To the outside world, secondary school teacher Helen Matten, 52, appeared to manage her life calmly and effectively, juggling a successful career with single motherhood. But under the serene exterior was a stressed-out woman.

She would dash from one activity to another, never allowing herself time to relax or unwind. She slept poorly, was permanently exhausted and snappy with pupils and family. She functioned in a state of barely controlled tension.

“I could never get to sleep unless I read until 1am and I was lucky if I slept for four or five hours a night after that,” says Matten, from Tolleshunt D’Arcy in Essex, who heads the child development and food technology departments at Billericay School. “I would wake up tired and drag myself to work like a zombie, wishing I was somewhere else.

“I never allowed myself to acknowledge the problem: I just got on with things. But I suffered from high blood pressure and digestive upsets, and sometimes I felt as if there was a lump in my throat, a kind of constriction that made it difficult for me to eat, breathe and speak.”

Six months ago Matten’s yoga teacher, Michelle Farnworth, who is also a fitness instructor and massage therapist, suggested that she try reducing her stress levels with the M Technique, a gentle touch therapy that involves a structured sequence of rhythmic stroking movements. The technique was originally developed by an intensive care nurse to relax distressed patients. “I start on my front, lying on warm towels and Michelle works on my spine, then down the backs of my arms and legs,” says Matten. “I have never known anything like it. It is like lying in a pool of warm water and being lapped by waves.”

If this all sounds rather touchy-feely, the surroundings in which the M Technique was conceived could scarcely have been more high-tech, a surgical intensive care unit at the National Heart Hospital in London. Its inventor, Jane Buckle, worked there as a critical care nurse in the mid1990s. Today the technique is used in more than 40 US hospitals and at least seven hospices in the UK, particularly to help with pain relief and to calm the terminally ill.

“My postoperative patients were connected to lines, drips and catheters,” recalls Dr Buckle, who has a PhD in health service management. “I wanted them to know that I was there for them and I found myself patting them. As I wasn’t sure how to touch very sick people, I trained as a massage therapist, but nine-tenths of what I learnt was inappropriate for intensive care. I started improvising movements and watching the monitors to see what happened. I found that if I did at least three strokes of the same type, the patient’s pulse and breathing slowed and their blood pressure came down,” she says. This, she says, is the calming parasympathetic nervous system at work, the opposite from the flight or fight response of the sympathetic nervous system. “At the first touch, the body registers surprise; on the second it recognises the feeling; and by the third it is reassured that this is something it can cope with.”

Over the ensuing years, Dr Buckle developed and trademarked the M (for manual) Technique. It is a choreographed series of stroking movements that, unlike massage and yoga, are always delivered in the same way and the same order, at a set pressure and speed. Each stroke is delivered three times.

“In massage, you are constantly asking yourself ‘Is there a knot there?’ or ‘Should I go in deeper here?’ and the person receiving the massage does not know what is going to happen next,” says Dr Buckle, who is now programmes manager and principal lecturer in complementary medicine at Thames Valley University. “With the M Technique every practitioner will do exactly the same thing to every patient. This gives the client reassurance. It is a comfort stroke, really.”

The technique, which can be learnt in two days, appears simple but seems to have profound effects on the body. Although there have been no trials published in scientific journals, anecdotal evidence – mainly from nurses and other practitioners who have used the method in the United States – suggests that it can calm newly circumcised babies, reduce period pain and improve the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. It can also be used to relax patients during potentially unpleasant procedures, such as the insertion or removal of tubes. A full body technique takes about 45 minutes, but for those who prefer not to undress it can be performed on exposed areas only or through clothes.

Research carried out by Dr Buckle, and funded by the US Government, to be presented at the American Massage Therapy Association annual convention in September, will show, using sophisticated imaging techniques, how the M Technique produces changes in 32 areas of the brain. “People drift in and out of consciousness while having the M Technique,” says Dr Buckle. “They don’t really go to sleep, but afterwards they cannot remember the whole session. There are three sounds you look for: a deep sigh; a tummy gurgle as the digestive system relaxes; and finally a snore.”

The technique is particularly popular among those who work with the very sick and can be taught to relatives of the terminally ill. “It makes people relax and seems to work as a kind of hypnotherapy for pain,” says Bridget Bircumshaw, a holistic practitioner who uses it at Cancer Support Warsop, a centre for cancer patients and their carers in Nottingham.

Matten says that she is a more relaxed person since starting monthly M Technique sessions last December. “My sleeping patterns have completely changed. If I go to bed at 11.30pm, I fall asleep immediately and have six or seven hours of rewarding sleep. At school, I deal with my classes more calmly and don’t get so wound up by them. My younger daughter says that I am not so tired and snappy at home.

“Instead of always running round after other people, I know how to relax and allow myself ‘me’ time. I never used to be able to just sit and read the papers in the garden on a Sunday afternoon. Now I can. It’s quite incredible, really.”

The treatment

What is it? A choreographed series of soft, calming stroking movements.

Claim It stimulates the parasympathetic part of the nervous system, which is responsible for reducing heart rate.

Good for Stress and chronic illness.

Cost About £25 for 50 minutes.

Contact For more info, www.rjbuckle.com . Helen Matten was seen by Michelle Farnworth, www.michellefarnworth.com .

WHAT’S THE EVIDENCE?

DR TOBY MURCOTT

Does the M Technique help stress? Helen Matten found the experience helpful for her situation, which adds to the body of anecdotal evidence of its benefits. The lack of published clinical trials means there is no good, independent clinical evidence to support it.

But it is already being used in lots of hospitals. This is not unusual for a newly developed therapy. Medical practitioners exchange methods all the time, developing new approaches as they do so. Clinical trials are important as new treatments are evaluated and accepted but they are not the first step. Trials will not be undertaken until there is sufficient evidence from other sources, such as case studies, to justify the work.

What about the brain scan results? It is not too surprising that the M Technique might have produced changes in the brain as a similar phenomenon has been seen before. In 2006 a Japanese research group found that light massage increased blood flow in parts of the brain and that this was associated with relaxation and a slower heart rate. Patients produced fewer stress hormones.

Surely M Technique must be effective because it was invented by a nurse? Dr Buckle’s nursing experience helped her to develop the technique. It is still possible that she and other practitioners are mistaken, which is why clinical trials are important.

What else might be going on? Various forms of massage have been shown to be relaxing in a variety of situations. A 2002 study of 30 individuals at Liverpool University found that massage to the head, neck and shoulders improved relaxation. In particular, the researchers concluded that it worked via the parasympathetic nervous system, the same mechanism Dr Buckle uses to describe the effects of the M Technique.

Is it safe? This type of intervention is considered to be very low risk.

Dr Toby Murcott is a former BBC science correspondent

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