Masoterapia en las alteraciones conductuales de ancianos con demencia

OBJETIVE: To know the efficacy of therapeutic massage on behavioral disturbances of elderly patients with dementia. DESIGN: Literature review. DATA SOURCE: The literature search was done in six scientific databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library Plus, PEDro, Dialnet, Scopus and CSIC, between 1983 and 2013. The search terms were “massage”, “dementia”, “therapy”, “behavior disorders” and “Alzheimer”. SELECION OF STUDIES: Of the 496 articles analyzed, 11 scientific articles have met the selection criteria. Inclusion criteria were: clinical trials, published in English or Spanish, which had analyzed the effects of massage therapy on altered behaviors in people with dementia. DATA EXTRACTION: The variables were massage benefits, type of massage and massage lubricant. RESULTS: Their authors use different massage techniques (effleurage, pétrissage, pressures, frictions and kneading), obtain better conduct disorders (aggression, anxiety, agitation, and resistance to care) of elderly. CONCLUSIONS: The therapeutic massage can be a complementary treatment in the rehabilitation program for better behavior disorders.