Massage

A Meta-Analysis of Massage Therapy Research.

Moyer CA, Rounds J, Hannum JW · Psychological Bulletin, 2004

This landmark meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin gathered 37 randomized studies of massage therapy and calculated average effects across nine outcomes. A single massage session reduced state anxiety, blood pressure and heart rate, but did not measurably change negative mood, immediate pain ratings or cortisol. A course of multiple sessions reduced pain measured later on. The largest effects were reductions in trait anxiety and depression after a course of treatment, which the authors note were similar in size to those seen with psychotherapy. No factors were found that reliably changed how well massage worked. The authors argue that massage may be better understood through a psychotherapy lens than a purely medical one. A limitation is age: the analysis is from 2004, and the number of studies for some outcomes was modest.

Our summaries describe what each study found. They are not medical advice, and the practices at Halcyon are not a treatment for any condition.