Benefits of Massage for Advanced Cancer Patients
Even in a professional hospice environment, those suffering from advanced cancer are consistently, if not constantly, plagued by fatigue, pain, and loss of appetite. Cancer patients and health professionals at hospice programs are anxiously awaiting the results of a study to be conducted by the Health Sciences Center at the University of Colorado at Denver. Researchers hope to show that regular massage therapy decreases pain, improves quality of life, and reduces physical and emotional distress among patients suffering from advanced stages of cancer.
Jean Kutner, MD, MSPH, associate professor of internal medicine at the CU School of Medicine and principal investigator in the study, is optimistic. "Hospice programs are very interested in the study because they believe massage works, and we anticipate that the study will show that patients who receive the massage therapy will experience a better quality of life during end-of-life care." Dr. Kutner also feels that patients suffering from advanced cancer are made to rely too heavily on drugs to treat symptoms that massage can treat more thoroughly, and without all the side effects and interactions. Now, researchers have to provide hard evidence as proof. "Most complementary therapies have not undergone rigorous scientific review," she said. "People believe it works, but data are needed to prove if patients are truly benefiting, and a study of this magnitude will help us gather that data."
The National Institutes of Health awarded a $1.2 million grant to conduct the study. As of March 2006, a total of 299 patients with advanced cancer have been enrolled. Registered participants have been enrolled from several sites around the country as part of a national hospice research network. Dr. Kutner and the team hope to have 440 patients enrolled in the study by August.
Hospitals Starting to Recognize the Value of Massage Therapy
With millions of baby boomers entering their proverbial "golden years" and interest in complementary and alternative medicine growing exponentially, it's no wonder that hospitals across the United States are beginning to embrace massage therapy as a viable and important component of patient care.
Patients are requesting additional treatment options and hospitals are beginning to realize the benefits of not simply treating the condition or disease a patient has been diagnosed with, but also treating the person suffering from the disease. With studies being conducted that suggest the effectiveness of massage in helping cancer patients and others facing debilitating illness, hospitals are beginning to add therapists to their staff. And hospitals are utilizing massage therapists with pregnant patients and other special-needs patients as well.
Massage is becoming one of the most popular complementary and alternative medicine therapies offered in hospitals. "Massage therapists are helping to heal patients, staff and the entire medical system by simply and profoundly reminding people, through touch, of the place of stillness and compassion within us all - the inner spark and connection with divinity from which all healing flows," said Laura Koch, founder and director of the Hospital Based Massage Network, an organization that "supports massage and touch therapists pursuing integration of complementary care into mainstream medicine through their work."
Diabetes and Massage
Because of the many physical complications that can occur due to diabetes, massage therapists need to question their patients concerning several factors such as appetite, thirst, fatigue, sleep patterns, high blood pressure and numbness of the hands and feet. The therapist can then make an assessment as to the muscles, joints and tissues.
Massage can promote relaxation while acting on the nervous system. Massage helps to eliminate the surpluses of adrenalin and of noradrenalin, two hormones often related to a high glycaemia. It also can decrease the frequency of swelling of the feet and increases the contribution of nutriments and oxygen to the skin and muscles.
Massage in the Workplace
MASSAGE MIGHT REDUCE HEALTH COSTS
Kathryn Bishopric is manager of counseling services at Baptist Health, ranked 18th in Fortune's 2005 "100 Best" companies. Bishopric, who directs the behavioral and collaborative medicine program under which workplace massage resides, firmly believes that massage therapy can be expected to lower employers' health-care costs. "Baptist Health is self-insured, so we have a really strong interest in wellness," Bishopric says. "We promote anything that helps employees take care of themselves. Studies clearly show that if employees are healthy, they'll use less in health insurance benefits and be more productive."
Massage at the workplace is helping employees manage and overcome stress. When mtj compared the responses from Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" with other companies' responses, it found that massage is an employee benefit at 90 percent of the "best" companies.
Another company that echoes the belief that workplace massage is an important part of its overall health and fitness program is S.C. Johnson, of Racine, Wisconsin, who moved to seventh-place rank in Fortune's "100 Best" in 2005. This company's workplace massage program is more than 10 years old, and is extended to retirees and to employees' families as well. Spokesperson Therese Van Ryne says, "We are seeing more and more managers who recognize the benefits of offering massage to employees and thus are picking up half the cost. This seems to work especially well in departments such as customer service, where the employees deal with a lot of stress."
