Massage relieves nausea in women with breast cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of massage on nausea, anxiety, and depression in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Design: This work was a single-center, prospective, randomized, controlled trial. Settings/location: This study was conducted in an oncology clinic, in a hospital in southwestern Sweden. Subjects: Thirty-nine (39) women (mean age = 51.8) with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy were enrolled. Interventions: The patients were randomly assigned to a massage therapy group (20 minutes of massage on five occasions) or a control group (five 20-minute visits). Outcome measures: All patients recorded nausea and anxiety on the Visual Analogue Scale before and after each intervention. They also completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: Massage treatment significantly reduced nausea compared with control treatment (p = 0.025) when improvement was measured as a percentage of the five treatment periods. Differences in anxiety and depression between the two treatment regimes could not be statistically demonstrated. Conclusions: This study complements previous studies on the effect of massage and supports the conclusion that massage reduces nausea in these patients.