International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (IJTMB)
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Case Study: A Year in the Life of a Massage Research Curriculum
Get PDFResearch literacy is an essential and growing component in modern massage school curricula(1,2). There is broad agreement across massage schools on the emerging importance of research training, but significant differences remain in depth of focus and methodology(3). This may be due to the wide variety of professional practice settings(4) or to the differences in public perception, legislation, and curriculum length. However, the rise in usage of massage therapy makes interacting with the larger health care world inevitable.
Massage therapy is an increasingly popular form of care used by patients who are often also being treated by a physician for the same condition. Nevertheless, we found that massage therapists and physicians rarely communicated with each other. Possible barriers to communication include our observation that most patients who see both a physician and a massage therapist for a particular condition were not referred to a massage therapist by the physician. Furthermore, many massage therapists are not trained in charting language familiar to physicians(4).
Whether practicing in spa, medical, or private practice settings, a massage school graduate will find the highest expression of their work if given basic literacy in research. To this end, successful research training gives graduates a reliable skill set in four key domains: evaluating research articles; making informed clinical decisions, communicating with other health care providers; and writing their own clinical case reports
PubMed Central Inclusion, Quertle Indexing, Outbound Reference Linking, and Editorial Board Successions: Encouraging Developments in the IJTMB’s Evolution
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Changing the Culture of Clinical Education in Massage Therapy
Get PDFMuch within the profession of massage therapy is done according to tradition. From an epistemological viewpoint, tradition is a way of knowing or, by extension, being, that is based upon both tenacity and authority and not always in best practices. As the profession of massage therapy moves in the direction of evidence-based medicine, or evidence-informed practice, the opportunity to re-evaluate massage therapy education presents itself
Vascular Fasciatherapy Danis Bois Method: a Study on Mechanism Concerning the Supporting Point Applied on Arteries
Get PDFBackground: A first study on vascular fasciatherapy enabled us to observe the turning of a turbulent blood flow into a laminar one, and a questioning on the process involved in this transformation emerged. The first question was: What is the nature of artery from the point of view of fascia? And a second question was: Which is the link permitting the observed process working in our first study? So this time, we are investigating a specific aspect of the big question that polarizes the interest of many researchers: “What is fascia?”
Methods: Following Donald Ingber’s statement, “It is necessary to understand how tissues and organs are structured across multiple size scales”, our research methods have been established in order to collect information on what is artery and what is fascia. Concerning these two organs, we have questioned science across the scales of embryology, anatomy, histology and cytology. Beyond the knowledge on structure, the functional link between artery and fascia is the necessary complement of this study whose starting point is in fact a questioning on process. As an application of this study, vascular fasciatherapy Danis-Bois Method and mechanotransduction have been investigated in theoretical and in research aspects to improve the understanding of how they work.
Results: The embryological approach points out a common origin and a histofunctional community of connective tissue and artery. As organs,
arteries are sheathed by the adventia-fascia, and are penetrated by connective tissue extensions in media and intima. Furthermore, the functional point of view of this study reports the knowledge on mechanotransduction involving artery, both from the connective side and from the luminal side. Functional anatomy, surgery, histology, and cytology integrating the theory of the extended cytoskeleton, underline continuity from the static and functional points of view, with tensegrity being the architectural principle linking molecules to the entire body.
Conclusion: By answering these questions, we are attempting a better understanding of the mechanisms occurring in the progress of the arterial supporting point. One could presume that it relaxes adventitia and media, locally and all along the arterial network. Its action could also extend inward to the intima and on blood, as well as outwards to the neighboring connective tissue. By its local and remote action, it may be useful when diseases associate general perturbations and arterial disorders, like in high blood pressure or in aging
Changes in Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction Symptoms Following Massage Therapy: A Case Report
Get PDFPurpose: The objective of this case report was to describe the effects that massage therapy had on a woman with temporomandibular joint dysfunction.
Participant: The 26-year-old woman’s primary symptoms were pain, decreased range of motion, clicking, and crepitus. These symptoms were reportedly associated with emotional stress and bruxism.
Intervention: Ten 45-minute massage therapy treatments were administered over a five-week period. The client’s progress was monitored by an initial, midway, and final assessment, using range of motion testing, personal interview, an orthopedic test, and postural analysis. Progress was also evaluated by the use of a daily journal. The client participated in a home care routine consisting of stretches, self-massage, postural training, a proprioception exercise, and hydrotherapy.
Results: Results include an increase in maximal opening from 3.1 cm to 3.8 cm, an overall increase in neck range of motion, a decrease in muscle
hypertonicity using the Wendy Nickel’s Scale, a decrease in pain from 7/10 to 3/10 on a numerical pain scale, and a decline in stress.
Conclusion: Although the client in this report experienced positive results, more extensive studies are needed to understand the effects of massage on TMD
