Table 1 . Massage therapy and mental health conditions
Mental health condition Author , Title and Year Summary
Anxiety and depression in pregnant women
Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Depression
Depression in hospitalised adult cancer patients
Infant mental health
Maternal mental health
Mental health and learning disability
Mental health in older people
Pain
Peri-operative anxiety in adults
Quality of life challenges for people with chronic and serious illness
Sleep quality in critically ill patients
Well-being of older people in residential care
Hall et al . The effectiveness of massage for reducing pregnant women ’ s anxiety and depression : Systematic review and meta-analysis . 2020 14
Lee et al . Massage therapy for children with autism spectrum disorders : A systematic review . 2011 15
Coelho et al . Massage therapy for the treatment of depression : A systematic review . 2016 16
Liou et al . Comparison of depressive symptom outcomes in hospitalised adult cancer patients receiving music therapy or massage therapy . 2022 17
Bennett et al . Massage for promoting mental and physical health in typically developing infants under the age of six months . 2013 18
Fan et al . Parent-performed infant massage for improving parental mental state within 18 months postpartum : A systematic review . 2023 19
Lin et al . The positive effect of motherperformed infant massage on infantile eczema and maternal mental state : A randomized controlled trial . 2022 20
Non-pharmacologic treatments for mental health symptoms are an important option for women to use during pregnancy . Massage therapy might be more effective in reducing pregnant women ’ s anxiety and depression than usual care , although the current results may be prone to bias . Further high-quality research is required to fully evaluate the impact of massage therapy on pregnant women ’ s mental health symptoms in the immediate and also longer term .
Six studies met the inclusion criteria . Limited evidence exists for the effectiveness of massage as a symptomatic treatment of autism . Because the risk of bias was high , firm conclusions cannot be drawn . Future , more rigorous randomised clinical trials seem to be warranted .
Four RCTs met the inclusion criteria . Despite previous research suggesting that massage therapy may be an effective treatment for depression , there is currently a lack of evidence to support this assertion from RCTs that have selected participants for depression or subsyndromal symptoms of depression .
This was a retrospective , multi-method program evaluation of single , first-time music therapy and massage therapy sessions delivered to hospitalised adults with cancer . Among 1764 patients ( 61.2 % women , 72.7 % white ), 350 received music therapy and 1414 received massage therapy . Music therapy was associated with a 0.4 point greater reduction ( 95 % 0.3 to 0.6 , P < 0.001 ) in the ESAS depression score relative to massage therapy . Among hospitalised adult cancer patients , both music therapy and massage therapy were associated with reduced depressive symptoms , but music therapy was associated with a greater reduction than massage therapy .
Twenty randomised trials were included . Results showed limited statistically significant benefits for a number of aspects of physical health ( for example , weight , length , head / arm / leg circumference , 24-hour sleep duration ; time spent crying or fussing ; blood bilirubin and number of episodes of illness ) and mental health / development ( for example , fine / gross motor skills , personal and social behaviour and psychomotor development ). However , all significant results were lost either at later follow-up points or when we removed the large number of studies regarded to be at high risk of bias . These findings do not currently support the use of infant massage with low-risk population groups of parents and infants . This may be due to the poor quality of many of the included studies , the failure to address the mechanisms by which infant massage could have an impact on the outcomes being assessed , and the inclusion of inappropriate outcomes for population groups ( such as weight gain ).
Nine studies were included which observed one or more aspects of parental mental state , including depression , anxiety , parental stress , or general mood state . A 10-minute , home-based parent-performed infant massage for at least 4 weeks is advisable for maternal depression within 5 months postpartum . Moreover , parent-performed infant massage in a neonatal intensive care unit is advisable for improving the general mood of mothers of preterm infants .
This randomised controlled trial involved 66 full term infants with excema . Results suggest that mother-performed infant massage could effectively promote the remission of infantile eczema and reduce its relapse , along with relieving maternal anxiety and depression mood .
