BACKGROUND: Massages belong to the oldest treatment of mankind. They are popular in many countries, yet no recent analysis of the clinical effectiveness has been published. SUBJECT: To provide a critical review of the world literature related to the clinical effectiveness of classic massage therapy. METHODS: A computerised literature search (1970 to 1993) was performed, for which the Medline data base system was employed. Additional references were also found by other means, ie, searching our personal files and the reference lists of articles and books. Our initial intention to include only controlled trials had to be abandoned because of the extreme rarity of such reports. RESULTS: The lack of scientific rigor of the studies retrieved was the most outstanding finding of the search. Thus only very few scientifically proven indications for massages emerged during the review, and even these were less well established than today's accepted standards require. These data are in sharp contrast with the lists of indications usually offered by texts relating to massage. CONCLUSIONS: A discrepancy between clinical experience and scientific evidence relating to massage therapy is regrettably obvious.
Published by S Karger GmbH, Freiburg.

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