The immediate effect of traditional Malay massage on substance P, inflammatory mediators, pain scale and functional outcome among patients with low back pain: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Substance P.

The aim of this study is to investigate the immediate effect of traditional Malay massage on the pain scale, substance P, inflammatory mediators, and functional outcomes among low back pain patients.

Why It Was Studied

The treatment of low back pain is very challenging due to the recurrent nature of the problem.

It is believed that traditional Malay massage helps to relieve such back pain but there is a lack of scientific evidence to support both the practice of traditional Malay massage and the mechanism by which it exerts its effect.

Who Took Part

A total of sixty-six patients who fulfil the inclusion criteria will be recruited.

The participants will be randomly allocated into intervention (traditional Malay massage) and control (relaxation position) groups.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Substance P group and the comparison group should start out alike.

A non-blinded, randomised controlled trial will be conducted.

Blood and saliva samples will be collected before and immediately after intervention.

All collected samples will be analysed.

The primary outcomes are the changes in the level of substance P in both saliva and blood samples between both groups.

The secondary outcomes include the levels of inflammatory mediators [i.e.

What Was Measured

TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8, monocyte chemotactic protein-1, IL-6 and IL-10, and the soluble form of the intercellular adhesion molecule], the pain intensity as measured by a visual analogous scale and functional outcomes using the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Clinical Protocols, Inflammation Mediators, Low Back Pain, Massage, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Pain Measurement and Patient Selection.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Substance P.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2016 (BMC complementary and alternative medicine), a journal based in England.

More context: the Substance P compound page, all human trials.