Massage is considered as one of the oldest therapy used to treat various ailments. It was not only used as a preventive measure but also as a measure to cure disease. Ayurveda being a holistic system of medicine has emphasized the utility of Massage in various conditions. Ayurveda explained Massage as Abhyanga which infers anointing the body. Abhyanga not only prevents and delays normal ageing ...

BACKGROUND Hypertension has become a major problem throughout the world, especially in developing countries like Iran. As it is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, even small reductions in the prevalence can have potentially large public health benefits. Among the complementary methods, massage provides an effective means to lower the blood pressure. If nurses perceive the experienc...

BACKGROUND Research on therapeutic massage bodywork (TMB) continues to expand, but few studies consider how research or knowledge translation may be affected by the lack of uniformly standardized competencies for most TMB therapies, by practitioner variability from training in different forms of TMB, or from the effects of experience on practice. PURPOSE This study explores and describes how ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES There is limited access to health care in rural Ghana and virtually no rehabilitative services available. This situation presents a unique opportunity to utilize chair massage in addressing women's health in rural Ghana, particularly when it comes to muscle pain and fatigue from heavy labor. The objective of this case report is to determine the results of chair massage...

I feel that it is important to know the stories behind those who are working hard in the field to bring forward massage therapy research. Interviews with massage therapy researchers will now occasionally be included in the Journal as a new editorial feature. The first interview is with Virginia S. Cowen, PhD, LMT a New York State-licensed and NCB board-certified massage therapist with a PhD fro...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In recent years, the nursing profession used technology and pharmacology to relieve conditions such as pain, anxiety and insomnia that were once treated with massage. However, interest in massage has grown with the move to more holistic nursing. This review examines the physiological and psychological effects of slow-stroke back massage and hand massage on relaxation in olde...

Automated massage machines have been widely used in family for the past few years, but there was limit scientific evidence to support for them positive effects. This paper aims to evaluate the massage effects on recovery of muscle fatigue and explore the optimal massage machine design parameters. Two subjects participated in prone bridge exercises to make the erector spinae muscles fatigue befo...

OBJECTIVE To introduce a newly designed massage instrument, the Hand Grip T-bar (HT-bar) and use it to relieve chronic non-specific low back pain (nLBP) through deep cross-friction massage (roptrotherapy). METHOD 22 subjects (9 males and 13 females, aged 51.6±6.7) with chronic nLBP were allocated randomly to a Roptrotherapy group (n=12) and a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)...

BACKGROUND Although back pain is the most common reason patients use complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies, little is known about the willingness of primary care back pain patients to try these therapies. As part of an effort to refine recruitment strategies for clinical trials, we sought to determine if back pain patients are willing to try acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, m...

BACKGROUND Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common and costly musculoskeletal problems in modern society. Proponents of massage therapy claim it can minimize pain and disability and speed return-to-normal function. OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of massage therapy for nonspecific LBP. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, HealthSTAR, CINAH...