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In a 1987 study, Dr. Field recieved a group of forty premature infants which had recently been released from the intensive care unit and put into an alternative nursery to be researched. For this study the infants were split into groups of twenty, where both groups of subjects recieved the same number of feedings each day and both averaged the same formula intake. Special stimulation with massage was given to 20 infants. The stimulation included 15-minute periods of exercise which were issued at the beginning of three consecutive hours for 10 weekdays, every morning. The infants are positioned on their stomachs and delicately stroked. The massages start from the head and neck, then gradually move down to preemies' feet, including massage from the shoulders to the hands. Once the initial massage is done, the preterm infant is rolled over. One by one the infant's arms and legs are extended and flexed, finishing with both legs extended and flexed. After a first massage has been concluded, another follows.
This continuous exercise and massage cycle received positive results not only in this particular study, but in 60 others. Preterm infants displayed 47% increase in weight gain as compared to the infants who did not receive the treatment. The increase in gastrointestinal and metabolic efficiency may be a positve result from the massage and exercise also. "We found the massage affects the vagus nerve, which is connected to the gastric system and stimulates the release of food absorption hormones, " says Tiffany Field (McVicar 1). In addition, infants who were massaged displayed better performance on certain developmental tasks and were proven to be more alert and active. Not only were results favorable for infants, but hospital stays decreased to six days shorter than those who were not massaged. Thus saving the hospital around $3000 per preemie!
Major Benefits |
Overall, infants who get massage therapy gain more weight, sleep better, relate better to parents, and infant's brain waves indicate more alertness (Dess 1)..
Massage can benefit everybody! |
Many studies have been conducted to prove that massage therapy has significantly promoted healthier lives for not only infants, but others as well (McVitar 4).
| Depressed teen-age women | reduced stress hormone levels and temperaments impoved |
| Men that suffer HIV virus | increased number of immune cells that combat the virus and have fewer infections, like pneumonia |
| Infants born to depressed teen-age women | enhanced the relationship between the teen mother and the infant |
| Patients with depression, burns, asthma, eating disorders, and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis | reduced stress hormone levels, anxiety reduction, and their clinical symptoms of ailment |
| Business employees who received chair massages throughout the work day | decrease in job stress; able to perform simple math problems in half the time and half the errors than workers without massage |
