Massage Relieves Nausea in Women with Breast Cancer Who Are Undergoing Chemotherapy

Annika Billhult Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology/Physiotherapy, The Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden.Doktorand, Leg Sjukgymnast, FoU-enheten i Södra Älvsborg, Sven Eriksonplatsen 4, 503 38 Borås, Sweden. E-mail: annika.billhult@vgregion.se

Ingegerd Bergbom Institute of Caring Sciences, The Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden.

Elisabet Stener-Victorin Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology/Physiotherapy, The Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden.Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology/Endocrinology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden.

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Vol. 13: Issue. 1: Pages. 53-58

DOI: 10.1089/acm.2006.6049

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.