Is there an association between women's consultations with a massage therapist and health-related quality of life? Analyses of 1800 women aged 56-61 years.

J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2016 Oct;20(4):734-739. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2016.04.008. Epub 2016 Apr 7.

Frawley J¹, Peng W², Sibbritt D², Ward L³, Lauche R⁴, Zhang Y⁵, Adams J².

Author information

• ¹Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: Jane.Frawley@uts.edu.au.
• ²Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia.
• ³Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia; Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, UK.
• ⁴Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia; Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45276, Essen, Germany.
• ⁵Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia; Department of Family Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is commonplace in Australia with massage being a popular CAM modality.

METHODS:

This is a sub-study from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). A total of 2120 mid-age (56-61 year old) women who consulted a CAM practitioner were invited to participate in this study. The Short-Form (SF-36) questionnaire was used to measure women's health-related quality of life.

RESULTS:

A total of 1800 women returned the questionnaire generating a response rate of 85.0%. Overall, 912 (50.7%) women visited a massage therapist in the previous 12 months. Women with lower quality of life scores in terms of bodily pain (p = 0.012) and/or emotional health (p = 0.029) were more likely to consult a massage therapist than those with higher scores.

CONCLUSION:

The implications of these associations are important for informing healthcare providers in providing effective and coordinated care for patients with pain and mood symptoms.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:

Complementary medicine; Manual therapies; Massage; Quality of life; SF-36