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Q: diabetes massage ( Answered,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: diabetes massage
Category: Health > Alternative
Asked by: savor-ga
List Price: $2.00
Posted: 11 Aug 2003 15:17 PDT
Expires: 10 Sep 2003 15:17 PDT
Question ID: 242680
I was wondering if treatments that include gentle touch and massage as
well as grounding using dowsing techniques have been explored
anywhere.  I have had luck with warm soaks, grounding and light
massage in healing sores.  Also grounding tends to relieve the pain of
diabetic neuropathy.
Answer  
Subject: Re: diabetes massage
Answered By: librariankt-ga on 08 Sep 2003 11:54 PDT
 
Hi Savor,

There have been some articles written, particularly in the alternative
and complementary medicine magazines/journals, about massage therapy
for diabetes.  I searched the Alternative Medicine and AMED databases
from EBSCO and found a few things that I think you'll find helpful. 
Unfortunately I can't give you the whole article because of copyright,
but I'm including the citation (so you can find it at a local library)
and an excerpt when available.

Rose, Mary Kathleen. Massage & Bodywork; Feb/Mar2001, Vol. 16 Issue 1,
p84, 5p
"THE BENEFITS OF MASSAGE FOR PEOPLE WITH DIABETES
As with any population, massage is a beneficial complementary therapy
- diabetics, however, can find the results especially helpful.
Circulation - There is no getting around the fact that massage can
increase circulation, thereby encouraging the efficient transport of
oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. Improved circulation, in
turn, improves the cells' insulin uptake.
Relaxation - The benefits of relaxation should not be underestimated,
especially within the diabetic community. Consider the physical and
psychological stresses of living with a debilitating disease and the
need to self-medicate and monitor on a daily basis, as well as the
burden diabetes puts on the body and its systems. That said, it's easy
to see the therapeutic correlation between massage and diabetes. With
the release of endorphins, the nervous system calms, there is a
reduction of stress hormones and the diabetic client can find a
homeostasis with their blood sugar levels.
Myofascial effects - For the client with diabetes, you may likely find
a thickening of their connective tissue caused by increased blood
sugars. Massage will help to increase mobility and tissue elasticity
that has been hindered by that thickening effect. Of course, a good
exercise program - with an efficient stretching regimen - will also
benefit your client."

Acupressure, breath awareness help diabetes patients. by Vest, Gerald
W. Massage Magazine; Jul/Aug2000 Issue 86, p64, 1p
"A combination of acupressure and breath awareness may help people
with diabetes, according to a study originally published in the
journal Health & Social Work. The study showed that a short
stress-relief program including touch could lower blood sugar and
improve health in diabetic patients."

Diabetes mellitus treated by massage. by Wu W; Li C. JOURNAL OF
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE, Mar 1, 1998; 18(1): 64-5
[sorry, no abstract]

Massage lowers blood glucose levels in children with diabetes. Massage
Magazine; May/Jun97 Issue 67, p23, 1p
[sorry, no abstract]

You can also take a look at the articles in PubMed MEDLINE using the
following link (will automatically search for "massage AND diabetes"):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=massage+AND+diabetes

An online article by Mary Rose (see the first article above) titled
"Therapeutic massage and diabetes" is at
http://www.amtamassage.org/journal/win02/thera_diabetes.html

I didn't find any articles in either MEDLINE or the alternative
medicine databases on the use of grounding in the treatment of
diabetes.

Finally, I checked the MEDLINEplus consumer health database (from the
National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health) for
information.  The health topic on diabetes
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diabetes.html) has a lot of great
links in it, including the following:

Alternative Therapies for Diabetes
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/alternativetherapies/index.htm
This page is sponsored by the National Diabetes Information
Clearinghouse and not only has some info about alternative medicines,
but also a link to automatically search the Combined Health
Information Databases for recent articles about diabetes therapies
(scroll to the bottom of the page to see this link).  When I clicked
the link the very first article it found for me dealt with relaxation
therapies.

Good luck!

librariankt
Comments  
Subject: Re: diabetes massage
From: ponzi9-ga on 11 Aug 2003 16:40 PDT
 
I'm also diabetic.  My personal experience.  Anything that both makes
you feel better and be healthier can't be bad. We know for sure that
stress and anxiety cause higher 'blood sugar'.
  Of course, continue the diet, exercise, monitoring and medication
while you try new things.
  Best of success to you.

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