Published in the June 2017 edition of “MASSAGE TODAY”, an interesting report of on the benefits of massage and its effects on high blood pressure. There was a significant difference in recorded blood pressures between two groups of patients over a period of 10 weeks in which one group had Swedish Massage of back, neck and shoulders three times a week for 15 minutes. The control group had similar sessions of relaxation mainly by breathing exercises.
The start average BP for the massage group was 128/81 and the final average was 116/76. The control group average was 129/81 and hardly varied at the final reading.
This tends to confirm what many of us have suspected for some time: massage is beneficial for patients with hypertension. Keep the patient’s GP informed and take advice in individual cases.