Effect of Thai traditional massage on quality of sleep, stress, and muscle pain in patients with insomnia and muscle tension syndrome

Abstract

Background: Insomnia is irregular sleep that is related to physical health, e.g., muscle tension, and mental health conditions, e.g., emotional problems, less concentration, stress, and depression. Mostly, insomnia and muscle tension syndrome can decrease sleep quality. In addition to the main treatment and medication, muscle relaxation is an alternative treatment to reduce muscle tension and improve sleep quality. Thai Traditional Massage is a muscle relaxation method.
Objectives: To compare the quality of sleep, stress, and muscle tension between patients with insomnia and muscle tension syndrome who received Thai Traditional Massage as the experiment group and non-received Thai Traditional Massage as the control group. In both groups, for four weeks, the experimental group received Thai Traditional Massage and treatment as usual but the control group received only treatment as usual.
Methods: A total of 40 insomnia patients with muscle tension syndrome were divided equally into the experiment group (n = 20) and control group (n = 20) by using block randomization. All subjects were asked to complete demographic data and medical information form, and the Thai version of measurements consisted of The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the General Health Questionnaire – Stress measurement (GHQ-30), and the Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire, the last three questionnaires were assessed before and after the study. The experiment group received treatment as usual and Thai
Traditional Massage for four weeks. The control group received treatment as usual for four weeks.
Results: The results showed significant difference between groups of sleep quality (P < 0.001), stress (P = 0.017), pain levels (P = 0.045), and visual analog scale (P = 0.002) but characteristics of pain showed no difference. In the 4th week, the experimental group had a lower score than the 1st week on sleep quality, stress, characteristics of pain, pain levels, and visual analog scale. The mean score of sleep quality increased among the control group.
Conclusion: Thai Traditional Massage affected improve sleep quality, reduce stress, reduce pain levels, and visual analog scale among insomnia patients with muscle tension syndrome. Thus, the alternative method, Thai Traditional Massage should be considered for insomnia patients.