Field . Massage therapy research review . Several studies show that massage therapy by a therapist and by significant others reduces prenatal depression and
2016 6 increases gestational age and birth-weight . In a recent study , massage therapy was compared to yoga . Both groups of prenatally depressed women became less depressed and their newborns were greater gestational age and birthweight . Despite the positive findings for both groups , the effects are confounded by yoga also being a source of social support from other prenatally depressed women in the group sessions .
Webb & Lloyd . Exploring the impact of providing seated chair massage to patients and staff at a forensic mental health and learn-ing disability ser-vice .
2023 21
Lin et al . Effect of traditional Chinese medicine massage on physical and mental health of middle-aged and elderly women . 2023 22
Crawford et al . The impact of massage therapy on function in pain populations : A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Part 1 . 2016 23
Guo et al . The effectiveness of massage on peri-operative anxiety in adults : A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and controlled clinical trials . 2020 24
Kelemen et al . “ I Didn ’ t Know Massages Could Do That :” A qualitative analysis of the perception of hospitalized patients receiving massage therapy from specially trained massage therapists .
2020 25
Fang et al . Effect of massage therapy on sleep quality in critically ill patients : A systematic review and meta-analysis .
2022 26
McFeeters et al . Massage , a complementary therapy effectively promoting the health and well-being of older people in residential care settings : A review of the literature . 2016 27
Massage therapy has recognised psychological benefits , yet it is rarely used in forensic mental health settings . In 2022 , 10-minute sessions of seated chair massage were offered to patients and staff at a secure forensic mental health and learning disability service in the UK . Seated chair massage was found to have overwhelmingly positive effects in the short term and the authors concluded that it is a low-risk , boundaried and appropriate complementary therapy intervention for patients in forensic mental health settings . Their findings challenge the view that these settings are essentially ‘ no touch ’ environments . The article outlines barriers and facilitators to introducing seated chair massage in a forensic mental health service , which may be useful to other teams considering developing a similar service .
This mixed-methods study collected data from 10 middle-aged and older women using questionnaires and multiple measurement instruments . Intermittent exercise significantly influenced the body composition , physical fitness , sports performance , and physical and mental health of female college students and improved their self-confidence , sleep quality , eating habits , weight , blood pressure , and sports performance , even when not accompanied with massage . However , although the rate of improvement was stable , intermittent exercise with traditional Chinese medicine massage yielded greater improvements in abdominal muscle strength and flexibility than intermittent exercise without traditional Chinese medicine massage .
Sixty high quality and seven low quality studies were included in the review . Results demonstrate massage therapy effectively treats pain compared to sham comparators . Compared to active comparators , massage therapy was also beneficial for treating anxiety and health-related quality of life .
This study included 25 RCTs involving 2494 partici-pants . Analysis suggests that massage could signifi-cantly reduce peri-operative anxiety for most types of surgical patients . It was effective for pre- , intra- and post-operative anxiety . Acupoint or specific body reflex area massage showed a larger effect than general massage . Massage lasting 10-20 min per session was the most useful . Massage was concomitant with the improvement of peri-operative vital signs and post-operative pain . Massage is promising for ameliorating peri-operative anxiety in adults .
This qualitative study examined the perception and experience of 20 hospitalised palliative care eligible patients receiving three sessions of massage therapy from a specially trained massage therapist . Data collected in semi-structured interviews showed that massage therapy can uniquely ameliorate some of the most pervasive challenges to quality of life for hospitalised patients affected by chronic and serious illness .
Ten RCTs comprising 569 participants were used in the systematic review , and eight trials were included in the meta-analysis . Massage intervention , particularly foot reflexology massage , with a 2-night duration , showed improvement in subjective sleep quality among critically ill patients . Although evidence quality was low , the results suggest that massage interventions provide a non-invasive , low-cost and effective way to promote sleep quality in critically ill adult patients .
Clients perceive massage to positively influence pain , sleep , emotional status and psychosocial health . Evidence also demonstrates massage benefits the client and organisation by reducing the necessity for restraint and pharmacological intervention . Massage may be incorporated into care provision and adopted by care providers and family members as an additional strategy to enhance quality of life for older people .