"The eyes speak just as much as the mouth does"
Research Studies
OVERWORKED STUDENTS
When overworked 3rd year medical students were given just a single massage, the number of disease fighting T-cells in the blood significantly increased according to a recent survey.
ON-SITE MASSAGE BENEFITS
71% of office staff sit at a desk for 5-8 hrs a day, after receiving regular on-site massage, 72% of those treated, said they felt it improved their concentration & work performance.
PREMATURE BABIES
Massaging & singing lullabies to premature babies in special care units can help them to put on weight & help them leave hospital earlier, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Reserchers found that playing music & giving a massage once or twice a day reduced the average hospital stay by 1 day for girls & 1 and half days for boys. Mothers who actually sang lullabies to their offspring produced the best results of all.
BACK PAIN REDUCED
Massage & Shiatsu benefits the back in prone position (face down) after studying the psycophysiological effects of massage. Together with Shiatsu, reserchers found that the two body works increased skin temperature, decreased blood pressure & reduced pain.
J.Inagaki et al. Observed 24 healthy women for 50 mins in a prone postion. The women then were given 15 mins of massage & Shiatsu followed by 15 mins of prone position. Every 5 mins throughout the study, measurements were taken of skin temperature, blood pressure & pulse rate. Significant findings after the study were an increase in skin temperature along the back & lower blood pressure. Subjects were found to have decreased pain.
The study appeared in August 2002 issue of Nursing & Health Science.
ECZEMA RELIEF
A US study has found massaging babies & toddlers with an emollient for 20 mins a day for 4 weeks could relieve the symptoms of eczema. The massaged babies had reduced redness, itching & dryness compared with those who weren't treated.
AUTISM & TOUCH
Exploring a massage intervention for parents & their children with Autism. Cullen-Powella, Barlow JH, Cushway.D.Journal of Child Health care Dec 2005,vol 9 (4);p245-55.
Aim of study was to assess what touch means between parents & their Autistic children on completion of a massage intervention & weather parents feel massage changes their relationship with their children.
Subjects/method: Data was collected from 14 parents who were interviewed before & immediately after the massage & 16 weeks after intervention. At baseline parents were upset & distressed that they were unable to get 'close' to their children. Results/conclusion; Parents reported feeling physically & emotionally closer to their children after massage, these benefits were maintained for parents who continued to use massage at home after this.
HOT STONE THERAPY
The feeling is akin to being "tucked into bed by your mother" says Mary Hannigan of Tuscon, Arizona, originator of what she has named La Stone therapy. Performed with black river stones heated in water & strategically placed along the body. This therapy has recently in the last few years been introduced to the UK. Each heated stone brings oxygenated blood rapidly to the muscles beneath it. While a traditional swedish massage aids circulation, this additional, rapid effect of heat "pulling blood into tissues helps repair chronic & acute pain.
Stones are placed on energy centres along the front & back of the body. " you must experience it at least once in your life" says one recent recipient " like beaming sunrays melting their way through chunks of ice, the heated stones chase the last bits of tension from my muscles".
A SENSE OF CALM
A small scale study at the Horton Hospital, Banbury has resulted in a suggestion that regular massage by the woman's partner before & during labour can substantially reduce the need for pain killing drugs. The maternity hospital also suggests massage "encourages a sense of calm" with the babies being more placid & alert at birth.
The study was done on 35 women, with a massage programme for three evenings a week each for 30 mins. The study was encouraged by the medical staff at the hospital. Growing particularly concerned at the level of interventions in childbirth involving drugs or surgery. The manager of the delivery suite 'Anne Haines' said "this programme supports our maternity units philosopy of active childbirth, encouraging drug-free labour that create conditions for natural hormonal impulses to occur".
THE GUILD OF INFANT & CHILD MASSAGE
POSITIVELY PRONE- THE IMPROTANCE OF BABIES HAVING TIME ON THEIR TUMMIES. author Lorraine Tolley source:connections vol Issue 4, June 2003.
In the 1990's the "Back to sleep" campaign was launced in response to the concerns of the causes of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Although medical opinion still supports putting baby to sleep on their back. Some practitioners are now being alerted to the possible negative developmental effects that maybe related to a baby not spending any time at all in the prone (face down) position.
Devala Dookan (Head of Physiotherapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital & other healthcare workers have noticed that over recent years many babies were still not able to crawl by the age of 10 months. It was evident that many of the babies who could not crawl had never been exposed to the prone position. Some occupational therapists have began to identify increased cases of children with poor strength in the shoulder & arm area. Which can lead to a poor sitting posture, putting a baby in the prone position whilst awake & supervised for regular short periods of time could potentially spare him problems in later life. If a baby is allowed to spend small periods of waking time lying on his tummy he is more likely to be increasing strength in his neck & upper body, which is important for developing the stability required for crawling. Infant massage can play a key role in offering a baby an enjoyable way to experience lying on his tummy whilst having a back masage.
Further reading; Kirby,A "Dyspraxia;co-ordination problems" community practitioner vol74 Issue 8, August 2001.