According to our study, significant difference between the intervention and control group were found first at week 8. At week 4, no significant differences were found,which indicates that 4 weeks can be an insufficient time for abdominal massage to influence constipation. It is unclearif the effect would have continued to increase if the duration of intervention had been longer. There is no evidence that the effect of massage would continue after the end of treatment (Field, 1998). In a study by Holey and Lawler (1995), abdominal massage was tested for its effect on bowel function. Bowel function increased during one month of treatment but two month after the end of abdominal massage treatment, the bowel had stabilised to its pretreatment level of function. Therefore, this study did not include any regularly follow up.