Massage
As stress has been shown to play a role in the onset of atopic dermatitis, reducing stress can help treat the condition. Patients of all ages are more likely to touch their skin when they become itchy and experience a flare-up when under stress. Twenty parents with atopic dermatitis were taught by a massage therapist how to massage their children. Daily, the parents massaged their offspring for twenty minutes. When the skin of children with atopic dermatitis who received massage for one month was compared to the skin of children with atopic dermatitis who did not receive massage, researchers observed a significant improvement in the severity of atopic dermatitis with massage. The adolescents who received massage therapy for one month displayed fewer signs of anxiety.
