title: Do Patient Profiles Influence the Effects of Massage? A Controlled Clinical Trial.
abstract: Considerable scientific evidence has been published on the effectiveness of massage in different conditions, but it remains unclear whether this effectiveness is modulated by the profile of patients. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of a 21-min myofascial therapy protocol on stress responders and nonresponders stressed in the laboratory with a cold pressor test. Dependent variables included heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure, and salivary markers such as flow rate, cortisol, immunoglobulin A (IgA), and α-amylase activity. A controlled, repeated measures, single-blind trial was conducted in 30 Caucasian students with a mean (SD) age of 20.70 (4.50) years. We found no significant between-group differences in descriptive characteristics or in any preintervention outcome measure. Analysis of covariance revealed significant increases in HRV index (F = 0.18, p = .01), salivary flow rate (F = 0.16, p = .02), and salivary IgA concentration (F = 4.36, p = .04) and significant decreases in the low-frequency domain (F = 0.18, p = .04) and LF-high-frequency ratio (F = 0.18, p = .01) in the stress responder group in comparison to the nonresponder group. In conclusion, a better response to massage was observed in stress responders than in nonresponders across various HRV parameters and salivary measures.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Instituto Biosanitaria Granada, University of Granada, Granada, Spain Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain cldiaz@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Díaz-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio Manuel
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Fernández-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Noelia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Galiano-Castillo
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Instituto Biosanitaria Granada, University of Granada, Granada, Spain Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cantarero-Villanueva
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Instituto Biosanitaria Granada, University of Granada, Granada, Spain Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernández-Lao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Martín-Martín
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Instituto Biosanitaria Granada, University of Granada, Granada, Spain Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arroyo-Morales
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D055815:Young Adult; D000516:alpha-Amylases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D000516:alpha-Amylases; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: blood pressure; heart rate variability; massage; salivary cortisol; salivary immunoglobulin A; stress