Pre-and post-treatment study of the application of a traditional Thai massage protocol for treating office syndrome

Abstract

Office workers display a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, especially myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). The objective of the present study was to measure the effect of a single application of a traditional Thai massage (TTM) protocol designed to treat office syndrome. The protocol was applied to treat 33 office workers (average age 36.5 ± 10.5 years) who were experiencing shoulder pain. Each participant received one 90-min session of whole-body massage from one of 11 TTM therapists who had attended a week-long course. Pre-and post-treatment measurements were recorded for Pain (i.e., pain intensity using a visual analog scale (VAS) and pain sensitivity using pressure pain threshold (PPT)), flexibility (i.e., cervical range of motion (CROM) including left cervical lateral flexion (LCLF), right cervical lateral flexion (RCLF), cervical flexion (CF) and cervical extension (CE) and sit-and-reach box test (SRB)) and tissue hardness (TH). Results revealed there to be a significant difference between the pre-and post-treatment values (a modified ANOVA-type statistic (MATS) p< 0.001), and for the two categories of Pain and Flexibility (a wald-type statistic (WTS) p<0.001). Pain intensity and pain sensitivity were both reduced, as reflected by a decrease in VAS and increase in PPT and the Flexibility measures LCLF, RCLF, CF, CE and SRB were all increased. Furthermore, participants reported no serious side effects. The protocol will now be applied in clinical studies of office workers with MPS to compare with other treatments.