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Will you rub my back?

by Sarah Gould

505364_hot_stone_massage_4.jpg

When my mind and heart hurt, my body also begins to hurt. When my body hurts, most often I want to be touched … as weird as that sounds. Although there has been very little research (that I can find) on massage therapy being beneficial for mental health, it’s great for my mental health! Pauline King, a registerred nurse at Ohio’s James Cancer Hospital, and Richard Jost, a licensed massage therapist have done some cancer studies. Patients who were able to have even a 15-minute massage reported less stress and less pain than the non-massaged patients. This physical contact is remarkable for people; if they are comfortable with it.

Not only is massage (and physical touch) grand for mental and emotional health, it also, according to Diane Zeitlin (another LMT) revs up the immune system during times of anxiousness and fatigue. She discovered this after giving hour-long massages to medical students (talk about nerves!) and testing white blood cell activity (before and after). The natural killer cells of the immune system had levels of increased activity after massages. This encourages those in support of massage therapy for HIV/AIDS patients as it can help pump up the weak immune system.

In 2005, a study was done regarding massage therepy showing that cortisol levels can be lowered while pleasure-related brain chemicals can be increased. Massage has also been proven to lower blood pressure and heart rate as well. Another 2005 study showed that women with breast cancer given massage therapy three times a week for five weeks (my gosh I’d love that many massages!) reported less depression and fatigue than non-massaged women.


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Posted in Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Emotions, Stress on May 14th, 2007

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2 Responses to “Will you rub my back?”

  1. Amanda Says:
    May 24th, 2007 at 8:12 am

    Oh, wow! I thought I was the only one in the world with this problem! But when I am mentally hurt-y, my body starts to hurt too! Asides from headaches, I get backaches, shoulder aches, and stomach upsets!

    Nice to know I’m not the only one, LOL.

  2. Dean Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 11:15 am

    I love to have my back rubbed and scratched. It doesn’t have to be by anyone with training or anything like that…I have just always loved it. I have searched high and low all over the web to find someone to do this for me at my home…I would gladly pay. But can’t find anyone. I don’t have to be hurting–I just love it.

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Explore mental and emotional health issues including mood disorders, depression, anxiety and anger problems. We’ll also keep up with the latest scientific research on developments related to mental health. Stress, physical illnesses and pain can trigger negative feelings and despair but we’ll focus on how to cope through those difficult times.

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