Amazing Science News
Massage for Osteoarthritis of the Knee
![]() |
THE NIH HAS AWARDED Duke Integrative Medicine and its key research partners at SHRP and Yale–Griffin Prevention Research Center a $2.75 million shared grant to investigate the impact of massage therapy on people with osteoarthritis of the knee. The combined research team will conduct a randomized controlled trial to definitively evaluate an eight–week course of Swedish massage as a treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee in terms of its effects on pain‚ stiffness‚ and physical function.
Duke Integrative Medicine Executive Director and Principal Investigator Adam Perlman‚ MD‚ formerly of UMDNJ‚ comments‚ "The team we have established has been working to study the efficacy of massage for this prevalent condition. The support from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine for our work on osteoarthritis demonstrates that our health care system faces an imperative to identify evidence–based approaches for common conditions that call upon all of the tools and treatments available in modern medicine."
Perlman and his co–investigators‚ Susan Gould–Fogerite‚ PhD‚ and Gwen Mahon‚ PhD‚ from SHRP‚ and David Katz‚ MD‚ MPH‚ and Ather Ali‚ MD‚ MPH‚ of the Yale–Griffin Prevention Research Center‚ also will gather data to study the cost–effectiveness of massage as a form of treatment. Ultimately‚ they expect to demonstrate that massage can serve as a valuable option for treating osteoarthritis in clinical settings‚ which could help set the stage for reimbursement from health insurance companies for this form of treatment.
The new study will recruit more than 200 participants with osteoarthritis of the knee‚ and will follow them for one year. For those who qualify for the study‚ the treatments will be available locally at the Barnabas Health Ambulatory Care Center in Livingston. For more information‚ contact Carl Milak‚ research coordinator‚ at 973–972–8564‚ (milakcj@umdnj.edu)‚ or Mary Carola‚ research assistant‚ at (973) 972–3449 (carola@umdnj.edu).
