A study to compare the effects of massage and static touch on experimentally induced pain in healthy volunteers

Abstract

Objective To investigate the hypoalgesic effects of massage on experimental pain. Design A cross-over intervention study separated by a 24-hour washout period. During each experiment, participants completed five cold-induced pain tests, two before the intervention and three during the intervention. During each test, participants immersed their hand in iced water and reported the first sensation of pain and pain intensity after a further 30 seconds. Setting Laboratory setting. Participants A volunteer sample of 30 university staff and students without known pathology, recruited from noticeboard advertisements. Interventions Participants received massage in one experiment and static touch in the other experiment. Interventions were administered to the ipsilateral arm for 4 minutes immediately before the hand was immersed in iced water. Main outcome measures Time to pain threshold and the odds of a reduction in pain intensity and an increase in pain relief. Results A mixed model analysis was used to establish how measures varied, according to baseline, during static touch and during massage. Massage increased the pain threshold by a factor of 1.08 (95% confidence interval 0.99–1.17) compared with static touch, but this failed to reach statistical significance ( P = 0.088). Massage was more likely to result in a report of low pain intensity than static touch (odds ratio 0.26, 95% confidence interval 0.10–0.71, P = 0.007). Massage was more likely to result in a state of high pain relief than static touch (odds ratio 7.7, 95% confidence interval 3.0–19.8, P < 0.001). Conclusion Massage produced hypoalgesic effects on experimental pain in healthy volunteers.