Abstracts Health Sciences

Effects of a full-body massage on pain intensity, anxiety, and physiologic relaxation in Taiwanese patients with metastatic bone pain: a pilot study

by Sui-Whi Jane

Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, School of Nursing Patients with metastatic cancers are more likely to have pain (50% to 74%) compared to patients with non-metastatic cancers (15%). Bone involvement is a hallmark of advanced disease, afflicting 34% to 45% of cancer patients in terms of intolerable pain, substantial morbidity and disruptive quality of life. Most investigators demonstrate immediate or short-term effects of massage on general cancer-related pain, but not specifically for cancer-related bone pain. Little is known about the feasibility, safety, and time effects of massage therapy (MT) in Taiwanese patients with metastatic bone pain. The purpose of this study was to describe the feasibility of implementing a full-body MT in 30 Taiwanese hospitalized patients with metastatic bone pain and to examine the trends in time effects of massage on present pain intensity (PPI), anxiety, and physiological relaxation over a 16 to 18 hour period.A quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design with repeated measures was employed to examine the time effects of massage using a single item of PPI-VAS and Anxiety-VAS, the modified Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (MSF-MPQ), heart rate (HR), and mean arterial pressure (MAP).Massage was shown to have effective immediate, short-term (20 to 30 min), intermediate (1 to 2.5 hours), and long-term benefits (16 to 18 hours) on PPI and anxiety. The most significant impact on measures employed occurred 15 or 20 minutes after the intervention. There were no significant time effects in terms of decreases or increases in HR and MAP. Caution is suggested in the interpretation of study findings due to the convenience sampling, small sample size, and the quasi-experimental design employed. Importantly, this study demonstrated the feasibility of implementing a full-body MT and its acceptability to patients with bone pain. Massage resulted in subjective reports of relaxation, enhanced comfort, and less cancer-related pain and anxiety, and improved sleep. No patient reported any adverse effects as a result of the study procedures. Clinically, the time effects of MT can assist healthcare providers in implementing this intervention along with pharmacological treatment, therein enhancing cancer pain management. Future studies are suggested for randomized clinical trials to validate the effectiveness of MT in this cancer population.