Boyd, C., Crawford, C., Paat, C.F., Price, A., Xenakis, L., Zhang, W., & Evidence for Massage Therapy (EMT) Working Group. (2016). The impact of massage therapy on function in pain populations—A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials: Part II, cancer pain populations. Pain Medicine, 17, 1553-1568.

STUDY PURPOSE: To assess the evidence of efficacy of massage in treating pain and function and quality-of-life issues in cancer populations

TYPE OF STUDY: Meta analysis and systematic review

DATABASES USED: PubMed CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO

INCLUSION CRITERIA: Patients with pain, massage therapy, if provided as part of multimodal interventions, effects could be separately evaluated, RCT, 

EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Interventions provided by tools, such as chair massage

TOTAL REFERENCES RETRIEVED: 4,099

EVALUATION METHOD AND COMMENTS ON LITERATURE USED: Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network checklist for study quality, and the External Validity Assessment Tool to measure generalizability of results. Standards for reporting interventions for clinical trials of acupuncture (STRICTA) were adapted for application to studies using massage, and applied for study evaluation. Most studies were determined to be acceptable–four were deemed low quality. Only 18.8% of studies described the amount of time massaging a location.

FINAL NUMBER STUDIES INCLUDED: 16, with 12 in meta analysis

PHASE OF CARE: Not specified or not applicable     

APPLICATIONS: Palliative care

Massage versus no treatment: three studies (167 patients) compared massage to no treatment for pain severity, Although the SMD overall was significant, heterogeneity was high. No recommendation could be made regarding massage versus no treatment.

Massage versus active comparator: 10 studies (708 patients) compared massage to various attention control comparisons or usual care. Six of these were pooled for analysis, and showed reduction in pain intensity, but this was not statistically significant.

Massage versus active comparators for fatigue: six studies (539 patients) yielded an SMD of -1.06, but this was not statistically significant, and there was high heterogeneity.

This analysis showed favorable effects of massage for fatigue and pain intensity; however, overall results were not statistically significant.

• Limited number of studies included
• High heterogeneity
• Method of measurement used for fatigue is not discussed.

Massage is a low-risk intervention that might be helpful for some people in dealing with pain and fatigue. This analysis provided only weak evidence in favor of this intervention