Therapeutic Body Massage Services for Patients with Advanced Cancer in Charlotte NC by Chris Lontok

Cancer is often a very painful disease. In its advanced stages, it is usually incurable. Care for patients with advanced cancer therefore focuses mainly on pain relief and providing the best quality of life possible under the circumstances. Therapeutic body massage services have been proven to be of great benefit for the alleviation of pain and other discomforts of patients with advanced cancer. There are massage therapists from professional massage clinics that specialize in this specific therapeutic body massage which may include foot massage and back massage. This could be from the same massage clinics that also offer therapeutic reflexology, deep tissue massage, sports massage and Swedish massage in Charlotte NC.

When patients with advanced cancer experience great pain coupled with loss of hope for any cure, they are very often thrust into deep depression and anxiety. Members of the family, close friends and caregivers are, therefore, concerned not only with the alleviation of these patients’ physical pain but also with the elevation of their moods and emotions. Fortunately, research results show that therapeutic body massage services can indeed decrease the pain felt by advanced cancer patients while at the same time having a positive impact on their mood. Even if these effects are only temporary, such short periods of comfort are of immense value in their condition.

The September 16, 2008 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine published the study entitled “Massage Therapy versus Simple Touch to Improve Pain and Mood in Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Randomized Trial”.

The study was participated in by 380 adult patients in advanced stages of cancer. They had all been suffering from pain at levels rated as moderate and higher.

The participants were randomly assigned to either a massage therapy group or a simple touch group. The massage therapy group was given six voluntary sessions of 30 minute therapeutic body massage services with unscented massage cream by trained massage therapists in a span of two weeks. During the same time period, the simple touch group was given six voluntary sessions of 30 minutes each when untrained personnel would place both hands on each of 10 specified body areas for three minutes. Unscented massage cream was also used.

Assessments were performed on the patients before the two week treatment period, right after the two week treatment period, and every week thereafter for the succeeding three weeks. Patients in the massage therapy group were found to have experienced better pain relief and had more elevated moods as compared to patients in the simple touch group. The effects of the therapeutic body massage services were only short term, though.

Licensed massage therapist Tracy Walton has treated a lot of patients in advanced stages of cancer. According to her, these patients value therapeutic body massage services despite the short term benefits because it gives them respite from suffering. According to Walton, “My clients tell me that they don't just fight cancer: they endure, yield, pray, grieve and persevere. Cancer requires people to spend time in confusion, terror, and mystery.” While undergoing therapeutic body massage services, these patients allow others to help them relax and recharge.

All therapeutic body massage services given by professionally trained massage therapists from reputable massage clinics are beneficial to the health, including therapeutic foot massage services, back massage services, reflexology massage services, deep tissue massage services, sports massage services and Swedish massage services. For patients in advanced stages of cancer, however, the most appropriate and beneficial therapeutic body massage services would be from licensed massage therapists who had been specifically trained in therapeutic oncology body massage. These massage therapists will know how to properly customize each session according to the particular needs of patients with advanced cancer. If you have a family member or friend who has need for such therapeutic oncology body massage services, you could perhaps give him or her gift cards to a professional massage clinic in Charlotte NC to show your concern.