Massage Therapy
(Valentina Powers, baby massage, flickr. CC: BY 2.0. Downloaded on August 3, 2009.)
Supportive Evidence
Two studies:
Therapists provided massage for 20 minutes per week for 5 weeks.
Depressed women were massaged by their partners over a 16-week period using a specific protocol (20 minutes, 2 times per week).
Overall positive outcomes included:
Patient reports of decreased depression and anxiety
Decreased leg and back pain
Decreased cortisol levels
Excessive fetal activity decreased
Incidence of prematurity was lower in massage groups
For more information on massage therapy in general, see the Massage Therapy web unit.
One theorized underlying mechanism by which massage therapy is able to produce the above positive effects is the increase of vagal activity following the stimulation of pressure receptors during massage therapy and, in turn, cortisol levels being diminished (Field, 2008).