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I have been observing and participating in discussions about the Evidence-Based Practice of Massage Therapy on several different Internet groups lately. It’s interesting to see the interactions between those who think the scientific approach is the only way to go, and those who think the fact that massage makes people feel good is the only evidence that’s needed. And of course there are some who take the middle ground. I probably belong to the latter group.

I think research is important, and the more scientific evidence we have about the efficacy of massage, the better off we are. It can only enhance our credibility in the eyes of physicians and other health care providers. Still, we all work on people every day who get up off the table saying how much better they feel, and that validates us. We feel better because we have helped someone else to feel better.

The Canadians are miles ahead of the US when it comes to performing scientific research on massage. They have gone far beyond most of the studies that have been done here, and that’s probably directly related to the fact that their educational requirements are for the most part, way higher than ours.

I think it’s a huge detriment to our profession that training in how to perform research is not even mentioned in most massage schools here. I own a huge collection of school catalogs, and hardly any of them include anything about research in their curriculum. Unless a therapist has a college degree and prior experience in conducting a proper research project, the average student doesn’t have a clue on how to go about conducting, documenting, and validating a study. Evidence-Based Practice will never be the norm here until that is corrected.

I’d be interested to know how school owners and program directors feel about this. Do you think it’s important for students to have any research skills? Do you think Evidence-Based Practice is the way to go, or do we just maintain the status quo that currently exists here? Do you think more people need to take up the cause?

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

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Comment by Carl W. Brown on August 1, 2009 at 3:43pm
Susan I think it is great that you are teaching students to think critically. I think that more than research, EBT is the way you think critically about all options. I can remember during my massage school classes wondering what if one taught reflexology to different sets of students using different points and then measured their performance. Looking for reflexology research, the only studies that I have found are not double blind as far as I can tell. I believe that the intent of the practitioners is an important part of healing so I would expect poorer results of the person doing the work knew that they we faking it. One cannot just read the results of a study without knowing how the research was done. This applies to medical research as well for example the drug research on progesterone was actually done with progestin the syntactic version. I still don’t know if they ever tested the real thing.

> Can massage be both art and science?

I think that if we limit our options to just what is proven scientifically we are denying patients options that complement both traditional and alternative medicine. It as bad as failing to get people proper medical help when we find that they need it. But we need to use objective evidence to guide us in providing help that is effective and not just fantasy especially when we work beyond the limits of science.

Science by its nature decomposes everything into a finite number of measurable quantities. We should use science to insure that we do not harm but them we are dealing with people not just things. There are complexities that go beyond our rational understanding. To do more that a massage chair we need to use both the left and right sides of our brain but we need to do so critically. This is what EBT offers and how it differs from medical massage.

Everyday I work with things I don’t understand and don’t believe that science will ever explain because it requires extra-rational thinking. I believe that most of us encounter things we can explain and we have three choices. I deny them and limit our world to what we can prove and at best be poorly trained PTs. Many people under pressure to “explain” what or they are feeling either adopt a pseudo-scientific explanation take on unproven fantasies on pure faith. I feel that EBT offers the best solution. One can work with a combination of science and intuitive or other perceptions but within an objective framework. You can work with thinks that you don’t understand how that work as long and you know objectively that they produce real results.
Comment by Susan G. Salvo on July 23, 2009 at 9:42am
We require students to locate, read, and write a narrative report on two published research papers.

Then we discuss them in class.

The objectives are knowing to locate research and interpret its findings.

Can massage be both art and science?

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