What type of massage will lower blood pressure

Summary of the clinical trial findings

As discussed, many differnt types of massage proved to be successful in the trials. We will summarise what they found, then provide a table showing the types of massage and their results.

Soothing or deep massage

Several trials used stroking massages, Swedish massages or “remedial massage” with excellent effects. On the other hand a trial of 263 patients each receiving 45-60min of deep massage and this produced a blood pressure of 10.4/5.3 and a heart rate reduction of 10 per minute. Therefore, both "normal" and deep massage worked. The only anomaly was a trial that measure blood pressure immediately after deep sports massage and trigger point therapy and got a slight increase. This was attributed to the pain

Regular of once off

One trial used single 45-60 minute massages and these were shown to reduce blood pressure shortly afterwards. However, most trials used regular short duration (eg.10-20 min) sessions ranging from twice a week to daily. It is most important that the reduction in blood pressure be continuous, not just shortly after the massage. In trial four (below) patients were given 10 massages at three per week. The blood pressure was still reduced 72 hours after the last massage.

Your self massage alternatives

While many types of massage and protocols worked, probably the best model to follows was trial 4 (see table below). This used 15 minute massage sessions three times a week, and blood pressure was still considerably reduced 72 hours after the last massage. This appears to be a protocol that will maintain the lower blood pressure. The only problem is that three massages a week for ever would get very expensive, so lets look at some home massage options.

Type of massage

The successful massages all had these in common.

• The loosened tight muscles
• the stimulated blood
• the worked on tight spots in muscles

Lets look at what will do this.

References

1. Kaye, A. D. et al. (2008) ‘The effect of deep-tissue massage therapy on blood pressure and heart rate’, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 14(2), pp. 125–128. doi: 10.1089/acm.2007.0665.
2. Cambron, J. A., Dexheimer, J. and Coe, P. (2006) ‘Changes in blood pressure after various forms of therapeutic massage: A preliminary study’, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 12(1), pp. 65–70. doi: 10.1089/acm.2006.12.65.
3. Pinar, R. and Afsar, F. (2016) ‘Back massage to decrease state anxiety, cortisol level, blood prsessure, heart rate and increase sleep quality in family caregivers of patients with cancer: A randomised controlled trial’, Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention. doi: 10.7314/APJCP.2015.16.18.8127
4. Givi, M. (2013) ‘Durability of effect of massage therapy on blood pressure’, International Journal of Preventive Medicine.
5. Mohebbi, Z. et al. (2014) ‘The effect of back massage on blood pressure in the patients with primary hypertension in 2012-2013: a randomized clinical trial.’, International journal of community based nursing and midwifery, 2(4), pp. 251–8. Available at:
6. Walaszek, R. (2015) ‘Impact of classic massage on blood pressure in patients with clinically diagnosed hypertension’, Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan / sponsored by All-China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. doi: 10.1016/s0254-6272(15)30115-1.
7. Shahrjerdi, S. (2020) ‘The Effect of Eight Weeks of Massage on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and C-Reactive Protein in Women With Hypertension’, Journal of Arak University of Medical Sciences, 23(3), pp. 398–411. doi: 10.32598/jams.23.3.620.3.