Tuesday, May 8, 2007

How Acupuncture and Massage help after cancer surgery

A cancer patient feels a lot of pain (intolerable pain) and a lot of anxiety or worry after undergoing a cancer surgery.


According to a new study acupuncture and massage combination can ease depression and pain after cancer surgery. Acupuncture helps in decreasing the pain and also control the vomiting after the surgery. Massage aid to the anxiety of cancer patients. But there are still no evidences of combining the two therapies for the well being of the people who accompany a lot of pain and worry after undergoing cancer surgery. They are passing through the emotional and physical difficulties.


Two studies are done keeping in view the effects of acupuncture and massage in reliving the cancer patients from pain and anxiety after cancer surgery. One study is done on 138 patients who are provided with a standard post-operative care or standard care plus acupuncture and massage for 2 days after their cancer surgery. The second study is also done on 138 people. According to this study patients after cancer surgery are provided with standard post-operative care or standard care plus acupuncture and massage for 2 days. The studies find that there is a steeper decline in pain over 3 days and depression of the patients receiving therapies.


Overall, the study found, patients who received the therapies had a steeper decline in pain over 3 days, as well as fewer symptoms of depression. The findings are published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.


"We can say that adding acupuncture and massage definitely helped," said lead study author Dr. Wolf E. Mehling, an assistant professor of family and community medicine at the University of California San Francisco.


So the patients receiving both acupuncture and massage in combination after cancer surgery got the benefit of lowering the pain and anxiety or we can say they got extra attention of the family members than the other patients.

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