Medical school students at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School who were massaged before an exam showed a significant decrease in anxiety and respiratory rates, as well as a significant increase in white blood cells and natural killer cell activity.
Women who had experienced the recent death of a child were less depressed after receiving therapeutic massage, according to preliminary results of a study at the University of South Carolina.
Preliminary results suggested cancer patients had less pain and anxiety after receiving therapeutic massage at the James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio.
Studies funded by the National Institutes of Health have found massage beneficial in improving weight gain in HIV-exposed infants and facilitation recovery in patients who underwent abdominal surgery. At the University of Miami School of Medicine’s Touch Research Institute, researches have found that massage is helpful in decreasing blood pressure in people with hypertension, alleviation pain in migraine sufferers and improving alertness and performance in office workers.
Office workers massaged regularly were more alert, performed better and were less stressed than those who weren’t massaged.
Premature infants who were massaged gained more weight and fared better than those who were not.
Massage therapy decreased the effects of anxiety, tension, depression, pain, and itching in burn patients.
Autistic children showed less erratic behavior after massage therapy.
Abdominal surgery patients recovered more quickly after massage.
-AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association)