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massage therapy for pediatric cancer

Massage Therapy has a wide range of uses, from pure relaxation to helping people recover from injury. As a massage therapist, you may have watched the tension and anxiety ease from a client's shoulders, or perhaps you had a hand in getting an athlete back to peak condition.

Some of you, too, might work with populations where the benefits of massage therapy are more difficult to quantify or are a part of a larger treatment program, making pinpointing the benefit of therapeutic massage difficult. For the most part, cancer patients fall into this category. Anecdotal evidence continues to detail the relief massage therapy offers, but these accounts go only so far to persuade people of the merits of massage therapy.

And this is where research can help. By quantifying the benefits offered by massage therapy, scientific studies help build a foundation upon which massage therapists, and the people they help, can stand.

THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE

The American Cancer Society estimated 10,400 new cases of pediatric cancer were diagnosed in 2007.[1] These children, especially those receiving chemotherapy and radiation, often experience adverse symptoms, including nausea, pain, anxiety, depression, weight loss and hair loss. Invasive treatments can leave patients feeling physically, mentally and emotionally drained.

Palliative care options such as massage therapy, however, are gaining in popularity. A 2003 study reported 33 percent of parents in a primary care setting use complementary and alternative medicine therapies (CAM), with massage therapy being the most commonly used.[2] Massage therapy is believed to improve circulation and immune function, help eliminate waste, dissolve soft adhesions, reduce swelling, and relieve the pain and stress associated with many illnesses.[3,4] The potential for increased immune function and decreased pain make massage therapy a potentially key palliative option for children with cancer.

Read the full article in the Spring 2009 issue of mtj.

For more information on massage and other related areas of cancer research, read American College of Physicians (2008, September 16). Massage Therapy May Have Immediate Positive Effect On Pain And Mood. 

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