Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Ironson, G., Beutler, J., Vera, Y., Hurley, J., . . . Fraser, M. (2005). Natural killer cells and lymphocytes increase in women with breast cancer following massage therapy. International Journal of Neuroscience, 115, 495–510.

The intervention was five weeks of massage therapy sessions for 30 minutes per session. Massages were given three times per week, for a total of 15 massages (control group).

• The sample had 34 participants.
• Both groups were comprised of women who had received surgery for breast cancer.
• The women had stage I or II breast cancer, diagnosed within the past three years, and were at least three months post any treatment.

A longitudinal randomized controlled trial design was used.

• State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) 
• Profile of Mood States (POMS)
• Symptom Checklist–90–Revised (SCL-90-R)
• Natural killer cell numbers and assays (blood) measured immediate- and long-term effects.

Anxiety was reduced in the massage group on STAI (p < 0.05) after the first and last sessions (decreased by 25%).

• Random assignment by flip of coin could have introduced bias; a random-number table could have been used to avoid this bias.
• The study had a small sample.