A List of Systematic Reviews of Massage Therapy
/
Massage therapy is a clinically-oriented healthcare option, that is increasingly being used alongside standard medical care to help manage a number of symptoms. This post highlights a number of systematic reviews that support the use of massage therapy.
What is a Systematic Review?
Designed by Jessica Kaufman, Cochrane Consumers & Communication Review Group, Centre for Health Communication & Participation, La Trobe University, 2011.
Systematic reviews are used as part of an evidence-based model of care to help identify and evaluate existing research for a specific topic.
Conducting a systematic review is a complex process. This specific type of research, requires multiple research experts each with their own specialized background to collaborate and analysis all the existing research available for one specific topic.
First researchers will pick a particular topic - for examples sake we would say, ‘the use of massage therapy for low back pain’. Then the researchers comb through research databases to find studies from around the world carried out on that specific topic.
After the search is completed the articles are evaluated based on a pre-defined inclusion criteria. Then articles are separated by those that meet the pre-defined criteria and those that do not meet the pre-defined criteria.
The research articles that meet the pre-defined criteria are then picked apart for limitations and potential biases of each individual study.
There are a number of ways that biases sneak into research, for massage therapy one of the primary sources of bias is due to therapist and patient blinding (this is hard to control for).
In addition to evaluating studies for potential biases, researchers are looking for potential harms, and treatment effect size. Essentially, does this treatment work, and how does it compare to a placebo/sham intervention.
Watch The Video For a More In-depth Explanation
That was a short introduction to systematic reviews. If you want a more in-depth explanation I recommend watching the video from Healthcare Triage posted below.
A List of Systematic Reviews of Massage Therapy
Ten years ago there was a limited number of systematic reviews of massage therapy. Recently there has been a steady increase in the quality and number of systematic reviews of massage therapy.
Based on these systematic reviews massage therapy has a growing body of evidence supporting its effectiveness in reducing pain and improving health-related quality of life in a variety of health conditions and rehabilitation, including but not limited to:
• Chronic Pain (Busse et al. 2017, Crawford et al. 2016, Skelly et al. 2018)
• Low Back Pain (Chou et al. 2017, Qaseem et al. 2017)
• Neck Pain (Chou et al. 2018, Côté et al. 2016)
• Headaches and Migraines (Busse et al. 2017, Côté et al. 2019)
• Temporomandibular Disorder (Martins et al. 2016, Randhawa et al. 2016)
• Shoulder Pain (Hawk et al. 2017, Steuri, et al. 2017, Yeun 2017)
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (Huisstede et al. 2018)
• Lateral Epicondylitis (Sutton et al. 2016)
• Arthritis (Nelson et al. 2017)
• Hip Osteoarthritis (Cibulka et al. 2017, Skelly et al. 2018)
• Knee Osteoarthritis (Busse et al. 2017, Newberry et al. 2017)
• Plantar Fasciitis (Fraser et al. 2018)
• Chronic Ankle Instability (Powden et al. 2017)
• Surgical Pain Population (Boitor et al. 2017, Boyd et al. 2016, Kukimoto et al. 2017)
• Cancer-Related Fatigue (Hilfiker et al. 2018)
• Cancer Pain Population (Boyd et al. 2016)
• Fibromyalgia (Busse et al. 2017, Skelly et al. 2018, Yuan et al. 2015)
• Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (Dupuy et al. 2018, Guo et al. 2017)
• Postpartum Maternal Sleep (Owais et al. 2018)
• Pain Management in Labour (Smith et al. 2018)
• Antenatal Depression (Smith et al. 2018)
• Hypertrophic Scarring (Ault et al. 2018)
• Palliative Care (Zeng et al. 2018)
• Dementia (Behavioural & Psychological Symptoms) (Margenfeld et al. 2019, Watt et al. 2019)
More to Explore
Ault et al. (2018). Scar massage for hypertrophic burns scarring-A systematic review. Burns.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28669442
Boitor et al. (2017). The Effect of Massage on Acute Postoperative Pain in Critically and Acutely Ill Adults Post-thoracic Surgery: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Heart Lung.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28619390
Boyd et al. (2016). The Impact of Massage Therapy on Function in Pain Populations-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials: Part III, Surgical Pain Populations. Pain Med.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27165970
Boyd et al. (2016). The Impact of Massage Therapy on Function in Pain Populations-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials: Part II, Cancer Pain Populations. Pain Med.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27165967
Busse et al. (2017). Guideline for opioid therapy and chronic noncancer pain. CMAJ.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28483845
Chou et al. (2017). Nonpharmacologic Therapies for Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review for an American College of Physicians Clinical Practice Guideline. Ann Intern Med.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28192793
Chou et al. (2018). The Global Spine Care Initiative: applying evidence-based guidelines on the non-invasive management of back and neck pain to low- and middle-income communities. Eur Spine J.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29460009/
Cibulka et al. (2017). Hip Pain and Mobility Deficits-Hip Osteoarthritis: Revision 2017. JOSPT.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28566053
Côté et al. (2016). Management of neck pain and associated disorders: A clinical practice guideline from the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration. Eur Spine J.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26984876
