ADHD Treatments: A review between traditional drug treatments and alternative treatments

Raman Nazari, Michael Cvetich, Stephanie Valenzuela

University of California, Merced

 

Massage therapy and Watsu

Massage therapy and Watsu are also an alternative treatment for children with ADHD. By manual manipulation to the soft tissue in the body, an individual is relaxed both physically and mentally by promoting increased blood flow and relief of muscular tension.

Despite the fact that there is no set specific ADHD massage technique, certain methods have been reported to have a great effect than others.

The four most effective massage methods are the Watsu, Swedish massage, Cranial sacral therapy and Myofascial therapy.

The Swedish massage allows slow stroking movements that have a sedating effect, leading to the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, while the Cranial sacral therapy method allows for the removal of any restrictions in the cranium or sacrum that contribute to ADHD. The benefit of the myofascial therapy is that slowly unwinds the muscles focusing on the fascia as one large connected system to activate the parasympathetic system.

Watsu is a deep relaxing style of bodywork performed in a water warm pool. In a recent study, children who received Watsu therapy for two weeks reported themselves as being happier, less fidgety, and more on task behavior (Field, Quintino, Hernandez-Rief, and Koslovsky, 2008).

Positive changes were also noted by adolescent psychiatric patients who reported significantly less depression and anxiety following massage therapy (Field, Morrow, Valdeon, Larson, Kuhn, and Schanberg, 2007).

Even though these two studies have revealed promising outcomes, these results are still considered preliminary due to the small sample sizes and lack of generalization and comparison to traditional ADHD treatments.