Can massage and reflexology help clients with bladder cancer?

I said in a previous post that scientists are interested in finding out how massage works.  So if we accept that massage reduces muscle pain, that leaves the question, "How does massage reduce muscle pain?". In 1965, Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall outlined a scientific theory about psychological influence on pain perception; the ‘gate control theory’.  According to the gate control theory, pain signals are not free to reach the brain as soon as they are generated at the injured tissues or sites. They need to encounter certain ‘neurological gates’ at the spinal cord level and these gates determine whether the pain signals should reach the brain or not. In other words, pain is perceived when the gate gives way to the pain signals and it is less intense or not at all perceived when the gate closes for the signals to pass through. Cutaneous mechano-receptors are stimulated by touch (massage) and transmit information within large never fibres to the spinal cord.  These impulses block the passage of painful stimuli entering the same spinal segment along small, slowly conducting neurons. This theory gives the explanation for why someone finds relief by rubbing or massaging an injured or a painful area. For example, the pain gate theory explains "how"  a child feels better after mum or dad intuitively rub their knee when they have fallen over. In summary massage produces short term pain relief by being a particularly effective trigger for the pain gate process. References Melzack R, & Wall PD (1965). Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science (New York, N.Y.), 150 (3699), 971-9  Moayedi M, & Davis KD (2013). Theories of pain: from specificity to gate control. Journal of neurophysiology, 109 (1), 5-12 Jacobs M. (1960) Massage for the relief of pain: anatomical and physiological considerations.  Physical Therapy Review, 40: 93-8 Melzack R, Wall PD. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science. 1965 Nov 19;150(3699):971–979. Wells PE, Frampton V, Bowsher D. (1988) Pain: Management and Control in Physiotherapy.  Heinemann Medical.  Chapter 13. Watson J. (1982) Pain mechanisms: a review.  1. Characteristics of the peripheral receptors.  Australian Journal of Physiotherapy.  27:135-43

People in the UK are low in vitamin D because of the weakness of the sunlight and the short summers.  In addition there is greater concern in the UK about getting skin cancer from sunbathing or being out in the sun.  Almost every rheumatoid arthritis sufferer has low levels of vitamin D and this is likely to be true for people with other inflammatory diseases too. Sunshine isn't the only source of vitamin D.  Some foods such as eggs, oily fish such as sardines and salmon are rich in vitamin D too.  Reserachers from the university of brimingham are the lastest to report in the importance of vitamin D.  In a series of tests, they discovered that the immune cells of rheumatoid arthritis pateients could still respond normally to vitamin D by supressing inflammatory signalling - if those cells were circulating in the blood,  but the same cell type when localisec to the fluid around the arthricitc joints, showned no anti-inflamatory reaction to vitamin D.  This is because arthritis leads to vitamin D insensitivity which means that cells no longer respond to it. The research suggest that vitmain D therapy could still work on patients if they are given very high doeses, although standard suplements amy not.  Prof Martin Hewison says that "almost everyone in the Uk has vitamin D deficiency".  High levels of vitamin D can help prevent inflamatory diseases including rheumatiod arthritis. Reference https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896841117304201

I know that I often say that one of the benefits of massage is that it may reduce anxiety.  I think most people would agree that being in hospital or undergoing hospital procedures may makes us feel anxious.  So I was interested in a recent study that looked at the effectiveness of massage with or without guided imagery (a therapist talking you through a scene to help you relax), prior to cardiac catheterisation.  As you can imagine anxiety is very common in patients prior to cardiac catheterisation, which can lead to high blood pressure and increase the amount of sedation necessary to complete the procedure. Fifty five patients opted to receive either a 15-minute massage (31 patients) and a 20 minute guided imagery (24 patients) in a quiet area of the hospital prior to cardiac catheterisation.  Self-report anxiety levels, blood pressure and heart rate were evaluated in the research participants as well as matched for comparison to a control group not taking part in the study. The results indicated that massage, with or without guided imagery, produced significant reductions in self-reported anxiety, with the combined intervention having a more pronounced effect.  In addition a lower diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were found when compared to the control group. In my experience slow, deep stokes help to reduce anxiety and as a team we often incorporate this into treatments. References Amstrong K, Dixon S, May S, Patricolo GE (2014).  Anxiety reduction in patients undergoing cardiac catheterisation, following massage and guided imagery.  Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 20 (4): 334 - 338.