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Pediatric massage therapy: an overview for clinicians
Shay Beider1, Nicole E Mahrer, Jeffrey I Gold
1Integrative Touch for Kids, 8306 Wilshire Boulevard, #530, Beverly Hills, CA 90211, USA. shay@integrativetouch.org
Insights
Pediatric massage therapy shows promise for improving children's well-being, particularly in reducing anxiety. More research is needed to confirm its benefits across various health conditions.
Area of Science:
- Integrative medicine
- Pediatric healthcare
- Complementary therapies
Background:
- Pediatric massage therapy (MT) lacks extensive rigorous studies.
- Clinicians and researchers are exploring MT's potential for pediatric psychological and physiological benefits.
- Limited evidence exists for MT's efficacy in children with various health conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide an overview of pediatric MT.
- To review proven and promising effects of MT in pediatric clinical applications.
- To discuss contraindications, safety, service availability, and future research directions for pediatric MT.
Main Methods:
- A comprehensive search of computerized databases was conducted.
- Included were prior reviews, primary case studies, and randomized controlled trials of infant and pediatric MT.
- The review synthesized findings on pediatric MT's effects and applications.
Main Results:
- Evidence for pediatric MT benefits varies across medical conditions.
- Anxiety reduction demonstrates the strongest effect in current findings.
- Pediatric MT shows potential for improving psychological and physiological states.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric MT offers potential benefits for children with diverse health conditions, notably in anxiety reduction.
- Further high-quality research with rigorous design and long-term follow-up is essential.
- Longitudinal studies are recommended to examine the sustained effects of pediatric MT.
Abstract:
Pediatric massage therapy (MT), similar to its younger counterpart infant massage, has a limited number of rigorous studies supporting its clinical application and associated effects. However, clinicians and researchers have been intrigued by the potential benefits of pediatric MT for improving psychological and physiologic states in children who have various health conditions. This article provides a broad overview of pediatric MT, including proven and promising effects of MT across disease-specific clinical applications, contraindications, safety, context and availability of services, and future directions. Computerized databases were searched for relevant studies, including prior reviews, primary case studies, and randomized controlled trials of infant and pediatric MT. Current findings provide varying levels of evidence for the benefits of pediatric MT in children who have diverse medical conditions; however, anxiety reduction has shown the strongest effect. Future studies should use rigorous study design and methodology, with long-term follow-up, for examining the longitudinal effects of pediatric MT.
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