Abstract
Massage therapy has been demonstrated to be effective during pregnancy. Women who received massage therapy reported decreased depression, anxiety, and leg and back pain. Cortisol levels decreased and, in turn, excessive fetal activity decreased, and the rate of prematurity was lower in the massage group. In a study of labor pain, women who received massage therapy experienced significantly less pain, and their labors were on average 3 h shorter with less need for medication. An underlying mechanism we have been exploring is that these effects are mediated by increased vagal activity. This likely occurs by the stimulation of pressure receptors that are innervated by vagal afferent fibers, which ultimately project to the limbic system, including hypothalamic structures involved in autonomic nervous system regulation and cortisol secretion.
Acknowledgements
Tiffany Field would like to thank her collaborators and Lissette Medina for assisting with this research, and the pregnant women who participated in her studies.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The studies discussed in this article were supported by NIH Senior Research Scientist Awards (MH 00331 and AT 01585) and an NIH Merit award (M 46586), NIH grants (AT1003 and HD 056036), and a March of Dimes grant (12-FY03–48) to Tiffany Field and funding from the Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.