For a range of conditions, therapie...

For a range of conditions, therapies based forward complementary or alternative medicine are gaining acceptance in the medical community, although not many have been rigorously evaluated. In Great Britain, an estimated 20 percent of physicians use as it is therapies, and more than 70 percent of physicians have referr patients for like treatments. Stress management is undivided of the most frequently cited reasons for use of complementary therapies. Therapeutic massage is single of several relaxation techniques available, yet its effectiveness has not been clearly demonstrated. Hanley and colleagues compared the consequence of six sessions of therapeutic massage to issues associated with use of stres reduction programs that used relaxation tapes.

They recruited patients from a stres reduction clinic held formerly per week in a Scottish general practice. Eligible adult patients who had General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) scores of five or more (indicating significant stres levels) were invited for a screening interview to obtain baseline data and except patients with medical or psychiatric conditions. Eligible patients were randomly assigned to therapeutic massage (29 patients), use of a relaxation tape at place of abode (28 patients), and use of relaxation tapes in the physician's office during weekly sessions (22 patients). The result measures were changes in scores forward the GHQ-30, the Adapted Well Being Index (AWBI) and the be dead Index, and the number of physician consultations during treatment and for six weeks after treatment.

entire data were available for 69 patients who complet the treatments. Patients in all treatment clumps had significant improvements in each of the three indexes of stres and a significant very little in the frequency of consultation with their physician in the six weeks after treatment. There was little change in the use of medication to relieve stres The evens of improvement were almost identical in each dispose at three-week and six-week follow-up At the beginning of the subject of attention 36 percent of the patients were taking medication to relieve stres At follow-up no just discovered patients had started taking medication, four had decreased their dosage or stopped, and sum of two units had increased their dosage. Patient satisfaction with treatment was quite high. In each arrange 84 to 91 percent of patients reported benefit, and 63 to 100 percent said they would have the same treatment again. The highest patient satisfaction scores were for therapeutic massage.

The authors judge that therapeutic massage was no more effective than relaxation tapes in reducing stres in primary care patients. Although patients preferr therapeutic massage, it is an expensive intervention, requiring significant resources and equipment. Relaxation tapes, either used at place of abode or during clinic sessions, are an equally effective intervention for significant stres reduction.

ANNE D WALLING, MD

Hanley J et al. Randomised controll trial of therapeutic massage in the management of stres B J Gen Pract January 2003;53:20-5

COPYRIGHT 2003 American Academy of Family Physicians

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