Therapeutic Massage During Chemotherapy and/or Biotherapy Infusions: Patient Perceptions of Pain, Fatigue, Nausea, Anxiety, and Satisfaction.
BACKGROUND
Patients with cancer commonly experience disease or treatment side effects, including pain, fatigue, nausea, and anxiety. An expanding body of literature supports the use of therapeutic massage (TM) as an adjunct to conventional therapies to manage these side effects.


OBJECTIVES
This article describes patients' perceptions of pain, fatigue, nausea, and anxiety and their overall satisfaction with TM provided concurrently with chemotherapy and/or biotherapy.


METHODS
In an academic outpatient comprehensive cancer center, consenting patients were asked to identify massage site preference (hands and/or feet). The licensed massage therapist delivered TM for 20 minutes to patients concurrently receiving chemotherapy and/or biotherapy. Patients rated their pain, fatigue, nausea, and anxiety pre- and post-TM using a Likert-type scale. Qualitative and quantitative data related to patients' perceived value of TM were obtained postintervention.


FINDINGS
Participants (N = 58) reported a statistically significant reduction in each of the following variables.
['Robison|Jeanene G|JG|', 'Smith|Cheryl L|CL|']
D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000553:Ambulatory Care D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols D001007:Anxiety D001691:Biological Therapy D005221:Fatigue D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007262:Infusions, Intravenous D008297:Male D008405:Massage D008875:Middle Aged D009325:Nausea D009369:Neoplasms D010146:Pain D059408:Pain Management D017060:Patient Satisfaction D010865:Pilot Projects D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D016896:Treatment Outcome
massage pain fatigue nausea anxiety satisfaction