Is there an association between women's consultations with a massage therapist and health-related quality of life? Analyses of 1800 women aged 56–61 years

Journal article

BACKGROUND: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is commonplace in Australia with massage being a popular CAM modality. METHODS: This is a sub-study from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). A total of 2120 mid-age (56-61 year old) women who consulted a CAM practitioner were invited to participate in this study. The Short-Form (SF-36) questionnaire was used to measure women's health-related quality of life. RESULTS: A total of 1800 women returned the questionnaire generating a response rate of 85.0%. Overall, 912 (50.7%) women visited a massage therapist in the previous 12 months. Women with lower quality of life scores in terms of bodily pain (p = 0.012) and/or emotional health (p = 0.029) were more likely to consult a massage therapist than those with higher scores. CONCLUSION: The implications of these associations are important for informing healthcare providers in providing effective and coordinated care for patients with pain and mood symptoms.

Authors: Frawley, J; Peng, W; Sibbritt, D; Ward, L; Lauche, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 734-739
• Publication date: 2016-04-07
• Acceptance date: 2016-03-25
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2016.04.008
• ISSN: 1360-8592
• Language: English
• Keywords: quality of life; SF-36; complementary medicine; massage; manual therapies