Immediate Effects of Traditional Thai Massage on Heart Rate Variability in Major Depressive Disorder Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Depression can affect people of all ages around the world. Patients with major depressive disorder always have stress and anxiety as their common symptoms. Traditional Thai Massage (TTM) is one of the most popular alternative treatments in Thailand to relieve psychological stresses and anxiety which may be reflected by increased Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Aim: To preliminarily examine the immediate effects of TTM on Heart Rate (HR) and HRV in patients with major depressive disorder. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at two psychiatric departments in Thailand. A single group pre-post design was applied. Twenty-four patients (3 males and 21 females, aged 34.54±11.08 year) who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder participated while they were on standard medication. HRV, resting HR, and Blood Pressure (BP) were assessed before and immediately after having a session of TTM. Paired t-test was used to compare the outcomes between the pre and posttreatment procedure. Results: There was significant increase in HRV especially for time domain {the Standard Deviation of all Normal to Normal intervals (SDNN) (31.27±10.45 vs 37.76±11.55, p<0.01)} and the root mean square of successive differences: RMSSD (24.23±11.69 vs 34.49±16.51, p<0.01) while there were no change in HR and BP. Conclusion: A single treatment of TTM could increase HRV in this patient population. Further investigation with a larger sample size with a randomised controlled trial is suggested.

Keywords

• alternative medicine
• anxiety
• depression
• stress