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eCAM Advance Access first published online on April 23, 2007
This version published online on July 17, 2008
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nem027
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© 2007 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Aromatherapy Massage Affects Menopausal Symptoms in Korean Climacteric Women: A Pilot-Controlled Clinical Trial

Myung-Haeng Hur1, Yun Seok Yang2 and Myeong Soo Lee3

1Department of Nursing, Eulji University, 2Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, School of Medicine, Eulji University and 3Department of Medical Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea

This study investigated the effects of aromatherapy massage on menopausal symptoms in Korean climacteric women. Kupperman's menopausal index was used to compare an experimental group of 25 climacteric women with a wait-listed control group of 27 climacteric women. Aromatherapy was applied topically to subjects in the experimental group in the form of massage on the abdomen, back and arms using lavender, rose geranium, rose and jasmine in almond and primrose oils once a week for 8 weeks (eight times in total). The experimental group reported a significantly lower total menopausal index than wait-listed controls (P < 0.05). There were also significant intergroup differences in subcategories such as vasomotor, melancholia, arthralgia and myalgia (all P < 0.05). These findings suggest that aromatherapy massage may be an effective treatment of menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, depression and pain in climacteric women. However, it could not be verified whether the positive effects were from the aromatherapy, the massage or both. Further rigorous studies should be done with more objective measures.

Keywords: aromatherapy – climateric – massage – menopausal

For reprints and all correspondence: Myeong Soo Lee, PhD, Department of Medical Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, 461-24 Jeonmin-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-811, South Korea. Tel: 82(0)42 868 9266; E-mail: drmslee{at}gmail.com; mslee{at}kiom.re.kr

Received September 13, 2006; accepted December 28, 2006


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