Sunday, July 15, 2007 

Foot and hand massage has the potential to assist in pain relief. Massaging the feet and hands stimulates the mechanoreceptors that activate the "nonpainful" nerve fibers, preventing pain transmission from reaching consciousness.

The following study showed that a 20-minute foot and hand massage (5 minutes to each extremity), provided 1 to 4 hours after a dose of pain medication reduced pain perception and sympathetic responses among 18 postoperative patients.

The patients rated pain intensity and pain distress using a 0 to 10 numeric rating scale had decreases in pain intensity from 4.65 to 2.35 (t = 8.154, p <.001) and in pain distress from 4.00 to 1.88 (t = 5.683, p <.001). Statistically significant decreases in sympathetic responses to pain (i.e., heart rate and respiratory rate) were observed although blood pressure remained unchanged.

The authors concluded that foot and hand massage appears to be an effective, inexpensive, low-risk, flexible, and easily applied strategy for postoperative pain management. (Wang HL. Keck JF. Foot and hand massage as an intervention for postoperative pain. Pain Management Nursing. 5(2):59-65, 2004 Jun).  

Here is a story of one of my  patients with chronic pain who unwinds from the effects of the long day by having a foot massage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugr2fhYhCaI

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Categories: Upper Body Topics, Lower Body Topics, Pain