Hernandez-Reif, M., Ironson, G., Field, T., Hurley, J., Katz, G., Diego, M., . . . Burman, I. (2004). Breast cancer patients have improved immune and neuroendocrine functions following massage therapy. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57, 45–52.

DOI Link

Intervention Characteristics/Basic Study Process

  • The intervention was PMR for 30-minute sessions three times per week for five weeks versus massage therapy for five weeks versus a control group.
  • State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was completed before and after the first and last sessions. Longer-term anxiety effect was examined by comparing pre-first day and pre-last day measures on STAI and by the SCL-90R anxiety subscale administered on the first and last days of intervention.  
  • Blood samples were drawn to evaluate immune response (NK cell production, cytotoxicity, and hormone levels).

Sample Characteristics

  • N = 3 groups (PMR [n = 20] versus massage therapy [n = 22] versus control [n = 16])

Study Design

  • Experimental study

Measurement Instruments/Methods

  • STAI 
  • SCL

Results

Immediate effects: Analysis of variance on STAI revealed a significant (p < 0.001) group effect on the first day’s change scores, and subsequent Bonferroni t-tests revealed reduced anxiety scores for the massage and PMR groups when compared to the control group. The longer-term effects (SCL-90R subscale) did not differ significantly among the three groups.

Conclusions

The study supports the use of massage treatment and relaxation to reduce anxiety, pain, and depression in women with breast cancer. Massage therapy demonstrated an increase in dopamine, serotonin, NK cells, and lymphocytes. 
 

Limitations

  • Small sample sizes
  • Unclear whether the assignment to the three treatment groups was random, which limits the strength of the study