Pregnant women benefit from massage therapy.
Published
Journal Article
Twenty-six pregnant women were assigned to a massage therapy or a relaxation therapy group for 5 weeks. The therapies consisted of 20-min sessions twice a week. Both groups reported feeling less anxious after the first session and less leg pain after the first and last session. Only the massage therapy group, however, reported reduced anxiety, improved mood, better sleep and less back pain by the last day of the study. In addition, urinary stress hormone levels (norepinephrine) decreased for the massage therapy group and the women had fewer complications during labor and their infants had fewer postnatal complications (e.g., less prematurity).
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Field, T; Hernandez-Reif, M; Hart, S; Theakston, H; Schanberg, S; Kuhn, C
Published Date
- March 1999
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 20 / 1
Start / End Page
- 31 - 38
PubMed ID
- 10212885
Pubmed Central ID
- 10212885
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0167-482X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.3109/01674829909075574
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- England