Back massage therapy promotes psychological relaxation and an increase in salivary chromogranin A release

Abstract

Massage therapy promotes psychosocial relaxation, reduces stress and has been reported to improve the immune function. As such, massage therapy is currently used in palliative care for the relief of anxiety and pain. Although psychosocial status has been evaluated using subjective psychological tests, such as State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), subjective psychological tests are of limited value if the subjects fail to report reliably. Salivary biomarkers have been recently suggested as useful objective markers for assessing psychosocial status. To determine whether salivary biomarkers are useful objective indices for assessing the effects of back massage on the mental status of 25 young healthy female volunteers, we measured heart rate and salivary biomarkers (α-amylase activity, cortisol, and chromogranin A) and assessed the STAI score before and after the back massage. Back massage significantly reduced the heart rate and STAI; however, salivary amylase and cortisol levels did not change. In contrast, the level of salivary chromogranin A significantly increased. We therefore conclude that changes in the salivary biomarkers tested here may not indicate changes in psychological status following massage therapy. However, the increase in chromogranin A release may contribute to the immunologically beneficial effects of massage therapy as chromogranin A has antibacterial and antifungal activity.

Pain levels associated with renal colic and primary dysmenorrhea: a prospective controlled study with objective and subjective outcomes

“…However, the CgA levels were elevated only in patients with renal colic and did not reach statistical significance. In the past literature, the correlation between the severity of pain or stress and CgA levels is controversial [27][28][29][30][31][32]. In our study, there was no statistically significant correlation between the CgA levels and VAS scores in the patient groups.…”

Research on evaluation methods for industrial product form design

“…In addition, there are differences in different groups' area of concern for the product, so it is necessary to carry out targeted research on the groups closely related to the product. Li Yun et al proposed the method to build a model of product modeling based on a number of eye movement data, and verified that the model can effectively reflect users' comprehensive evaluation of each scheme, thus effectively overcome the limitation of single eye movement evaluation data in literature [5].…”

Massage Therapy of the Back Using a Real-Time Haptic-Enhanced Telerehabilitation System

“…Massage therapy has been shown to a ect both structure and function of the musculoskeletal system by promoting a relaxation response, decreasing muscle tension, and decreasing tonic muscle contractions [13][14][15][16]. In recent years, the integration of mechanical instruments to support the implementation of massage therapies such as massage chairs [5][6][7], automatic massage systems [6], or robotic systems [17][18][19][20][21] has bene ted therapists and their patients.…”