Touching with intent: therapeutic massage

Outcomes of therapeutic massage for hospitalized cancer patients

PURPOSE

To examine the effects of therapeutic massage on perception of pain, subjective sleep quality, symptom distress, and anxiety in patients hospitalized for treatment of cancer.

ORGANIZING CONSTRUCT

Rogers' Science of Unitary Human Beings and Watson's theory of human caring.

METHODS

Quasiexperimental. The sample consisted of 41 patients admitted to the oncology unit at a large urban medical center in the United States for chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Twenty participants received therapeutic massage and 21 received the control therapy, nurse interaction. The outcome variables were measured on admission and at the end of 1 week via the following instruments: a Numerical Rating Scale for pain intensity and Likert-type scale for distress from pain; The Verran Snyder-Halpern Sleep Scale, McCorkle and Young's Symptom Distress Scale, and the Speilberger State Anxiety Inventory. ANOVA and t tests were used to analyze between and within group differences in mean scores and main effects on outcome variables.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

Mean scores for pain, sleep quality, symptom distress, and anxiety improved from baseline for the subjects who received therapeutic massage; only anxiety improved from baseline for participants in the comparison group. Statistically significant interactions were found for pain, symptom distress, and sleep. Sleep improved only slightly for the participants receiving massage, but it deteriorated significantly for those in the control group. The findings support the potential for massage as a nursing therapeutic for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

The sexual embodiment of the cancer patient

This paper draws upon data from my doctoral studies and uses poststructuralism as a methodology to provide a way of seeing and understanding cancer patients' complex experience of their bodies. Cancer patients were massaged for the purpose of this study and the themes addressed in this article are linked to the sexuality of the person being massaged and the masseuse (PVDR). In order to capture the richness of the cancer patients' experience, the data are presented in an unconventional way--in the form of poetry. The poems show that the damaged bodies of cancer patients are still sexual in nature. In this research, the body of the cancer patient is a discursive one inscribed with power, culture, society and history. There are also themes of managing the body, altered embodiments of femininity, altered embodiments of masculinity, intimacy, and speaking the unspeakable.

An investigation of the effects of massage on quadriceps performance after exercise fatigue

Thirteen males and 7 females completed their maximum number of leg extensions against a half maximum load. In a randomised, crossover study they were exercised to fatigue using an ergonometer, ski-squats and leg extensions followed either by a 6 min massage or rest after which they again completed their maximum number of leg extensions against half maximum load. The process was repeated a few days later with the alternative condition (rest or massage). The results showed that massage after exercise fatigue significantly improved quadriceps performance compared to rest (p = 0.001). The data was further analysed in relation to age and gender.

Massage by nurses in the United States and the People's Republic of China: a comparison

Massage performed by a Chinese nurse is described as observed by the author. A brief history of both Eastern and Western massage is presented. A comparison of theory, indications, methods, and outcomes of massage as performed by nurses from the United States (U.S.) and the People's Republic of China is made. The comparison is based on nursing texts and journals printed in the U.S., the author's personal experience in the People's Republic of China, correspondence with a nurse from the People's Republic of China, and texts and journals printed in English in the People's Republic of China. Massage as a nursing intervention differed on many points of comparison between the two countries. Chinese nurses perform massage over the meridians which are the channels for Chi--the life force of energy. Nurses in the U.S. perform massage over tense muscles. Massage performed by U.S. nurses involves three to five strokes while Chinese nurses use dozens of strokes. In China, massage is considered curative; in the U.S. it is mostly palliative.

Nurse, are you a healer?

The concept of "nurse as healer" is in itself vague and illusive. It is, however, a concept that is beginning to emerge in practice and in the literature. To begin to develop an understanding of "nurse as healer", the following questions are addressed: Are nurses identified as healers in the nursing literature? In today's world of nursing practice, do nurses consider themselves to be healers? What healing practices do nurses engage in?

Selected nonpharmacological therapies for chronic pain: the therapeutic use of the placebo effect

Chronic pain is a common problem requiring a multidisciplinary approach. Nursing can offer diverse therapies complementary to the medical-surgical approach. Guidelines for practice and challenges for research are outlined for selected nonpharmacological chronic pain therapies. This article discusses the placebo effect, which is common to all therapies. Placebos can therapeutically empower patients to stimulate their psychophysiologic self-regulation abilities. Effects, theories, ethics, and therapeutic methods of stimulating the placebo effect are explored.