How Massage Can Help Recovering Alcoholics in Tampa, Lutz, Carrollwood and Wesley Chapel

How Massage Can Help Recovering Alcoholics in Tampa, Lutz, Carrollwood and Wesley Chapel

How can massage help recovering alcoholics in Tampa, Lutz, Carrollwood and Wesley Chapel? According to a scientific study, massage can help recovering alcoholics by easing the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, lowering their pulse rate and encouraging them to engage more in the process of treatment. Recovering alcoholics and their families and friends will not lose anything by trying out massage therapy in professional massage clinics as a complementary treatment in Tampa, Lutz, Carrollwood and Wesley Chapel.

Margaret Reader, R.N.; Ross Young, Ph.D.; and Jason P. Connor, Ph.D. conducted the study entitled “Massage Therapy Improves the Management of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome.” The three researchers were members of the staff of three health institutions – the Royal Brisbane Hospital Alcohol and Drug Services in Brisbane, Queensland; the Queensland University of Technology School of Psychology and Counseling in Carseldine, Queensland, Australia; and the Department of Psychiatry, Southern Clinical Division of the University of Queensland School of Medicine at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Wooloongabba, Queensland, Australia.

The paper documenting the study was first published in pages 311-313 of the April 2005 issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Vol. 11, No. 2.

There were 50 participants in the study, with the majority or 41 being males while there were only nine females. The average age was 43.8 years. All the participants had been admitted to the alcohol and drug detoxification unit. They were randomly assigned to one of two groups – the massage group and the control group.

Participants were assessed before and after the four day treatment and study period. Their pulse rate and respiration rate were measured, they were rated according to the Alcohol Withdrawal Scale, and they were asked to fill up a questionnaire regaring the process of detoxification treatment.

Participants in the massage group were given 15 minutes of bedside massage while fully clothed every day for four days. This consisted of head, neck, shoulder and back massage. Participants in the control group, on the other hand, were made to rest during the same 15 minutes for four days. On the fifth day, all the participants had finished their detoxification treatment and were released after going through assessments.

Findings of the study showed that although both groups exhibited improved scores in the Alcohol Withdrawal Scale, the participants in the massage group exhibited much more significantly improvements than the participants in the control group. The researchers also found that the greatest change in Alcohol Withdrawal Scale scores and pulse rate was after the first massage session. This is crucial they said, because “the initial period of detoxification is physically demanding and increasing patient comfort at this time is important.”

Furthermore, participants in the massage group showed greater reduction in pulse rate and greater improvement in respiratory function as compared to participants in the control group. Participants in the massage group also showed better appreciation of the treatment process.

According to the researchers, “The subjective experience of patients reflected those receiving massage therapy feeling more engaged in the treatment process. The qualitative data indicate that most of the individuals who reported feeling supported, safe and having an improved appetite were in the massage group. In conclusion, this study suggests that there may be a place for massage therapy in the alcohol detoxification process.”

Successfully recovered alcoholics can continue to enjoy massage therapy with deep tissue massage. Engaging in sports would be good for them, accompanied of course by sports massage. Ladies who have recovered from alcoholism may soon be healthy enough to get pregnant and should be supported with pregnancy massage or prenatal massage. All these may be availed of in professional massage clinics in Tampa, Lutz, Carrollwood and Wesley Chapel.

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