Hand arthritis pain is reduced by massage therapy

Twenty-two adults with wrist/hand arthritis were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or a standard treatment control group. The massage therapy group was massaged on the affected wrist/hand once a week for a 4-week period and were also taught self-massage on the wrist/hand that was to be done daily at home. The massage therapy group versus the control group had lower anxiety and depressed mood scores after the first and last sessions, and that group reported less pain and greater grip strength after their sessions. The massage therapy group showed greater improvement than the control group on all of these measures across the study period. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.