Earlier this year, a study conducted by researchers at Atlanta School of Massage and Emory University Medical School Department of Neurology, found that neuromuscular therapy, a type of massage therapy, improved short-term motor symptoms in study participants. (Click here to read the abstract from this study.)
According to research published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Parkinson's patients who received massage therapy treatment performed better on Parkinson's disease daily quality of life scores. Furthermore, the group reported that their sleep improved. (Click here to read the article from Massage Magazine.)
Some physicians have been recommending massage therapy for patients, even though they could not point to much research that supports it as a Parkinson's treatment. Within the realm of treatments, massage therapy is still dubbed complementary medicine and grouped with aromatherapy, herbal treatments and acupuncture. Many physicians shun complementary medicine because much of it has not yet satisfied scientific demands.
However, before you discount complementary medicine, consider that the National Institutes of Health has started to explore it quite seriously. In 1999 it created the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It is not currently conducting studies on the benefits of massage therapy in Parkinson's disease patients. However, it is conducting studies on alternative treatments such as magnetic stimulation, the valerian herbal supplement, and Chinese exercise modalities, and their potential anti-Parkinson's effect. You and your physician may have the opportunity to consider these treatments after they have proven themselves to the scientific community.
