Thai traditional massage significantly reduced conduct problems and anxiety among autistic children, according to a new study by researchers at Chulalongkorn University and WATPO Thai Traditional Medicine and Massage School.

Thai traditional massage, combines yoga with acupressure, concentrating not on the muscles but on the entire body to manipulate energy. It includes stretching and deep massage.

The study, published in the December 2009 issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, found that Thai traditional massage reduced stereotypical autistic behaviors such as rocking and significantly reduced anxiety.

The study included 60 autistic children between the ages of 3 and 10 who attended 16 therapy sessions for eight weeks. The children either received Thai massage or sensory integration therapy during those sessions.

Sensory integration therapy, a treatment used for autism, sensory stimulation to alter behavior.

The researchers found that both therapies reduced anxiety among the children and improved their conduct. The children also demonstrated less hyperactivity and few sleep-related problems after receiving the therapies.

“Overall, we showed that this type of massage was able to significantly reduce conduct problems and anxiety in Thai autistic children. Therefore, we concluded that TTM (Thai Traditional Medicine) could be used as a complementary therapy for autistic children,” the authors wrote.

 The study was funded by the Asia Research Centre.