Systematic Review on Aroma Massage

Abstract

We conducted a systematic review of studies investigating aroma massage in domestic region. This systematic review critically evaluates the effect of aroma massage and establishes the criteria for applying aroma massage in human. A total of 121 citations were screened through two domestic database (the KRSS and RISS) which are Korean Journal searching engine and full text of 36 titles and abstracts were read. Finally, a specific search strategy identified 7 published articles (5 studies in non-medical field, 2 studies in medical field) that fulfilled the selection criteria in August 2011. The present systematic review examine that the effect of aroma massage is to reduce stress, a menopausal disorder, and depression in non-medical field while only depression in medical field and also that the effective method for applying aroma massage are 20 min, 2 times a week for at least 6 weeks in non-medical field and more than 10 min in medical field. In addition, the most popular aroma and base oils were lavender and Jojoba oil. In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that aroma massage can help to relieve psychological problem such as depression and stress and further research on verifying the effect of aroma massage should consider the delicate experimental design including control group and effective methods of massage including 20 min per one time, 2 times a week for 8 weeks at least.