Anxiolytic Effect of Aromatherapy Massage in Patients with Breast Cancer

Jiro Imanishi¹, Hiroko Kuriyama¹, Ichiro Shigemori¹, Satoko Watanabe¹, Yuka Aihara², Masakazu Kita¹, Kiyoshi Sawai³, Hiroo Nakajima³, Noriko Yoshida⁴, Masahiro Kunisawa⁴, Masanori Kawase⁵ and Kenji Fukui⁴

¹Department of Microbiology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kawaramachi-Hirokoji, Kamikyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8566, ²Department of Psychosomatic Internal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, 10-15 Fumizono-cho, Moriguchi, Osaka 570-8506, ³Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, ⁴Department of Psychiatry, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kawaramachi-Hirokoji, Kamikyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8566 and ⁵Department of Psychology, Kyoto Notre Dame University, 1 Minami-Nonogamicho, Shimogamo, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-0847, Japan

We examined how aromatherapy massage influenced psychologic and immunologic parameters in 12 breast cancer patients in an open semi-comparative trial. We compared the results 1 month before aromatherapy massage as a waiting control period with those during aromatherapy massage treatment and 1 month after the completion of aromatherapy sessions. The patients received a 30 min aromatherapy massage twice a week for 4 weeks (eight times in total). The results showed that anxiety was reduced in one 30 min aromatherapy massage in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) test and also reduced in eight sequential aromatherapy massage sessions in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) test. Our results further suggested that aromatherapy massage ameliorated the immunologic state. Further investigations are required to confirm the anxiolytic effect of aromatherapy in breast cancer patients.

Keywords: anxiety – aromatherapy massage – breast cancer

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Massage Therapy: Is Its Evidence-Base Getting Stronger

Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, 25 Victoria Park Road, Exeter EX2 4NT, UK, edzard.ernst@pms.ac.uk

M.H. Pittler, MD, PhD

B. Wider, MA

K. Boddy, MA

The aim of this article is to evaluate trends in the development of the evidence-base for the effectiveness of massage therapy. For this purpose, a comparison of two systematic reviews was conducted. The first related to the evidence-base in 2000, the second to 2005. Both employed the same methodology and criteria for evaluation. The results indicate that, in several areas, the evidence has become more solid and, for anxiety and back pain, it has become more positive. For a host of other indications, the evidence seems encouraging, but more studies are required to test the effectiveness of massage therapy as well as its use for specific conditions.

Key Words: massage • systematic reviews • effectiveness

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Value of Qualitative Research in the Study of Massage Therapy

Ania Kania, RMT, BSc; Antony Porcino, BSc; Marja J. Vehoef, PhD
Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

Qualitative inquiry is increasingly used in health research because it is particularly suited to the study of complex topics or issues about which little is known and concerning which quantification cannot easily create or effectively convey understanding. By exploring the lived experience of people providing and receiving massage therapy and the meaning that those people ascribe to those experiences, in-depth understanding of the nature of massage therapy and of how it affects people’s lives is possible. Qualitative research may also provide insights into the outcomes, process and context of massage therapy that cannot be fully achieved through quantification alone.

The purpose of the present article is to describe qualitative research and to discuss its value to the massage therapy profession. The target audience is massage therapists who want to be able to better understand the research literature, novice massage therapy researchers who are unfamiliar with qualitative research, and teachers of research methods courses in massage therapy training programs who want to include qualitative research methods in their curriculum.

KEYWORDS: Qualitative research; methodology, massage therapy

The full text of this report can be found at http://ijtmb.org/index.php/ijtmb/article/view/26/34

Depression and anxiety as major determinants of neck pain: a cross-sectional study in general practice

Eva Blozik , Daria Laptinskaya , Christoph Herrmann-Lingen , Helene Schaefer , Michael M Kochen , Wolfgang Himmel and Martin Scherer

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2009, 10:13doi:10.1186/1471-2474-10-13

Published:	26 January 2009

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Although psychosocial factors are known to be highly linked with neck pain, current therapies focus on somatically based interventions such as medicinal or manipulatory therapies. This study examines how socio-demographic, psychosocial and medical history and health-promoting lifestyle factors interact with neck pain in general practice patients. It aims to recommend selection criteria for further evaluation which might help to identify patients who might rather benefit from psychosocial interventions than from somatically based therapies.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional survey including 448 patients from a general practice setting in Germany. Participants completed a comprehensive questionnaire including the Neck Pain and Disability Scale German version (NPAD-d) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Crude and adjusted regression analyses were done to assess the relationship between neck pain and socio-demographic, psychosocial and medical history, and health-promoting lifestyle factors.

Results

Both in crude and adjusted regression analyses, depression and anxiety were highly significantly linked with increasing levels of neck pain. Educational level, deficits in social support and physical exercise were associated with neck pain in bivariate analyses, but these associations did not persist with adjustment for depression and anxiety. When investigating levels of depression and anxiety by NPAD-d quartile subgroups, those who were identified to have depressive mood or to be anxious were very likely to be in the group with the highest levels of neck pain.

Conclusions

The higher the neck pain level, the more attention should be paid to psychosocial distress as a related burden. Further research is needed to elucidate the causality and the direction of the association between psychosocial distress and neck pain and to determine the benefit of psychosocial interventions.

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