Investigators at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine recently took a close look at the effect of massage on a very specific group of people who might be most in need of pampering: cancer patients. In a study of 380 adults with advanced-stage cancer and at least moderate pain, the researchers found that those who received massage therapy had greater improvement in pain and mood than patients who were touched in a manner similar to massage but without the precise motion and pressure a trained therapist uses.

For these patients, even a little relief can mean a lot. Generally, about a third of cancer patients experience significant pain. As for mood, according to the National Cancer Institute, 15% to 25% of cancer patients become clinically depressed at some point during their illness. And the very nature of treatment for a serious illness often makes things worse.

“When you’re ill, you don’t necessarily get the kind of human contact we do in our daily lives,” says end-of-life-care physician Dr. Jean Kutner, who was the lead author of the study. “Most of the touch you receive is related to procedures, such as getting chemo or having blood drawn.”

David Mejia is a 39-year-old former systems engineer in Colorado who was found to have multiple myeloma. He recalls falling into a deep depression during treatments. “I didn’t want to talk to anybody,” he says. “The phone would ring, but I didn’t want to pick it up.” Mejia describes the massage therapy he received to relieve tightness in his joints as also a form of treatment for his depression. “It doesn’t just make my body feel good —it makes my spirit feel good,” he says.

The overlap of mental and physical boosts makes sense, given the biochemistry that’s in play when your body is massaged. Levels of feel-good neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine spike, while measures of the stress hormone cortisol drop. This is the same phenomenon that’s at work when you feel the fabled runner’s or exerciser’s high, and it’s also one of the things that makes a post-workout massage particularly satisfying. For people whose workouts lead to neck and back pain — or whose existing neck and back pain prevent them from exercising at all — massage has answers too.

It has been fairly well documented that massage therapy provided by a licensed or certified professional produces real relief that may last even months. Several studies have shown that a rubdown works well at the other end of the age spectrum too: babies and infants who are massaged tend to cry less, appear more relaxed and interact better with their mothers.

As my homework for this column, I gave in and had a massage. I am not sure if it was the boost in neuro-transmitters or just the relief of some pretty sore muscles, but I suspect I’ll be coming back for more.

With reporting by Shahreen Abedin / New York

From Time.com, Fit Nation

It’s only been in last 30 years or so that massage has been catching on in some sectors of Western society. Parents are learning that massage can have a calming effect on their baby and it doesn’t make any difference if the child was born prematurely or carried to full term.

One recent study points to the positive effect massage can have on preterm infants over the course of only 5 days. During this study, children received a total of 15 massages delivered from Monday to Friday. The 15-minute massages were administered on a regular schedule of 9 am, 11 am and 1 pm on consecutive days. Licensed massage therapists were specially trained in a specific procedure to use on the children.

The study concluded that even after such limited exposure of only 5 days, preterm infants showed fewer stress behaviors from the first to the last day, the researchers said.

Parents who are interested in massage can easily learn some techniques which could be beneficial to a child. There are books on the subject and classes available in some areas to teach a parent to quickly and easily help their infant. Here are a few techniques that a parent could learn:

• Face – Muscles used for sucking can easily be soothed by using the thumbs to stroke across the upper lip, then the lower lip and toward the checks like creating a smile.
• Stomach – Start with both hands at the center of the baby’s chest. Push out to the sides and fol­low the rib cage, sort of like smoothing out the pages of a book. Keep your hands on the baby and bring them back to center, sort of like drawing a heart-shaped motion.
• Legs – Grab and hold the top of the baby’s thigh with one hand. With the other hand, start at the baby’s foot and begin stroking from the heel to the buttock, squeezing regularly like in a “milking” motion.

One word of caution regarding the amount of pressure: Too little pressure will tickle the baby, and too much could cause pain. Use your judgment on this. Watch for the baby’s response. Do it right and you will help the child by reducing their stress and adding comfort to their lives. Colic can be eased, gas reduced and constipation relieved, too. This is just one additional good thing that has come to our part of the world from the long experience of Eastern Cultures.

Source: To Your Health. “The Power of Touch: Ask Your Doctor About the Health Benefits of Infant Massage:’ May 2008. http://www.toyourhealth.corn/mpacmsityh/article.php?id=10338zpagenumber=1

For the full report: Anatomy of an Epidemic: Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, A Report by Acclaimed Writer Robert Whitaker

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Republished with permission from Citizens Commission on Human Rights International

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]]> http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/acupuncture/free-classes-and-events-in-denver-june-2008/feed/ 0 http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/reports/massage-and-acupuncture-effective-in-reducing-pain-after-cancer-surgery/ http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/reports/massage-and-acupuncture-effective-in-reducing-pain-after-cancer-surgery/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:16:37 +0000 Paul Murray, CNC, L.Ac. http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/?p=99 Massage and Acupuncture effectively decrease pain and depression following surgery in cancer patients, according to a recent study at the University of California, San Francisco.

The randomized controlled clinical trial, reported in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, compared the post-operative symptoms of pain, nausea and depression and the cost of symptom-related medications in two groups of hospitalized patients during the first three days after cancer-related surgery.

One group received a massage and Acupuncture in addition to the usual post-operative medications, while a second group had just medication. There was a significant decrease in both pain and depressive mood among patients receiving massage and Acupuncture therapy.

During the three-day post-operative period, patients used an 11-point (0-10) numeric rating scale to rank the severity of current pain and of pain during the previous 24 hours. Acupuncture/massage patients scored a 1.1 point improvement in pain level on the first post-operative day, while the medication group only scored a 0.1 improvement. Over the three days of the study, the Acupuncture/massage patients reported a pain improvement of 1.8, compared to only 0.3 in the control group.

“This is a significant finding,” said Dr. Wolf Mehling, lead author and UCSF assistant professor of family and community medicine. “We know that integration of these therapies has shown short-term benefit on psychological well-being, but there has not been strong evidence to support it until now.”

As for the cost comparison, the study showed a reduction in anti-anxiety and sleep medication costs.

“This preliminary data suggests looking at this further, with a larger control group and an ability to better assess individual medication usage,” Dr. Mehling said.

SOURCE: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, March 2007, http://www.jpsmjournal.com/article/PIIS0885392406007238/abstract

In a recent observational study, 162 soldiers who were medically evacuated from Operation Iraqi Freedom were evaluated by a team of United States and German researchers at pain treatment centers outside of the combat theater. It is interesting that only 17% of the evacuees suffered an actual combat injury, and as many as 29% of the victims were not able to identify the cause of their current discomfort.

The most common complaint of soldiers, 53% of those studied, was low back pain. The most frequent identifiable causes of the condition paralleled those suffered in non-military society. The problems stemmed from lifting heavy objects and from motor vehicle accidents.

The medical answer to treating the majority of these victims was nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medical drugs. This was the prescribed treatment in 56% of the cases. Only a rather small number, 17% of the soldiers, were treated with “alternative therapies” including Chiropractic, massage or Acupuncture.

Researchers indicated that, “Our finding that Low Back Pain is the primary pain complaint is not surprising, “and then they continued, “These results indicate that better preventive measures and a more aggressive treatment approach are required to preserve strength and maintain efficiency in the military.”

Involving Chiropractors in training measures to reduce the possibility of injuries and providing more aggressive treatment to those needing care would certainly provide the answers to the researcher’s call to action.

Source: http://www.chiropracticresearchreview.com/crr/article.php?id=1388