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Massage therapy offered Drop by the Health 1st Wellness Wednesday table from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 28 in the Children’s Hospital lobby to get a free chair massage. Sponosred by the Center for Therapeutic Massage. Ashli Golden Licensed Massage Therapist At almost any given moment, there are a handful of people in your life that have had some sort of relationship to cancer. That’s right, relationship. Whether an individual has leukemia as an infant, lymphoma as a child or discovers breast or prostate cancer as an adult, there is a particular prognosis that is set up by health care professionals in order to help patients and their families survive this consuming condition. Alongside the track of treatments—such as chemotherapy and radiation, doctors have increasingly found benefits for the symptoms of cancer through the use of massage therapy.   In order to grasp the concept of comfort that massage brings for a cancer patient, one must slightly understand the depths of this disease. Cancer is the term for the disease in which abnormal cells divide without control and can invade nearby tissues and spread to other parts of the body. There are several  types of cancer. Carcinomas begin in the skin or in the tissues that line or cover internal organs. Sarcomas are cancers that begin in bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels or any other connective tissue. Leukemia is a type of cancer that starts in the blood forming tissues and bone marrow producing a large number of abnormal blood cells that can enter the blood stream and lymphomas and multiple myelomas are cancers that begin in the immune system.   Since there is no known cure for this detrimental disease, the battle lasts different lengths of time for each patient. Therefore, types of treatment vary just as much as the disease. Symptoms, on the other hand, tend to be somewhat similar for most all patients. Overall apathy, anxiety, depression, nausea, trouble sleeping, and pain are the most common symptoms and the combination of any number of them results in a decreased quality of life. This is where a massage therapist may come alongside as a caregiver and  offer a benefit to both the patient and their family.   In general the benefits of massage are numerous in all systems of the body but are especially important in the lymphatic and immune systems which are affected in the cancer patient. Some benefits include: Promotes lymph circulation reducing lymphedema (swelling) helping to remove metabolic waste products from the system. Increases the number of white blood cells thereby strengthening the immune system through the increased count of natural killer cells and lymphocytes. Increases blood flow to bring fresh, nutrient rich blood to the body. Relaxes tense muscles. Increases alpha and delta brainwaves that are linked to a better quality of sleep. Reduces stress through activating the parasympathetic nervous system. A 2004 study at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, one of the nation’s leading cancer centers, showed that the symptoms of cancer patients dramatically improved with the use of massage.   During a three year period, more than 1,200 patients were treated using massage and showed an approximate 50 percent reduction in their scores for symptoms such as pain, fatigue, anxiety, nausea, and depression. When looking for a complement to the allopathic means of controlling disease, it is nice to know that comfort for symptoms can be found at the touch of one’s fingertips.   Editor's note: The preceding column was brought to you on behalf of Health 1st. Striving to bring various topics and representing numerous employee wellness organizations and committees on campus, this weekly column seeks to provide MUSC, MUHA and UMA employees with current and helpful information concerning all aspects of health. Friday, Nov. 30, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.