title: Moderate pressure massage elicits a parasympathetic nervous system response.
abstract: Twenty healthy adults were randomly assigned to a moderate pressure or a light pressure massage therapy group, and EKGs were recorded during a 3-min baseline, during the 15-min massage period and during a 3-min postmassage period. EKG data were then used to derive the high frequency (HF), low frequency (LF) components of heart rate variability and the low to high frequency ratio (LF/HF) as noninvasive markers of autonomic nervous system activity. The participants who received the moderate pressure massage exhibited a parasympathetic nervous system response characterized by an increase in HF, suggesting increased vagal efferent activity and a decrease in the LF/HF ratio, suggesting a shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic activity that peaked during the first half of the massage period. On the other hand, those who received the light pressure massage exhibited a sympathetic nervous system response characterized by decreased HF and increased LF/HF.
authors.affiliation: Touch Research Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA. mdiego@med.miami.edu
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Diego
authors.forename: Tiffany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Field
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D011312:Pressure; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055698:Touch Perception