Infinite Intuitions at  

Massage Therapy helps relieve

 Stress and Anxiety in Children

A study conducted at University of Miami Medical School, Florida, USA, revealed that massage may offer considerable help for children suffering from stress-related disorders. A 30-minute back massage was given daily for a 5-day period to 52 children who were hospitalized as suffering from depression and adjustment disorders. Subjective assessments were made by the children themselves and by the nurses based upon perceived anxiety levels, sleep patterns and the willingness of the child to be co-operative. Objective analyses were also made by analysing stress hormone levels in the both the urine and saliva. The results were then compared to a control group who were shown relaxing videotapes for 30 minutes instead of massage therapy.

The results of the study revealed that the children receiving a 30 minute massage were less depressed or anxious and had lower saliva cortisol levels after the massage. In addition, nurses rated the massage group as being more co-operative on the last day of the study, and noted that the children were sleeping better than the children in the control group and that their night-time sleep had increased over the 5 day period. Massage therapy also had the effect of reducing urinary cortisol and norepinephrine levels in the children suffering from depression which was not observed in any of the children in the control group.

The researchers were left in no doubt that massage therapy offers real benefits for children suffering from stress and anxiety.

Field T; Morrow C; Valdeon C; Larson S; Kuhn C; Schanberg S. Massage reduces anxiety in child and adolescent psychiatric patients. Journal of the American Acadamy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry (UNITED STATES) Jan 1992, 31 (1) p125-31

I would like to share some quotes about Reiki.

 “The next big frontier in medicine is energy medicine.”

Mehmet Oz, M.D. (one of the most respected surgeons in theU.S.  and the Director of the Cardiovascular Institute at the Columbia University Collegeof Physicians & Surgeons, speaking on Oprah)

 “In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy.”

Albert Szent-Gydrgyl, Nobel Laureate in Medicine

 “Reiki is increasingly being incorporated into modern medicine because of one compelling reason. It works…”

Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Extraordinary Healing Power ofOrdinary Things, and New York Times Best Seller Healing Words

In an article in Autism/Asperger’s Digest Magazine in 2000,

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, PH.D., Coordinator for Integrative Psychiatry and System Medicine, Program in Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona , College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona  

said the following:

“We have done a pilot study of reiki massage for autistic children. The preliminary results are encouraging, especially when the parents are taught the reiki along with visualization in between formal appointments with the therapist. The use of reiki by parents and therapist appears to encourage communication; especially non-verbal communication children are calmer and have less self-stimulation.”