♥   A study conducted at the Touch Research Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, compared the use of massage therapy, transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS) and sham TENS (no current used) with a group of fibromyalgia patients.  Results showed that the massage therapy group reported lower anxiety and depression and lower cortisol levels.  The massage therapy group improved on measures of pain, reported less pain, less stiffness and fatigue and fewer nights of difficult sleeping. Thus, massage therapy was found to be the most effective therapy with these fibromyalgia patients.

Fibromyalgia patients may benefit from massage therapy because it enhances immunological and neuro-endocrine function: for example, decreasing cortisol and norepinephrine levels and increasing serotonin levels and natural killer cell activity.  The low serotonin  levels in fibromyalgia patients have been related to their nonrestorative sleep, mood alteration, and increased pain sensitivity.  In at least one study, massage therapy increased serotonin levels (Ironson et al 1996) and in another, sleep patterns improved (Field et al 1992).  Although these data are suggestive, they are based on studies with other disease groups.

Visit the Touch Research Institute website for more information on the Institute and massage therapy studies done with various populations, including abstracts.  www.miami.edu/touch-research/

Excerpted from the book TOUCH THERAPY, Tiffany Field, PhD., Churchill Livingstone, 2000, pp.68-73.