A 2014 study focused on integrating massage therapy into palliative care found statistically significant changes in pain, anxiety, relaxation and inner peace of patients, decreasing both pain intensity and anxiety while increasing the patients’ sense of relaxation and inner peace.

​

In 2013, research published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice showed that adults with rheumatoid arthritis may feel a decrease in pain, as well as greater range of motion in wrists and large upper joints, after receiving regular moderate pressure massage during a four-week period. Additionally, in a 2012 pilot study published in Military Medicine, veterans indicated significant reductions in ratings of anxiety, worry, depression and physical pain after massage.

​

More recently, a 2016 collaborative meta-analysis of research on massage therapy for pain—conducted by Samueli Institute and commissioned by the Massage Therapy Foundation with support from the American Massage Therapy Association—found that, based on the evidence, massage therapy shows promise for reducing pain intensity/severity, fatigue and anxiety in cancer populations when compared to active comparators.