About Herbs

Bottom line: Massage is effective in reducing some symptoms associated with cancer.

Massage helps reduce muscle soreness, stiffness, spasms, and promotes relaxation. The various forms of massage that are commonly practiced are Swedish massage, Shiatsu, Reflexology, and Tuina. Swedish massage is the most common and consists of five basic strokes and their variations. Reflexology involves massaging specific areas on the hands or feet that are believed to correspond to particular regions in the body. Shiatsu and Tuina are techniques that originated in Japan and China. They are used to stimulate acupuncture points and meridians to ensure proper energy and blood flow to facilitate healing. Clinical trials have shown that massage therapy helps reduce pain, mood disturbance, and fatigue in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It can reduce psychological and neurological complications and provide comfort to patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Massage also improves sleep and reduces depression in patients with advanced cancer. According to another study, reflexology (foot massage) reduced anxiety in patients with breast and lung cancer. Although massage is being increasingly used as a complementary therapy for various illnesses, patients suffering from cancer, heart disease, or arthritis should consult a qualified massage therapist for treatment.

Cancer
A major study including 1,290 cancer patients was conducted over a 3-year period to assess the benefits of massage in reducing cancer symptoms. Swedish massage, light-touch, or foot massages were given to patients in 20 minute (for inpatients) or 60 minute (for outpatients) sessions. Researchers found that Swedish and light-touch massages were more effective than foot massage in relieving pain, nausea, fatigue, depression, and anxiety. Outpatients reported longer lasting benefits from massage therapy compared to inpatients. Researchers suggest that massage is safe and can be used to reduce some symptoms caused by cancer.  

Another study included 230 patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy. Patients received 4 weekly 45-minute sessions of therapeutic massage, healing touch, caring presence, or standard care alone. Patients who received massage and healing touch had lowered anxiety, fatigue, and mood disturbance compared to those in the caring presence group. Massage and healing touch appear to have short-term benefits in cancer patients, although more studies should be conducted to assess the long-term effects.

Massage is an ancient technique that involves manual manipulation of muscles and soft tissues of the body. It increases circulation and promotes relaxation. In addition, it has important emotional and psychological benefits as well. Recent studies have shown that massage can alleviate symptoms such as stress/anxiety, nausea, insomnia, pain, fatigue, and depression ^{(1) (3)} in cancer patients. There is also data which suggests that massage can reduce psychological and neurological complications associated with bone marrow transplantation ⁽²⁾. In other studies, reflexology (foot massage) was found to alleviate pain and nausea in cancer patients ⁽⁴⁾. There is also preliminary data indicating that post-operative arm massage can decrease pain and discomfort after lymph node dissection ⁽⁵⁾. Other studies suggest that manual lymphatic drainage or MLD, which involves specialized light rhythmic massage, can reduce lymphedema in breast cancer patients ⁽⁶⁾. The various forms of massage that are commonly practiced are Swedish massage, Shiatsu, Reflexology, and Tuina. Swedish massage is the most common and consists of five basic strokes and their variations. Reflexology involves massaging specific areas (reflex points) on the hands or feet that are believed to correspond to particular regions in the body. Shiatsu and Tuina are techniques that originated in Japan and China. They both involve stimulation of acupuncture points and meridians to ensure proper flow of energy and blood to facilitate healing. Massage is generally safe and being increasingly used as a complementary therapy to provide relief from certain symptoms of cancer and other illnesses. However, patients suffering from cancer, heart disease or arthritis should consult a qualified massage therapist for treatment.