The Effect of Foot Massage With a Massage Roller on Chemotherapy-Related Neuropathic Pain

August 28, 2026 updated by: Yasemin Ciraci Yasar, Ataturk University
Chemotherapy-related neuropathic pain is experienced by 30-40% of cancer patients. This pain significantly reduces the quality of life and overall well-being of patients battling cancer. Studies widely acknowledge that standardizing neuropathic pain assessment leads to improved patient outcomes. Our project, which we believe will add a different dimension to nursing care for cancer patients, aims to reduce chemotherapy-related neuropathic pain experienced by cancer patients through foot massage. The study population will consist of male and female cancer patients with chemotherapy-related neuropathic pain (VAS ≥ 4/10), over 18 years of age, who are actively undergoing treatment at the Medical Oncology Clinics of Atatürk University Research Hospital between February 1, 2026 and June 30, 2026, and who are not scheduled for surgical procedures during the research period. Accordingly, the minimum number of participants required for the study has been determined as 52. To reduce the risk of possible losses, withdrawals, or missing data during the research process, it is planned to include more participants than the calculated sample size. Within the scope of the research, the Neuropathic Pain Scale (S-LANSS) will be used to determine the presence of neuropathic pain in patients, and the VAS will be used to determine the severity of the pain. After the pre-test is completed, the control group will continue with routine treatment and care in the clinic. The intervention group will receive routine treatment and care, as well as foot massage using a foot massage roller for a total of 30 minutes twice a day. This intervention in the intervention group is planned to continue for 3 weeks. During this period, no other treatment will be applied to patients for neuropathic pain. The fact that only 3 small-scale studies, including one case report, were found in the literature review on this subject, the multidisciplinary collaboration in planning this study, and the expectation that it will offer practical solutions for chemotherapy-related neuropathic pain highlight the originality of the study. It is expected that the results obtained will provide evidence-based contributions to nursing care, support holistic approaches to improving patient comfort, and develop a viable intervention model for healthcare professionals.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

80

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Erzurum
      • Erzurum, Erzurum, Turkey (Türkiye), 25080
        • Atatürk Üniversitesi

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

(1) age ≥18, (2) receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy regimens including Taxanes (Paclitaxel/Docetaxel), Platinum (Carboplatin/Cisplatin), or a combination of both, (3) Having completed at least three cycles of chemotherapy, (4) scoring ≥ 12 on the S-LANSS scale, and ≥ 4 on the VAS, (5) being conscious, cooperative, and able to communicate in Turkish (6) volunteering to participate and providing written informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

(1) peripheral neuropathy pre-dating the chemotherapy (e.g., diabetic, alcoholic, or nutritional neuropathy) (2) receiving non-taxane/non-platinum regimens or Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, (3) active skin infections, open wounds, or severe scar tissue on the feet, (4) history of deep vein thrombosis or active bone/spine metastases in the lower extremities, (5) comorbidities affecting the sensory function of the nervous system.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: wooden massage roller
Other: Roller Massage
intervention group
Active Comparator: ıce therapy
Other: Ice therapy
control group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Visual Analog Scale- Pain score
Time Frame: 3 weeks
The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), developed by Price et al. (1983), was utilized to assess and monitor pain intensity; it is a simple, repeatable, and widely used subjective method for rapid pain assessment [24]. In this method, participants marke their perceived pain on a 10 cm ruler, where 0 represent "no pain", and 10 represent 'the most severe or imaginable pain". In this study, pain intensity was categorized as 4 for "mild pain", 5-6 for "moderate pain", and 7-10 for "severe pain".
3 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Ataturk University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

July 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 11, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 11, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 16, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 28, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • TSA-2025-16152

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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