Patients who have undergone heart surgery may benefit from massage therapy, new research suggests.

A study by experts at Mayo Clinic has found that in 30 patients who received massage therapy during a five-month period in 2005, the average pain score given by patients on a scale of one to ten was less than one by the end of the study.

Before the massage therapy, patients had claimed to have a pain score of three on average, suggesting that the complementary therapy helped to reduce their pain levels.
 

A control group containing 28 patients was also investigated. These patients were not offered massage therapy, and the researchers found that their pain levels did not decrease over the five-month study period.

The findings are published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.

Lead author Susanne Cutshall, a registered nurse in Mayo Clinic's cardiovascular surgery group, revealed: 'In surveys, we started to hear from patients that tension, stress, pain and anxiety hampered their recovery.

'Today, patients speak up more, and we recognise it's not enough to fix the heart; we have to treat the whole patient,' she continued.

'These therapies don't take the place of medications but are seen as an important addition that makes a difference to patients.'