Massage therapy for symptom control: outcome study at a major cancer center. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Massage is increasingly applied to relieve symptoms in patients with cancer. This practice is supported by evidence from small randomized trials. No study has examined massage therapy outcome in a large group of patients. At Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, patients report symptom severity pre- and post-massage therapy using 0-10 rating scales of pain, fatigue, stress/anxiety, nausea, depression and "other." Changes in symptom scores and the modifying effects of patient status (in- or outpatient) and type of massage were analyzed. Over a three-year period, 1,290 patients were treated. Symptom scores were reduced by approximately 50%, even for patients reporting high baseline scores. Outpatients improved about 10% more than inpatients. Benefits persisted, with outpatients experiencing no return toward baseline scores throughout the duration of 48-hour follow-up. These data indicate that massage therapy is associated with substantive improvement in cancer patients' symptom scores.

publication date

  • September 1, 2004

Research

keywords

  • Massage
  • Neoplasms

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 4344614337

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2003.12.016

PubMed ID

  • 15336336

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 28

issue

  • 3