A 20-minute evening back massage may help relieve pain and reduce anxiety following major surgery when given in addition to pain medications, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Many patients still experience pain following major surgery despite the
Genetic analysis also shows massage promotes growth of new mitochondria Most athletes can testify to the pain-relieving, recovery-promoting effects of massage. Now there’s a scientific basis that supports booking a session with a massage therapist: On the cellular level massage reduces inflammation and promotes the growth of new mitochondria
Massage therapy improves general blood flow and alleviates muscle soreness after exercise, according to a study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The study, reported online in advance of print in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, also showed that massage improved vascular function in people
Seattle—A new randomized trial shows that on average, three months after receiving a series of 10 massage sessions, patients had half the symptoms of anxiety. This improvement resembles that previously reported with psychotherapy, medications, or both. But the trial, published in the journal Depression and Anxiety, also found massage to
Most people have experienced back pain – and many hope that massage will relieve it. But not all forms of massage have been scientifically proven to help against low back pain. That is what the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) pointed out in information
Researchers in Cedars-Sinai’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences have reported people who undergo massage experience measureable changes in their body’s immune and endocrine response. Although there have been previous, smaller studies about the health benefits of massage, the Cedars-Sinai study is widely believed to be the first systematic
Massage therapists elicit an impressive level of goodwill and increasing popularity among American adults. Fully two out of five adults have visited a massage therapist and 12% received at least one massage in 2004, putting massage on a par with consumer use of chiropractic and physical therapy services. These
Annals of Internal Medicine trial compared massage types at Group Health SEATTLE—Massage therapy helps ease chronic low back pain and improve function, according to a randomized controlled trial that the Annals of Internal Medicine will publish in its July 5 issue. The first study to compare structural and relaxation (Swedish) massage,
Myofascial release, a type of massage, improves range of motion to the same extent as static stretching in the short term, a new study shows. And in a separate study, contract–relax stretching was shown to weaken muscles more than static stretching. The results from both studies were presented here
Marie Hastings-Tolsma Evid Based Nurs. 2014;17(3) Commentary on: Beckmann MM, Stock OM. Antenatal perineal massage for reducing perineal trauma. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013;(4):CD005123 Implications for Practice and Research Pregnant women who have not yet experienced vaginal birth should be informed about the benefits of antenatal perineal massage. Conditions where antenatal perineal massage
