Effect of massage therapy on somatic symptoms of postmenopausal women

women have gone through many changes both physically and mentally during menopause، which may have negative impact on their quality of life. Therefore finding methods to manage this period of life is important. Many women are interested to use complementary and alternative medicines for relief from their menopausal complications. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect Massage therapy on somatic symptoms.

This randomized controlled trial study was carried out on 60 menopausal women who attended to menopausal clinic. They were randomly divided in 2 groups as intervention groups and control. Each subject in the massage group received two sessions massage training and six massage therapy sessions، twice a week with plane oil، and no treatment was provided to subjects in the control group. The outcome measures in this study were somatic symptoms، as obtained through the Menopause Rating Scale.

There was no significant difference in somatic symptoms before intervention between groups. A statistically significant difference was found between the participants’ pre-application and post-application in hot flush، sleep problem and muscle problem scores in intervention groups (p<0. 05)، whereas the heart problem score did not differed significantly.

This study showed that massage therapy were effective in reducing some somatic symptoms. Therefore midwives can learn it and teach it to menopausal women in order to manage the menopausal symptoms. Evaluating the effect of massage therapy on other symptoms of menopause is recommended.