One brief massage per day, provided during day care throughout a one-year period, significantly decreased aggressive and deviant behavior among preschool children, according to recent research.
The study “Massage decreases aggression in preschool children: a long-term study” evaluated the effects of massage therapy on 110 children who scored high for behavior problems on the Child Behavior Checklist. These children were selected from nine day-care centers throughout Sweden, and they were mostly between ages 4 and 5. Fifty-three of the children were boys, and 57 were girls.
Sources: Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Sweden; Axelson’s Gymnasics Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Animal Health and Welfare, University of Agriculture, Skara, Sweden. Originally published in Acta Paediatrica.
A full report on this research will run in the December issue of MASSAGE Magazine.