October 20, 2003 – Massage therapy is believed to stimulate the immune system to attack breast cancer, a new study suggests.
Researchers recruited 58 women with early breast cancer. Half of them received massage therapy twice a week, while the rest served as a control group. After five weeks, the researchers say they found an 11% increase in the type of white blood cells that attack cancer cells in the women who received the treatment.
This study was conducted at the Touch Research Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, with funding from Biotone, an organization dedicated to advancing research in massage therapy. The results have not been published.
Similarly, in a survey commissioned by the American Massage Therapy Association, 91% of respondents said they believe massage therapy can effectively relieve pain. Twenty percent of respondents also said they had received a massage in the past year, an increase of 13% since 1997.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
From Healthy News and WebMD; October 17 and 20, 2003.
