Swedish massage benefits osteoarthritis patients

Massage therapy is a safe and effective way to reduce pain and improve function in adults with osteoarthritis of the knee, says a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

68 study participants, with diagnosed osteoarthritis of the knee, were divided into two groups. The first group received a one-hour Swedish massage twice a week for four weeks, followed by Swedish massage once a week for the next four weeks. After the first eight weeks of massage therapy, participants had improved flexibility, less pain and improved range of motion.

The second group who only continued with their usual care without massage showed no changes in symptoms. During weeks nine through 16, they received the massage intervention and experienced benefits similar to those receiving the initial massage therapy. When reassessed eight weeks after completion of the massage intervention, the benefits of massage persisted and remained significant, although the magnitude of effect was somewhat reduced.

With currently available non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs often not well-tolerated by older adults with osteoarthritis; and Cox-II inhibitors like Vioxx, posing highly-publicized toxicity problems of their own, so-called 'alternative' treatments like massage are most important when conventional treatments are far from ideal, say the authors.

"Our results suggest that massage therapy can be used in conjunction with conventional treatment for osteoarthritis," say the authors. "Ultimately, massage may be shown to lessen a patient's reliance on medications and decrease health care costs."

From:   thesouthern.com/articles/2007/02/26/health/health_news/doc45c4f35935611050866928.txt