To deepen the understanding about the effects of abdominal massage further research is needed. It is very likely that the impact of abdominal massage has individual variations and an analysis of the intervention group on an individual level should be performed. It is also difficult to state whether the increase in bowel function has clinical importance. Further research is needed to assess if the increase in bowel function has association with increase in health related quality of life. The cost-effectiveness of different treatments of constipation is important in the selection of treatments in times of limited resources. Therefore, a health economic evaluation is needed to study the cost-effectiveness of abdominal massage. As the adequate duration of abdominal massage still are unclear further studies in this subject is needed. Further study is also needed to control for the effect of time and attention the intervention group receives during massage.