TY - JOUR
T1 - Testing feasibility of traditional Malay massage compared to relaxation for patients with non-specific low back pain
T2 - A pilot randomized-controlled trial
AU - Sejari, Nurhanisah
AU - Chua, Siew Kuan
AU - Neoh, Chin Fen
AU - Ramasamy, Kalavathy
AU - Lim, Siong Meng
AU - Bakrin, Faizah Safina
AU - Kamaruddin, Kamaria
AU - Goh, Khang Wen
AU - Goh, Bey Hing
AU - Majid, Aman Shah Abdul
AU - Husain, Khairulanwar
AU - Ming, Long Chiau
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia for financial support for this research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier GmbH
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Introduction: This study was to test the feasibility of an approach that is intended to be used in a larger scale study to investigate the immediate effect of traditional Malay massage on substance P, inflammatory mediators, pain intensity and level of disability among patients with low back pain. Method: A pilot, non-blinded, randomized controlled trial was conducted with thirty patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The participants were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. Blood samples were collected before and after 5 min of intervention, and were analyzed for the level of substance P (i.e. primary outcome) and other inflammatory mediators as secondary outcomes. Self-reported measurements for pain intensity and functional outcome using Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) were determined. Result: A significant reduction in substance P level (1.45 ± 0.21 pg/mL versus 1.40 ± 0.15 pg/mL; p = 0.047) after application of traditional Malay massage was noted, but no significant change was reported for inter-group comparisons. The changes in other inflammatory markers were not significant for inter-group comparisons before and after application of traditional Malay massage and the relaxation position. However, the changes in both Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score (p <0.001) and RMDQ score (p = 0.021) were statistically significant for inter-group comparisons at both time points. Conclusions: The traditional Malay massage was reported to have an immediate effect on substance P but not on the inflammatory markers. This finding is well correlated with the changes in pain intensity (VAS score) and daily functional abilities (RMDQ score).
AB - Introduction: This study was to test the feasibility of an approach that is intended to be used in a larger scale study to investigate the immediate effect of traditional Malay massage on substance P, inflammatory mediators, pain intensity and level of disability among patients with low back pain. Method: A pilot, non-blinded, randomized controlled trial was conducted with thirty patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The participants were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. Blood samples were collected before and after 5 min of intervention, and were analyzed for the level of substance P (i.e. primary outcome) and other inflammatory mediators as secondary outcomes. Self-reported measurements for pain intensity and functional outcome using Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) were determined. Result: A significant reduction in substance P level (1.45 ± 0.21 pg/mL versus 1.40 ± 0.15 pg/mL; p = 0.047) after application of traditional Malay massage was noted, but no significant change was reported for inter-group comparisons. The changes in other inflammatory markers were not significant for inter-group comparisons before and after application of traditional Malay massage and the relaxation position. However, the changes in both Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score (p <0.001) and RMDQ score (p = 0.021) were statistically significant for inter-group comparisons at both time points. Conclusions: The traditional Malay massage was reported to have an immediate effect on substance P but not on the inflammatory markers. This finding is well correlated with the changes in pain intensity (VAS score) and daily functional abilities (RMDQ score).
KW - Low back pain
KW - Pilot randomized controlled trial
KW - Substance P
KW - Traditional Malay massage
KW - Visual analogue scale
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094622998&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eujim.2020.101217
DO - 10.1016/j.eujim.2020.101217
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85094622998
VL - 40
JO - European Journal of Integrative Medicine
JF - European Journal of Integrative Medicine
SN - 1876-3820
M1 - 101217
ER -