies like soccer and pitching drills for athletes. As his business added locations in Fitchburg, Holden and Tyngsborough, its portfolio of services also increased to include alternative treatments, such as aquatic therapy; needling, which is similar to acupuncture; instrument-assisted man- ual therapy of soft tissues; cupping; and therapeutic massage. However, insurance coverage decreased through the years, and there is none for alternative services related to athletic functioning, Ramsey said. Although some insurance companies offer dis- counts or partial coverage for chiropractic work, and sometimes acupuncture, for the most part they don't cover alternative therapies. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, insurance coverage for alternative health therapies is "confusing and complicated" and coverage var- ies depending on state laws; there are also con- siderable coverages differences among insur- ance companies, according to the agency. "Most insurances pay for pool therapy as a method of regaining motion and strength, but once you cross from that to sports performance, then it's cash-based out of pocket," Ramsey said. "We are allowed in

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