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| From OncoLog,
May 2006, Vol. 51, No. 5 |
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 The Many Benefits of Massage
 Long touted as a way to ease muscle strain and foster relaxation, massage is now being used to relieve some of the side effects of cancer and cancer treatment. As a complementary therapy, massage assists circulation, restores energy, and enhances emotional well-being.
Massage has been shown to reduce the fatigue, pain, anxiety, and nausea that cancer patients often experience, according to Ki Y. Shin, M.D., a rehabilitation physician and an associate professor in The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Department of Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Medicine. Although not a treatment for cancer, massage seems to ease symptoms of the disease and to help patients cope with the side effects of treatment. It improves their satisfaction with hospital stays and can also improve quality of life, said Dr. Shin.
Types of massage
Massage has been around for centuries. Originating in traditional Chinese medicine, it was also once used to treat illness in Japan and India and in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It can be done while the recipient is seated in a chair, lying on a table, or in a hospital bed.
Massage is a touch therapy in which a client’s muscle groups are stroked, kneaded, or stretched. Among the various forms of massage is Swedish massage, which is very popular in the U.S. and which uses kneading actions to enhance circulation or long, gentle strokes to communicate calmness to the skin. Deep tissue massage focuses on the deeper underlying areas of muscle. Another type of massage is manual lymphatic drainage, which uses very light pressure in gentle rhythmic motions to increase the flow of lymph fluid out of swollen tissues. The National Cancer Institute says that this form of massage is an effective therapy for lymphedema, the retention of proteins and water in the tissues that is sometimes a side effect of cancer treatment. Because of potential side effects and injury, manual lymphatic drainage massage techniques should only be performed by a health practitioner with lymphedema-specific training and certification.
Who should not receive massage
Patients with certain medical conditions, however, could be harmed by receiving a massage. Those who should not get massage therapy, Dr. Shin said, include patients with blood clots or a tumor or active disease in the area to be massaged. Patients taking blood-thinning or anticoagulant medications or those who have an unstable spine or other fractures, low platelet counts, and certain blood disorders should not receive deep tissue massage. A variety of other medical conditions such as skin fragility after radiation treatment or chemotherapy, infections, bone metastasis, or excess fluids outside of the lungs may require adjustments in massage therapy. A patient should not be massaged in the region of a tumor or enlarged lymph node, as there may be a risk of dispersing the cancerous cells.
The massage therapist
It is important for a person with cancer to pick a massage therapist who has training in the special needs of cancer patients, Dr. Shin said. Such a therapist will screen each person to see if a massage is appropriate and, if necessary, modify the massage to accommodate the client’s medical condition. This might mean, for instance, reducing the pressure of the massage therapist’s touch in order not to irritate a client’s swollen tissues or avoiding certain areas near a tumor or surgical incision. It is vital for a massage therapist to consult with a patient’s oncologist before treatment, and it is also important for physicians to know when a patient is undergoing this complementary therapy.
For more information
To find a qualified massage therapist with experience working with cancer patients, contact the American Massage Therapy Association by calling 1-877-905-2700, or visit their Web site at www.amtamassage.org. For information on studies on massage and cancer patients, visit www.mdanderson.org/cimer and then click on Reviews of Therapies and Manipulative & Body-Based Methods. For
more information on this topic or for questions about M. D. Anderson’s treatments,
programs, or services, call askMDAnderson at (877) MDA-6789.
Other
articles in OncoLog, May 2006 issue:
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