Supervisors info:
Άντεια Παρασκευά, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Αθανασία Τσαρουχά, Επίκουρος Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννα Σιαφάκα, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
INTRODUCTION: Cancer is a huge global problem. Each year, 6 million new patients are diagnosed and more than 4 million die from cancer, with pain being the major symptom in 70% of patients with advanced cancer. Because of the side effects that can be caused by conventional methods of treatment, a large number of cancer patients are turning to complementary and alternative therapies, the most important being physiotherapy.
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of physiotherapy in patients suffering from cancer pain. The intention is to create and synthesize a systematic review through the study of existing international literature to determine the efficacy of physiotherapy in patients with cancer pain.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Extensive bibliographic search was conducted in the Pubmed, Cohraine, MEDline, and Google Scholar databases. In total 342 studies were found from the literature search. After studying the titles and abstracts, 305 were excluded, while 4 were not published in English, 7 were unclear to the performance of their methods and results, leaving 26 articles to be studied.
RESULTS: The main means of physiotherapy that were found to have most effect in reducing cancer pain in this review was massage therapy, TENS, physical exercise, low intensity laser, KT (kinesiology tape) and myophascial release. All articles reported a positive contribution of physiotherapy in reducing the intensity of cancer pain
CONCLUTION: This review has shown that the contribution of physiotherapy results in a reduction in pain intensity, increases functionality, mood and overall quality of life in a group of patients who suffer from painful physical stimuli as well as psychological, spiritual, social and economic factors.
Keywords:
Cancer pain, Physiotherapy, Physical Therapy, Massage Therapy, Physical Exercise, TENS
