Physical effects of Anma therapy (Japanese massage) for gynecologic cancer survivors: A randomized controlled trial

Objectives: Cancer survivors often have physical and psychological complaints after standard cancer treatment. We conducted a randomized control trial to evaluate the physical and psychological/emotional effects of Anma therapy (Japanese massage, AMT) in gynecologic cancer survivors. The primary objective was to verify the effects of 8 consecutive weeks of weekly AMT. The secondary objective was to confirm the immediate effects of single-session AMT. We report here results of the physical effects of AMT.

Methods: Forty participants were randomly allocated to an AMT group that received one 40-min AMT session per week for 8weeks and a no-AMT group. The primary endpoint was severity of subjective physical complaints assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Secondary endpoints were urine and saliva analyses and psychological/emotional questionnaire scores.

Results: In the primary analysis, least-squares means (LSM) estimates of VAS score improvement over the 8weeks were -21.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], -30.1 to -12.8, P=0.0017) in the AMT group (n=20) and 0.8 (95%CI, -7.7 to 9.2, P=0.89) in the no-AMT group (n=20). The difference in the LSM estimates between the groups was -22.2 (95%CI, -34.4 to -10.1, P=0.0007). There were significant differences in VAS score and urinary epinephrine between before and after the intervention session, demonstrating the superiority of AMT.

Conclusions: A single AMT session reduces the severity of subjective physical complaints and might inhibit the sympathetic nervous system in gynecologic cancer survivors. Receiving weekly AMT sessions for eight weeks effectively continues to reduce the severity of subjective physical complaints.