NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who suffer from the pain and stiffness that accompany osteoarthritis of the knee may find relief with Swedish massage, according to results of the first study to assess the effectiveness of this approach.

In the study, reported he Archives of Internal Medicine, doctors assigned 68 subjects with knee arthritis to either a massage group or to a "usual care" comparison group. The people in the massage group received standard Swedish massage for one hour twice a week for one month followed by one hour once a week for the second month.

"The results were really quite impressive," said Dr. Adam Perlman, the first author of the report and executive director of the Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

"Subjects who got massage showed improvement at the end of 8 weeks compared to their baseline and compared to the usual care control group," he told Reuters Health. They reported much less pain as well as improved flexibility and range of motion.

"These benefits largely persisted even after 8 weeks after they had stopped massage," Perlman said.

Eight weeks of usual care produced no changes in symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. However, for a further 8 weeks after this, the usual care group received the massage intervention and enjoyed benefits similar to those seen in the initial massage therapy group.

Pleased with the results achieved in the trial, some of the subjects have continued with Swedish massage therapy once per month on their own and have maintained the benefits gained during the trial, Perlman said.

"Massage is very popular, particularly among people with chronic pain, especially those with arthritis," Perlman noted. "Yet there's never been a study that looked specifically at massage therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee."

There are over 80 different types of therapeutic massage, and Perlman said he and his colleagues intentionally chose Swedish massage primarily because it is one of the more common and more popular types. "Almost any massage therapist would be trained in Swedish massage," he said.

Swedish massage is not a replacement for existing therapies, Perlman emphasized, "but an adjunct to a comprehensive approach to the care of osteoarthritis of the knee. People still need to exercise and manage their weight effectively and certainly medications are still an option."