An abdominal massage apparatus for a patient having a colon with an ascending section, a transverse section and a descending section, comprising: - one or more support plates configured for being secured to the patient in such a way that in use the support plates face an abdominal wall of the body of a patient ; - massage units associated with the support plates comprising at least four fluid driven actuators comprising a flexible casing for performing an abdominal massage to said patient and positioned such that in use the fluid driven actuators are adjacent to and aligned along the ascending section and the descending section; - a pump and electrovalves ; and - a programmable central unit electrically connected with the electrovalves for controlling the fluid driven actuators by controlling the electrovalves for inflating and deflating the flexible casings by supplying or removing pressurized fluid in a controlled manner, wherein half of the fluid driven actuators are positioned such that in use they are adjacent to and aligned along the ascending section , and the other half of the fluid driven actuators are positioned such that in use they are adjacent to and aligned along the descending section of the colon of the patient such that the fluid driven actuators can apply a localized force that generates a pressure on the ascending and descending colon sections in a direction normal to the abdominal area, wherein the programmable central unit is configured to control a magnitude and timing of the localized forces, and the programmable central unit is configured for controlling each of the fluid driven actuators such that they provide a cyclic force with a frequency in the range of 0.1 - 0.9 cycles per second, wherein the programmable central unit is configured to control the fluid driven actuators to apply said localized forces in a synchronized manner according to a predetermined massage sequence pattern, and wherein the programmable central unit is configured to control the fluid driven actuators to operate in a consecutive manner to apply said localized forces to progress consecutively along the ascending and descending sections in a clockwise direction. - one or more support plates configured for being secured to the patient in such a way that in use the support plates face an abdominal wall of the body of a patient ; - massage units associated with the support plates comprising at least four fluid driven actuators comprising a flexible casing for performing an abdominal massage to said patient and positioned such that in use the fluid driven actuators are adjacent to and aligned along the ascending section and the descending section; - a pump and electrovalves ; and - a programmable central unit electrically connected with the electrovalves for controlling the fluid driven actuators by controlling the electrovalves for inflating and deflating the flexible casings by supplying or removing pressurized fluid in a controlled manner, wherein the programmable central unit is configured to control a magnitude and timing of the localized forces, and the programmable central unit is configured for controlling each of the fluid driven actuators such that they provide a cyclic force with a frequency in the range of 0.1 - 0.9 cycles per second, wherein the programmable central unit is configured to control the fluid driven actuators to apply said localized forces in a synchronized manner according to a predetermined massage sequence pattern, and wherein the programmable central unit is configured to control the fluid driven actuators to operate in a consecutive manner to apply said localized forces to progress consecutively along the ascending and descending sections in a clockwise direction. <EOS>