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CLINICAL TRIAL article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Colorectal Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1439420
This article is part of the Research Topic Community Series in Sensory Stimulation and Oxytocin: Their Roles in Social Interaction, Bonding, Wellbeing and Health as well as Stress and Trauma - Volume II View all 7 articles

Efficacy and safety of massage for postoperative stress in colorectal cancer patients: a randomized, controlled, three-arm trial

Provisionally accepted
Paul G Werthmann Paul G Werthmann 1*Dirk Cysarz Dirk Cysarz 2Melanie Jungbluth Melanie Jungbluth 1Ann-Kathrin Lederer Ann-Kathrin Lederer 1Gergana Nenova Gergana Nenova 1Roman Huber Roman Huber 1Monique Van Dijk Monique Van Dijk 3Gunver S Kienle Gunver S Kienle 1
  • 1 University of Freiburg Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany
  • 2 Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  • 3 Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rhythmic embrocation (RE), a massage technique, on postoperative stress levels (measured by heart rate variability) in colorectal cancer surgery patients compared to empathic conversation.The study included 68 patients who were randomized into three groups: one received RE from professionals, another from students, and the third received empathic conversations. Stress was quantified using heart rate variability before and after the interventions.The standard deviation of the heartbeat intervals (SDNN) increased more in the professional RE group 9.12 ms (IQR 3.59-12.3 ms) than in the other groups: student RE group 5.68 ms (-0.66-7.5 ms), empathic conversation group 6.64 ms (-1.49-7.38 ms); hence stress decreased more in the professional RE group, although not statistically significant (p= 0.21). Other factors like sleep quality, nausea, pain, and mood did not differ significantly between the groups. No complications were associated with the interventions.RE was safe and a statistically significant superiority of RE on postoperative stress compared to empathic conversations could not be found. Due to high inter-and intraindividual variability a clear pattern of response of the secondary outcomes to RE in comparison to empathic conversations could not be found. The study was limited by a small sample size, high patient variability, effective co-interventions for sleep, pain and nausea, and by an imbalance between groups. The study indicates that future research on RE should focus on a more narrowly defined patient population, increase the sample size, and select comparison groups that are clearly distinct from each other as well as a clinical context with fewer confounding factors. Furthermore, the patient's preferences and previous experiences with massage therapy should be considered.The trial was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (www.drks.de) under the ID DRKS00023407

    Keywords: colorectal cancer, Rhythmical Embrocations, Massage, stress, heart-rate-variability

    Received: 27 May 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Werthmann, Cysarz, Jungbluth, Lederer, Nenova, Huber, Van Dijk and Kienle. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Paul G Werthmann, University of Freiburg Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.