A Review of the Impact of Touch Therapy on Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Pain is one of the common and painful symptoms in cancer patients. Pain affects the life of these patients and sometimes its effect is more than cancer itself. Several studies have investigated the effect of using various non-pharmacological interventions, including touch therapy, on reducing the pain of cancer patients, which have yielded different results. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of touch therapy on the relief of cancer pain. Also, in this study, the side effects and safety of this method were investigated. According to the results of various studies in this field, it seems that touch therapy can be used as a non-invasive nursing intervention to reduce the pain of cancer patients. Probably, by teaching touch therapy to nurses interested in this field, they can be employed in the field of working with cancer patients and reducing their pain. However, it seems necessary to conduct more clinical trials to confirm these contents. Based on the results of the studies, it should be mentioned that in the field of touch therapy, none of the studies have mentioned any significant complications. It seems that this method can be used as a safe method to reduce the pain of cancer patients. However, it is recommended to avoid giving large amounts of energy in limited sessions of touch therapy lasting 2 to 3 minutes, especially in children, the elderly, and people with head injuries.