Journal
JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
Volume 18, Issue 8, Pages 789-797Publisher
MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC
DOI: 10.1089/acm.2011.0071
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [5R21AT002751]
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's General Clinical Research Center program
- National Center for Research Resources [M01RR00425]
- National Institutes of Health
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objectives: This study gathers preliminary data about the biologic effects of repeated Swedish massage therapy compared to a light-touch control condition. Design: The study design was a 5-week comparison of repeated Swedish massage and light touch on oxytocin (OT), arginine-vasopressin (AVP), adrenal corticotropin hormone (ACTH), cortisol (CORT), circulating phenotypic lymphocyte markers, and mitogen-stimulated cytokine function. Setting: The setting was an outpatient research unit in an academic medical center. Participants: The study subjects were medically and psychiatrically healthy young adults. Intervention: The study comprised 45 minutes of Swedish massage or light touch, using highly specified and identical protocols, either weekly or twice weekly for 5 weeks. Outcome measures: The outcome measures were mean differences between massage and light touch on OT, AVP, ACTH, CORT, lymphocyte markers, and cytokine levels. Results: Compared to the touch control condition, weekly Swedish massage stimulated a sustained pattern of increased circulating phenotypic lymphocyte markers and decreased mitogen-stimulated cytokine production, similar to what was previously reported for a single massage session, while having minimal effect on hypothalamic pituitary adrenal function. Twice-weekly massage produced a different response pattern with increased OT levels, decreased AVP, and decreased CORT but little effect on circulating lymphocyte phenotypic markers and a slight increase in mitogen-stimulated interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-a, interleukin (IL)-1b and IL-2 levels, suggesting increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Conclusions: There are sustained cumulative biologic actions for the massage and touch interventions that persist for several days or a week, and these differ profoundly depending on the dosage (frequency) of sessions. Confirmatory studies in larger samples are needed.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available