Massage Therapy for Hospitalized Patients Receiving Palliative Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

CONTEXT: Massage therapy is increasingly used in palliative settings to improve quality of life (QoL) and symptom burden; however, the optimal massage "dosage" remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: To compare three massage dosing strategies among inpatients receiving palliative care consultation. METHODS: At an urban academic hospital, we conducted a three-armed randomized trial examining three different doses of therapist-applied massage to test change in overall QoL and symptoms among hospitalized adult patients receiving palliative care consultation for any indication (Arm I: 10-min massage daily × 3 days; Arm II: 20-min massage daily × 3 days; Arm III: single 20-min massage). Primary outcome measure was single-item McGill QoL question. Secondary outcomes measured pain/symptoms, rating of peacefulness, and satisfaction with intervention. Data were collected at baseline, pre- and post-treatment, and one-day postlast treatment (follow-up). Repeated measure analysis of variance and paired t-test were used to determine significant differences. RESULTS: Total n = 387 patients were 55.7 (±15.49) years old, mostly women (61.2%) and African-American (65.6%). All three arms demonstrated within-group improvement at follow-up for McGill QoL (all P < 0.05). No significant between-group differences were found. Finally, repeated measure analyses demonstrated time to predict immediate improvement in distress (P ≤ 0.003) and pain (P ≤ 0.02) for all study arms; however, only improvement in distress sustained at follow-up measurement in arms with three consecutive daily massages of 10 or 20 minutes. CONCLUSION: Massage therapy in complex patients with advanced illness was beneficial beyond dosage. Findings support session length (10 or 20 minutes) was predictive of short-term improvements while treatment frequency (once or three consecutive days) predicted sustained improvement at follow-up.

"I Didn't Know Massages Could Do That:" A qualitative analysis of the perception of hospitalized patients receiving massage therapy from specially trained massage therapists.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the perception and experience of hospitalized palliative care eligible patients receiving massage therapy from specially trained massaged therapist. DESIGN: Twenty hospitalized palliative care eligible patients received three differing doses of massage therapy from specially trained massage therapists. Patients were interviewed about their experience and perception related to the massage. Open-ended data were collected and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. SETTING: 912-bed tertiary hospital center in Washington, DC. RESULTS: Participants generally perceived the hospital-based massage experience positively. Participants noted how the massage experience provoked reflection on the overall hospital experience in two ways: first, as a reference point to the inpatient environment itself, and second, in terms of how massage reduces this distress and creates a sense of peace, at least temporarily. CONCLUSION: The data collected in these semi-structured interviews showed that massage therapy can uniquely ameliorate some of the most pervasive challenges to quality of life for hospitalized patients affected by chronic and serious illness.