Massage and touch interventions have been proposed as an alternative or supplement to pharmacological and other treatments to counteract anxiety, agitated behaviour, depression, and if possible to slow down cognitive decline in people with dementia. This review provides an overview of existing research on the use of massage for people with dementia. Eighteen studies of the effects of massage interventions were located, but only two small studies were of a sufficient methodological rigour to count as evidence to answer the question of effect.
The small amount of evidence currently available is in favour of massage and touch interventions, but is too limited in scope to allow for general conclusions. Further, high-quality randomized controlled trials are required.