A former public servant who had up to $52,000 worth of taxpayer-funded massage on his bad back has lost a legal bid to force the federal government to keep paying for his weekly sessions with the masseuse.
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Commonwealth workplace insurer Comcare decided two years ago to stop paying for Jeffery Drummey's regular massage therapy sessions after 12 years, hundreds of sessions and tens of thousands of dollars.
Mr Drummey's workers' compensation claim goes back 20 years when he sustained a series of injuries working in Canberra at the Australian Capital Territory Electricity and Water Authority, which he joined in the 1980's when its was still run by the Commonwealth government.
Comcare, which also stopped paying for various drugs for Mr Drummey at the same time, says it had paid for paid for 648 sessions of massage therapy between 2002 and 2014, when it called a halt, costing up to $81 per session.
Injured and sick workers are entitled to have their reasonable medical and pharmaceutical costs covered but in recent years Comcare have been getting tough on therapies it does not consider reasonable, like taxpayer funded mindfulness lessons or interstate flights to attend yoga retreats.
Mr Drummey objected to the insurer's decision, saying the massages eased the pain of his long-term back problems and they were "reasonable" medical treatments for his ongoing soreness.
After Comcare dismissed the objection, Mr Drummey took his case to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal looking to have his massage payments reinstated.
The Tribunal heard evidence from Mr Drummey's remedial massage therapist Alfio Sorbello, who said the treatment was "highly beneficial for reducing pain and freeing up the scapular and shoulder girdle to reduce tension on the trigger points and to improve the quality of life for Mr Drummey."
Mr Drummey himself told the tribunal his back pain had never gone away but the pain was reduced for three or sometimes four days after massage and that nine times out of 10 the treatment feels beneficial.
But Tribunal Deputy President Ian Molloy cited medical evidence from occupational physician Dr Alan Home who wrote that "massage treatment will not be curative" and it "will not ultimately change his outcome or his ongoing symptoms."
Dr Home went on to write in his medical report that "there is no accepted therapeutic benefit from massage in the management of chronic back pain" and "there is no evidence base to support ongoing massage treatment."
The medical expert reasoned that the treatment was not reasonable because it was not having a positive impact on Mr Drummey's participation at home, work or in the community
In his decision, Mr Molloy found that any benefit Mr Drummey derived from his massages was "transient only."
"The treatment has no long term effect on his compensable condition and will not cure or significantly reduce the effects of his injury.
"It does not improve his functional capacity.
"I think Mr Drummey had become reliant on massage therapy, and it quite likely had become a negative factor in his self-management.
"The Commonwealth has paid for over 640 sessions of massage since 2002.
"In the circumstances massage therapy is not treatment that Mr Drummey should continue to obtain."
