Evaluating the effectiveness of massage therapy in the palliative care setting – An audit of 100 community-based clients

This audit reports the findings of a three month evaluation involving over 100 consecutive palliative clients and demonstrates that massage treatment improves quality of life. These patients were recruited from Eastern Palliative Care (EPC) the largest community-based specialist palliative care provider in Victoria and utilised the EPC intra-disciplinary model of care.

The four main end points measured pain, physical comfort, emotional mental comfort and degree of lymphoedema. We utilised a modified version of the validated and widely used Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, Numerical scale (ESAS) adapted specifically for this purpose.

Our sample size of 100 clients consisted of those receiving between 1-4 massages over 3 months. Data from over three hundred massages was used to compile the results. Our findings are presented in this paper which demonstrates the high efficacy of massage therapy as a component of end-of-life care.