Moderate versus light pressure massage therapy leads to greater weight gain in preterm infants

Abstract

Sixty-eight preterm infants (M GA=3Owks.) were randomly assigned to a moderate or to a light pressure massage therapy group to receive 15 massages 3 times per day for 5 days. Behavior state, stress behaviors and heart rate were recorded for 15 minutes before and during the first 15-minute therapy session. Weight gain was recorded over the 5 day therapy period. The moderate versus light pressure massage group gained significantly more weight per day. During the behavior observations the moderate versus light pressure massage group showed significantly lower increases from the presession to the session recording on: 1) active sleep; 2) fussing; 3) crying; 4) movement; and 5) stress behavior (hiccupping). They also showed a smaller decrease in deep sleep, a greater decrease in heart rate and a greater increase in vagal tone. Thus, the moderate pressure massage therapy group appeared to be more relaxed and less aroused than the light pressure massage group which may have contributed to the greater weight gain of the moderate pressure massage therapy group.

Development of an Evidence-Based Guideline for Preterm Infant Massage by Parents

“…Massage therapy in 10 out of the 12 articles consists of a 15 min massage session, which includes tactile stimulation with moderate pressure on the limbs and trunk and kinesthetic stimulation on the four limbs [3,6,[11][12][13][14][15][17][18][19]. The other two massage methods are a 20 min touch procedure adopted by Livingston et al [8] and acupressure and meridian massage adopted by Chen et al [16].…”

“…All trials wherein the massage was provided by qualified therapists showed a positive result; that is, the massage group gained more weight than the control and/or sham group [3,6,[11][12][13][14].…”

“…The selected studies reported a larger weight gain in the massage group than in the control and sham groups [3,6,[11][12][13][14][15]. In a review report provided by Field et al, [18] massaged preterm infants showed 28% to 47% more weight gain than the infants in the control group who only received routine care.…”

“…Studies that compared the effectiveness of different massage oils were excluded; this was because massage oil brought out concerns, such as allergic reactions and a change of triglyceride and fatty acid profile [9,10]. A total of 12 articles were selected by two independent reviewers ( Figure 1) [3,6,8,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. The Jadad scale [20] was utilized to assess the quality of the randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies in this paper.…”

“…In the study of Diego et al, [11] infant massage was performed by different therapists. In several other studies, [6,13] the methods adopted to control other independent variables or covariance were not mentioned. This lacking detail may encumber the degree of credibility of the study findings.…”