Therapeutic Massage to Manage Withdrawal Related Anxiety

Summary

In Canada, Addiction Prevention and Treatment Service's (APTS) offer programs specifically designed to help people withdrawal from psychoactive drugs. While participants of withdrawal management (Detox) programs generally reach their goals, the process is a difficult one often exacting an emotional and physical toll. Troublesome symptoms of withdrawal from psychoactive drugs may include anxiety and sleep disturbances. If untreated these symptoms can lead to discontinuation of withdrawal and /or affect the introduction of cognitive-behavioral and or motivational therapy components of Detox programs. In Detox the symptoms of withdraw are managed pharmacologically. Pharmacological tools for managing anxiety and sleep disturbances exist and while effective and safe, in many clinical settings, have limitations and liability in the addiction treatment setting. To address these concerns APTS has incorporated non-pharmacological anxiety management practices into its programs. Prominent among these is therapeutic massage (chair massage in the Swedish tradition). While therapeutic massage has been shown to reduce state and trait anxiety in a variety of clinical settings, no previous study has assessed its anxiolytic or sleep promoting efficacy in an addiction treatment setting. In keeping with ATPS's policy on evidence-based practice, evidence in support of this practice is now required.

Research Objectives: We propose to test the Hypothesis: Therapeutic Massage is an effective therapy for managing withdrawal-related anxiety and for improving sleep effectiveness in patients withdrawing from psychoactive drugs. Our specific objective is to perform a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to determine whether therapeutic massage is effective in comparison to relaxation control treatment in reducing the levels of state and trait anxiety associated with withdrawal and in promoting sleep efficiency.

Research Design: A RCT of the effects of therapeutic massage will be conducted on 80 patients (ages 18-65) attending an APTS Detox program. Patients will be assigned to 1 of 2 treatment groups (n=40/group) and will receive either: therapeutic massage or relaxation control treatment once a day for 3 consecutive days. Anxiety, state and trait, will be measured pre and post each treatment through a standardized tool and physiologic measures (heart rate \& blood pre(state and trait) and sleep efficiency will be determined through actigraphy and daily sleep logs.

Conditions

• Substance Withdrawal Syndrome
• Drug Withdrawal Symptoms
• Anxiety

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Therapeutic Massage

Massage therapists with at least 5 years experience will perform the massages. On each of three consecutive days, participants (while fully clothed and in a seated position) will receive a 20-minute back, shoulder, neck and head massage. Subjects will be treated with conventional light pressure Swedish massage techniques which consisted of continuous systematic strokes including kneading and stretching to loosen and rehabilitate the soft tissues of the body and to provide general relaxation. The manual techniques include: effleurage , soothing petrissage , repetitive stroking, rocking , squeezing and mild joint mobilization. As is standard practice in massage therapy delivery, room lights will be dimmed and soft, soothing music played to enhance relaxation during therapy.

PROCEDURE

Relaxation Control

On each of three consecutive evenings, subjects in this group will participate in a 20 minute relaxation session. This session will be delivered in the same location and with the same lighting and music as with the therapeutic massage group. Each participant will be asked to choose a comfortable position in a chair and a massage therapist will sit quietly in the room approximately 4 feet behind the participant.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Holistic Health Research Foundation of Canada

  collaborator OTHER

• Dalhousie University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Robert W Gilbert, PhD · Dalhousie University

• Shaun Black, MSc · Capital District Health Authority, Addiction Prevention and Treatment Services

• Kathleen Jacques, PhD, RMT · Canadian College of Massage and Hydrotherapy

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-06-30

Primary Completion

2009-01-31

Completion

2009-01-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations