Effects of progressive muscle relaxation combined with head-acupoint massage on postoperative symptom clusters in breast cancer patients: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Purpose We aimed to access the combined effect of progressive muscle relaxation and head-acupoint massage on postoperative symptom clusters among breast cancer patients. Patients and methods: In this preoperative, assessors-blinded, and two arms randomized controlled trial, we recruited 95 adult women who had undergone breast cancer surgery. Eligible patients were randomly assigned to intervention (received the combined treatments of progressive muscle relaxation in combination with head-acupoint massage) or placebo group (received routine care) using random permuted blocks of randomly varying size. The primary outcomes included sleep status (sleep quality, sleep efficiency, number of awakenings during the night) and a variety of symptoms (pain, upper limb weakness, fatigue, anxiety, poor appetite). Results In the period between the second or third day of starting to the seventh day of the intervention, patients in the intervention group (n = 46) were less affected by sleep disturbance, including having better quality and efficiency of sleeping but having a smaller number of nocturnal awakenings (all P < 0.05), compared with the control group (n = 49). They also had less common post-surgical symptoms, such as pain, upper limb weakness, fatigue, anxious and poor appetite in the same period (all P < 0.05). These relief of symptoms persisted in the first and third months of follow-ups after the intervention. Conclusions This trial shows that the progressive muscle relaxation in combination with head-acupoint massage may be beneficial to improve various symptom clusters of postoperative breast cancer patients. Trial registration: Chinese clinical trial registry (registration number ChiCTR2300069542, 20/03/2023).