Côté et al. (2019). Non-pharmacological Management of Persistent Headaches Associated with Neck Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline from the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration. Eur J Pain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30707486
Crawford et al. (2016). The Impact of Massage Therapy on Function in Pain Populations-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials: Part I, Patients Experiencing Pain in the General Population. Pain Med.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27165971
Cumplido-Trasmonte et al. (2018). Manual therapy in adults with tension-type headache: A systematic review. Neurologia.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29525399/
Dupuy et al. (2018). An Evidence-Based Approach for Choosing Post-exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness, Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis. Front Physiol.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29755363
Falsiroli Maistrello et al. (2018). Effectiveness of Trigger Point Manual Treatment on the Frequency, Intensity, and Duration of Attacks in Primary Headaches: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Front Neurol.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29740386
Fraser et al. (2018). Does manual therapy improve pain and function in patients with plantar fasciitis? A systematic review. J Man Manip Ther.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29686479
Guo et al. (2017). Massage Alleviates Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness after Strenuous Exercise: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front Physiol.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29021762
Hawk et al. (2017). Systematic Review of Nondrug, Nonsurgical Treatment of Shoulder Conditions. J Manipulative Physiol Ther.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28554433
Hilfiker et al. (2018). Exercise and other non-pharmaceutical interventions for cancer-related fatigue in patients during or after cancer treatment: a systematic review incorporating an indirect-comparisons meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28501804
Huisstede et al. (2018). The Effectiveness of Surgical and Post-Surgical Interventions for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome-A Systematic Review. Arch Phys Med Rehabil.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28577858
Kukimoto et al. (2017). The Effects of Massage Therapy on Pain and Anxiety after Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Pain Manag Nurs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29173797
Martins et al. (2016). Efficacy of musculoskeletal manual approach in the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorder: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Manual Therapy.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26144684
Margenfeld et al. (2019). Manual massage for persons living with dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Nurs Stud.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov//pubmed/30679034/
Nelson & Churilla (2017). Massage Therapy for Pain and Function in Patients With Arthritis: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. Am J Phys Med Rehabil.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28177937
Newberry et al. (2017). Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee: An Update Review. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28825779
Owais et al. (2018). Non-pharmacological interventions for improving postpartum maternal sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29449122/
Powden et al. (2017). Rehabilitation and Improvement of Health-Related Quality-of-Life Detriments in Individuals With Chronic Ankle Instability: A Meta-Analysis. J Athl Train.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28704635
Qaseem et al. (2017). Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians. Noninvasive Treatments for Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28192789
Randhawa et al. (2016). The Effectiveness of Non-invasive Interventions for Temporomandibular Disorders. The Clinical Journal of Pain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25924094
Skelly et al. (2018). Noninvasive Nonpharmacological Treatment for Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30179389
Smith et al. (2018). The effect of complementary medicines and therapies on maternal anxiety and depression in pregnancy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30423471/
Smith et al. (2018). Massage, reflexology and other manual methods for pain management in labour. Cochrane Database Syst Rev.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29589380
Steuri et al. (2017). Effectiveness of conservative interventions including exercise, manual therapy and medical management in adults with shoulder impingement: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs. Br J Sports Med.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28630217
Sutton et al. (2016). Multimodal care for the management of musculoskeletal disorders of the elbow, forearm, wrist and hand: A systematic review by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26955466
Yeun (2017) Effectiveness of massage therapy for shoulder pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Phys Ther Sci.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28603376
Yuan et al. (2015). Effectiveness of different styles of massage therapy in fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Man Ther.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25457196
Zeng et al. (2018). Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Hospice and Palliative Care: A Systematic Review. J Pain Symptom Manage.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30076965