Massage therapy plus topical analgesic is more effective than massage alone for hand arthritis pain

This report has been verified by one or more authors of the original publication.

20 females, who had been diagnosed with hand arthritis, were randomly assigned into 1 of 2 groups to determine the effect massage therapy with or without a topical analgesic had on patient important outcomes. Results from the study demonstrated that massage therapy with a topical analgesic significantly improved hand function, grip strength, hand pain, occurrence of depressed moods, and occurrence of sleep disturbances when compared to massage therapy alone.