I have been trying to understand what this new call for evidence based massage is all about. There is a research Yahoo Group called the journalclubonline where I am learning about this.
The massage profession is just starting to understand the significance of research – doing research and understanding research. Most massage therapists lack the basic underlying knowledge and are unable to understand research and why it is important to the profession. Because of their focus on touch and the kinesthetic world, research that focuses on the techniques and science seem skewed and unimportant. With the world so focused on knowing more about something before trying it, how can we educate clients as to what massage can really do for them and build their trust in the massage profession?
Funded by big companies and flawed by researchers bias and filled with too many terms we can’t even begin to comprehend, how do we combine our love for the art of massage, the therapeutic relationship and the science of research into an understandable body of knowledge?
Confronted with clients who have herniated discs, muscle spasms, tendon tears and very stressful lives, we need to share what we know about massage and find out what they think is needed to heal their condition and create a plan that supports the client in their healing process.
Evidence Based Medicine uses the results of research to use as a guideline when forming a treatment plan in the medical setting. As more massage research is done we can start to apply it in our everyday practices and also educate the public as to what massage can do. While there are many aspects of massage that are immeasurable such as the relationship of the mind-body connection and healing, we can begin to teach people about the uses and benefits of massage from this totally physical, scientific manner as people usually like to base their first opinions on proof. It can also be of use in building a practice. By providing supporting evidence you may be able to work more with hospitals, corporations and other businesses who need more proof to be spending their money on massage.
From what I understand so far – evidence based massage is being able to provide research that will back up our claims that massage is effective for various conditions. Sean Slovik has created this website -www.massage-therapy-research.com to try to help explain it all.
I have also just read another article in the Massage Therapy Journal called Care With Confidence By Rebecca Birr, MSLIS, AHIP / Kathy Zeblisky, MLS, AHIP that also is helpful in explaining research and why we need it.
So much of what we learn in massage school is not really evidence based. We think it works because it has worked for us and we see it work for others. Our claims that massage and other modalities work seem to be mainly from our personal experiences which is often just that -personal.
From what I have been able to discern from all of this is that we need research if we want to have some credibility in the medial profession. Clients may also even be skeptical of massage and its usefulness for various conditions. People usually need proof that something works. They are skeptical to try things that may me unknown to them without evidence. One of the best methods of building a massage practice depends on getting current clients to refer their friends and family members. That is enough evidence for some people.
The problem is that most massage therapists are not versed in being able to interpret or understand research papers. Ted Nissen author of (anatomyfacts.com ) also working to make massage research more understandable and he says research should have some kind of rating system that can tell us more about the research – is is valid and how did they come to their conclusions.
The things I struggle with are how do we know how research is done. How do we actually measure what really happens in a session? I had a client who had a headache for a year and it went away the day she quit her job. I had a woman who was trying to get pregnant for a few years with no luck and then after 6 weeks of massage for back pain she is pregnant.
What does massage really do? Is it the technique we do? The relationship we develop with the client? The client finally being able to feel themselves more? What is it that happens in a massage session?
