Assessment of the effects of massage therapy on premenstrual syndrome

Background: Premenstrual syndrome is characterized by the cyclic occurrence physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms during the luteal phase of the menstruation cycle and will be disappear within a few days of the onset of menstruation. The aim of this research was to assess the effect of massage therapy on premenstrual syndrome.
Materials and Method: A randomized clinical trial was carried out on 30 volunteer students of Tehran University with PMS diagnosis. After surveying two menstruation cycles and confirming PMS existence, subjects were randomly assigned into massage and control group. Massage protocol was performed for eight weeks. Volunteers completed Daily Symptom Rating (DSR) during 2 cycles before and 2 cycles after intervention. Data collected via data gathering form, criteria for PMS (DSM- IV), DSR and Beck test. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytic statistics (χ2, Fischer's exact test, paired and independent t tests).
Results: In comparison between before and after intervention, massage group showed significant decrease averagely in mean of somatic (56.7%), psychological (64.8%) (p<0.001).This is while, in control group only mean of somatic symptoms (averagely 21.2%) relieved obviously (p=0.02). comparing two groups often intervention, we did not found any significant difference in mean of somatic symptoms while psychological (p=0.01) and total symptoms (p=0.03) in massage group was significantly less than controls.
Conclusion: The authors concluded that massage therapy is an effective method for relieving symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.