The Journal of Health Psychology (March 2014 vol. 19 no. 3 427-440) is one of many medical journals that has published yet another article on the benefits of massage for pain reduction. Even a mere 15 minutes of massage proved beneficial!
This particular study, "Massage on experimental pain in healthy females: A randomized controlled trial,"
evaluated the effect of massage on affect, relaxation, and experimental pain induced by electrical stimulation. Participants were 96 healthy women (M age = 20.13 ± 5.93 years; 84.4% White) randomly assigned to a 15-minute no-treatment control, guided imagery, massage or massage plus guided imagery condition. Multilevel piecewise modeling revealed no group differences in pain intensity, threshold, or tolerance. The two massage conditions generally reported decreased pain unpleasantness, lower unpleasant affect, maintenance of pleasant affect, and increased relaxation compared to the no-treatment condition. The results suggest that massage may alter immediate affective qualities in the context of pain.
Why keep suffering from pain when the verdict is in?
Schedule your pain-relief massage today!
