Key result
Connective tissue massage significantly affected skin temperature at the massage site over a 1-hour period (P=0.011), with no significant effect on other physiological variables.
Why the study?
Does connective tissue massage affect autonomic function (skin temperature, blood pressure, heart rate) in healthy participants?
Does connective tissue massage affect autonomic function (skin temperature, blood pressure, heart rate) in healthy participants?
p-value: p=0.011
Connective tissue massage appears to induce localized autonomic changes, specifically altering skin temperature for up to one hour post-intervention.
Localized temperature changes should not alter practice; leaves open broader autonomic effects in clinical populations.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to measure effects of connective tissue massage (CTM) on the autonomic nervous system using thermography and physiological measurements. METHODS: A repeated-measures design was used. The setting was a university laboratory. Skin temperature at the site of massage, blood pressure, heart rate, and dorsal foot temperature were measured in 8 healthy participants before CTM, immediately after, and at 15-minute intervals for 1 hour. RESULTS: The effect of CTM on skin temperature was statistically significant, P = .011. Post hoc pairwise comparisons revealed that the 15-, 30-, 45-, and 60-minute data all differed significantly from the pre-CTM data (all P < .05) and also from the immediately post-CTM data (all P < .05). For diastolic blood pressure, the main analysis of variance showed a statistical significance at P = .062. For other variables, there was no evidence for an effect. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence was seen of some effects of CTM on autonomic function. This is information that will increase our knowledge of how CTM affects the autonomic nervous system.
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Holey et al. (2011) studied Healthy (n=8). Connective tissue massage vs. Pre-CTM (baseline) was evaluated on Skin temperature at the site of massage (p=0.011). Connective tissue massage significantly affected skin temperature at the massage site over a 1-hour period (P=0.011), with no significant effect on other physiological variables.
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