All Blog Posts Tagged 'research' (18)

OK, I did a lot more this summer than this, but there is one thing I want to tell you about. Why should you care what I did? Apparently you read my blog because I have something important to say. This one is real important, at least I think so.

Many of you longtime readers know of my dissatisfaction with many existing theories of explanation for myofascial release. If it had stayed grounded in the simple model of 20-30 years ago, a model of ground substance, elastin, and collagen,…

I’ve spent the past couple of weekends teaching at AMTA meetings; first in SC and this past week in Alaska. One of the classes I taught at both meetings was “Using Research to Market Your Massage Therapy Practice.” I’ve been on my research soapbox for a while now. The big question is, “Who gives a flip about research?” My answer to that is, inquiring minds want to know.

Except when they don’t want to know. Consider this: IF research validates an idea, a theory, or a belief you’ve had,…

Most of the time when the media, or Hollywood, casts a light on massage, it seems to be a paraphrase of Rodney Dangerfield’s classic line, “We don’t get no respect.”

The latest hue and cry is over the upcoming new lifetime series, The Client List, in which Jennifer Love Hewitt is a massage therapist/prostitute who is of course just doing it because she needs the money to feed her kids. Last year it was that picture of a race car driver getting a massage from a skimpily dressed massage…

These days it's not difficult to find sources for massage therapy (MT) research information. Pop in on FaceBook and many practices have their own page. Several of them post research articles as a way to promote MT and don't mind sharing (like mine).  Maybe we should define what a research article is. A research article has been…

I was just cruising through my social media sites, and it has reinforced for me something that I’ve known for quite some time about massage therapists: they’re a caring bunch. That’s not exactly a big surprise; after all, our job is helping people feel better. I’d say a certain amount of caring and compassion is a prerequisite for becoming a massage therapist. We all care about our clients…even when I see posts from people who may not be working in their ideal situation, that’s…

I inadvertently insulted a massage school owner yesterday by making a FB post saying that I wasn’t impressed by a school that had only one teacher to teach the entire curriculum, and that I wouldn’t choose such a school, personally. To begin with, I wasn’t speaking of his school when I made the post, and I had no idea that he was teaching his entire program himself, as his website gives a different impression, listing four faculty members. A couple of his satisfied graduates weighed in with…

One of my fascinations of the human body is DNA and Stem Cells as they are the gateway to rejuvenating health on many levels. In European research labs they have been testing different treatments ranging from

strokes and Alzheimer’s to neurological conditions and even cancer treatments.

However, most of the data obtained is from client testimonials, not published results or peer reviewed studies. That…

There have recently been some threads on facebook and other forums that question whether massage therapy research is needed and one of the opinions that spring from them is along the following:

"I don't need research because I see results in my practice. My work, my intuition and the education I have received is enough".

I can relate to this to some extent. In fact, I could nearly say that at one stage it would be very easy for me to slip into this mode of thinking. Most of us…

This one is going to be a long post since I'm trying to figure some things out and I'm just using this as a tool to do so. Hopefully some people will jump in with some information that might provide some enlightenment or education or even more questions (I'd actually also like to know if I'm not alone in my confusion!)

I'll start off by addressing what I call the FEP. What's the FEP? Well, it's my own acronym and it refers to the Famous Evidence Pyramid. Yep, I think…

"Hmmm...." can be said in many different ways, right?

It can be a good "Hmmmm...." from a "I gotta think about this" perspective. It can be a surprising "Hmmmm....." and unfortunately sometimes it can be a disappointing "Hmmmmmm...".

Here are a list of some of the things that got that reaction, the type of "Hmmmm...." and why!

* The role of massage therapy in public health. Hmm-Type: Made me think, had me ask questions of the big picture and where we're…

Yes.....it's all of the above with regards to the Massage Therapy Research in CIM conference.

I'm not going to blog about the whole conference in one post. It would be too long. Instead I'm going to divide the info from it up into chunks and give different perspectives into the what-I-got-from-it package.

The post-conference calm has brought on a flood of thoughts on many different things. How does all this information relate to my practice? How am I going to change from it?…

This week is a big week in the world of massage therapy research.

It's the Massage Therapy Foundation's "Highlighting Massage Therapy In CIM Research" conference in Seattle and yours truly will be heading there on Wednesday.

Looking a the line-up for the conference, I can tell it's going to be "brain-saturation" time.

The workshops they're have some big names including the Julie Ann Day, Whitney Lowe and Leon Chiatow. Some of the Keynote speakers include Helene…

A lot of massage therapists are becoming more interested in the research going on in our field and want to be able to read it, understand it, and put it to use. The problem is, essentially all research articles are geared towards other researchers or those who at least understand research, and most massage therapists have never taken a class in research methods. This is creating a…