Massage After Surgery To Help Treat Post-Operative Pain

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Postoperative Pain

In brief

Postoperative pain is often undertreated. Although studies have demonstrated that many patients experience a substantial degree of unrelieved pain following operative procedures and that this pain can increase the incidence of serious complications, the management of discomfort continues to be suboptimal. Narcotic analgesia is the mainstay of acute postoperative pain management but patient, clinician, and institutional barriers often limit the effectiveness of drug treatment. Furthermore, pharmacologic interventions alone may not address all the factors involved in the conscious experience of pain. Massage is a complementary or adjunctive medical technique that has been used for thousands of years. Yet there is scant research related to the use of massage therapy in postoperative pain management. Used in tandem with pharmacologic treatments, massage may have the potential to substantially improve acute pain relief.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT00057148

Run by

US Department of Veterans Affairs

People needed

300

Starts

2003-02-01

Expected to finish

2005-06-01

Last updated by the study team

2015-04-07

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Veterans undergoing major surgery with an incision that is greater than or equal to 8 cm in length

You may not qualify if…

• Blindness, rash or skin lesions on the back, unable to read, florid psychosis

Where it is running

• VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI — Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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