Pain is one of the most frequent and bothersome problems faced by people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The causes of pain are many and varied including pain from fractures, other injuries, post-surgical pain, neurogenic and/or neuropathic pain, pain from immobility, positioning, or from muscle imbalances or tone. Moreover, pain is not only a problem in itself, but it is also associated with a host of other conditions like sleeplessness, fatigue, and depression - all of which can interfere with participation in rehabilitation after injury when the time for that essential training is extremely limited. While there are many attempts to treat pain with pharmacological agents, surgery, or physical or psychological interventions, on the whole, evidence of their effectiveness is often limited; the side effects may be uncomfortable; and often the results are less desirable than the pain itself. While some evidence suggests that massage is an effective treatment for pain, it is seldom available or employed in the rehabilitation setting for a variety of reasons including shortened lengths of stay, limited funding for health care, and lack of adequate research demonstrating its effectiveness in SCI.
The Specific Aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Massage Therapy for decreasing pain, reducing fatigue, decreasing analgesic medication use, and increasing participation in rehabilitation modalities among patients with spinal cord injury during acute inpatient rehabilitation. Using a randomized controlled crossover design, the effectiveness of trained nurses doing a broad compression style massage compared to a control treatment involving light touch will be evaluated. The study sample will include 56 individuals age 16 or older receiving acute in-patient rehabilitation following SCI.
| Chase, T; Jha, A; Brooks, C A et al. (2013) A pilot feasibility study of massage to reduce pain in people with spinal cord injury during acute rehabilitation. Spinal Cord 51:847-51 |
