Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine

154 Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
Massage therapy is widely used in the United States and abroad and
noted in our earlier medical texts, where it was often listed as a component
of primary healing, along with diet and exercise. Massage therapy
was all but abandoned from the American medical scene in the 1940s
during the pharmaceutical revolution but has become popular as part of
the focus of interest on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
therapies. This may relate, in part, to the observation that Americans are
relatively touch deprived in comparison with other cultures (2). As the
historical trend toward integration between CAM modalities and mainstream
health care evolves the medical community is increasingly seeking
evidence that massage is effective and safe, despite its long and
positive history.
Massage therapy has value regarding facilitating growth, reducing
pain and stress, increasing alertness, lowering depression levels, and
enhancing immune functions. Studies have indicated that touch can
stimulate physiological changes that positively affect on cognitive,
emotional, physical, and neurological development (3,4). Our skin is the
largest sensory organ. It is the first sense to be developed in utero and
accommodates millions of touch receptors. When the skin is stimulated
by massage, neuro impulses are sent via the spinal column to the brain,
potentially triggering adaptive responses in all organ systems.
Every culture has an attitude on how to approach the body. Western
medicine has traditionally separated the healing of the body from healing
of the mind. Many patients and health care providers now view the
two as inseparable. Body work (massage) addresses both mind and body
in the context of physical and psychological healing. Massage is defined
as the systematic manual or mechanical manipulations of the soft tissues
of the body for therapeutic purposes, such as promoting blood circulation
and lymph, muscle relaxation, pain relief, metabolic balance restoration,
and other physical and mental benefits. Systematic manual or
mechanical manipulations include such movement as rubbing, kneading,
pressure, rolling, or tapping (5).
CLINICAL RESEARCH
The Touch Research Institute, founded in 1992 under the direction of
Dr. Tiffany Field, is one of the first centers to focus on the scientific study
of touch and its effects on disease. The institute has demonstrated that the
physiological consequences of massage are mediated, in part, by release
of gastrointestinal (GI) hormones, increases in endorphins levels, reduction
in stress hormones (cortisol, norepinephrine, and adrenaline) and
increases in dopamine and serotonin levels (6–9).