Is there an association between women's consultations with a massage therapist and health-related quality of life? Analyses of 1800 women aged 56–61 years

Background The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is commonplace in Australia with massage being a popular CAM modality. Methods This is a sub-study from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). A total of 2120 mid-age (56–61 year old) women who consulted a CAM practitioner were invited to participate in this study. The Short-Form (SF-36) questionnaire was used to measure women's health-related quality of life. Results A total of 1800 women returned the questionnaire generating a response rate of 85.0%. Overall, 912 (50.7%) women visited a massage therapist in the previous 12 months. Women with lower quality of life scores in terms of bodily pain (p = 0.012) and/or emotional health (p = 0.029) were more likely to consult a massage therapist than those with higher scores. Conclusion The implications of these associations are important for informing healthcare providers in providing effective and coordinated care for patients with pain and mood symptoms.