Related Articles

Background

Research on therapeutic massage bodywork (TMB) continues to expand, but few studies consider how research or knowledge translation may be affected by the lack of uniformly standardized competencies for most TMB therapies, by practitioner variability from training in different forms of TMB, or from the effects of experience on practice.

Purpose

This study explores and describes how TMB practitioners practice, for the purpose of improving TMB training, practice, and research.

Participants & Setting

19 TMB practitioners trained in multiple TMB therapies, in Alberta, Canada.

Research Design

Qualitative descriptive sub-analysis of interviews from a comprehensive project on the training and practice of TMB, focused on the delivery of TMB therapies in practice.

Results

Two broad themes emerged from the data: (1) every treatment is individualized, and (2) each practitioner’s practice of TMB therapies evolves. Individualization involves adapting treatment to the needs of the patient in the moment, based on deliberate and unconscious responses to verbal and nonverbal cues. Individualization starts with initial assessment and continues throughout the treatment encounter. Expertise is depicted as more nuanced and skilful individualization and treatment, evolved through experience, ongoing training, and spontaneous technique exploration. Practitioners consider such individualization and development of experience desirable. Furthermore, ongoing training and experience result in therapy application unique to each practitioner. Most practitioners believed they could not apply a TMB therapy without influence from other TMB therapies they had learned.

Conclusions

There are ramifications for research design, knowledge translation, and education. Few practitioners are likely able to administer treatments in the same way, and most would not like to practice without being able to individualize treatment. TMB clinical studies need to employ research methods that accommodate the complexity of clinical practice. TMB education should facilitate the maturation of practice skills and self-reflection, including the mindful integration of multiple TMB therapies.

Introduction

Research into opinions about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has focused on conventional medical practitioners with little exploration of CAM practitioners’ views.

Purpose

To survey attitudes and practices of massage therapists toward conventional medicine.

Research Design

An anonymous online survey consisting of Likert-type scales, fill-in answers, and multiple-choice questions was used.

Participants

Members of the Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP), the largest massage therapy association in the US with over 77,000 members.

Main Outcome Measures

Participants were asked about their years of practice and training, choice of health care practitioners, sources for information about CAM and Western/allopathic medicine, client referral patterns, optimal treatment approaches for various medical conditions, and overall impressions of CAM and Western/ allopathic medicine.

Results

Analysis of n = 3,148 responses indicated that while 66.9% of respondents had a neutral or worse impression of Western/allopathic medicine, 64.3% use a conventional medicine practitioner as their primary health care provider, 61.9% have referred clients to a conventional medicine practitioner in the past six months, and 90.5% seek out information on Western/allopathic medicine. The mode response of the best treatment approach to various medical problems was a mix of Western/allopathic medicine and CAM.

Conclusions

This study suggests that despite the ambivalence of many massage therapists towards conventional medicine, many use it, encourage clients to do so, and see involvement of both as crucial to health.

Background:

Massage therapy has grown in popularity, yet little is known globally or in New Zealand about massage therapists and their practices.

Purpose and Setting:

The aims of this study were to describe the practice patterns of trained Massage New Zealand massage therapists in New Zealand private practice, with regard to therapist characteristics; practice modes and settings, and therapy characteristics; referral patterns; and massage therapy as an occupation.

Research Design and Participants:

A survey questionnaire was mailed to 66 trained massage therapist members of Massage New Zealand who were recruiting massage clients for a concurrent study of massage therapy culture.

Results:

Most massage therapists were women (83%), NZ European (76%), and holders of a massage diploma qualification (89%). Massage therapy was both a full- (58%) and part-time (42%) occupation, with the practice of massage therapy being the only source of employment for 70% of therapists. Nearly all therapists (94%) practiced massage for more than 40 weeks in the year, providing a median of 16 – 20 hours of direct client care per week. Most massage therapists worked in a “solo practice” (58%) and used a wide and active referral network. Almost all therapists treated musculoskeletal symptoms: the most common client issues or conditions treated were back pain/problem (99%), neck/shoulder pain/problem (99%), headache or migraine (99%), relaxation and stress reduction (96%), and regular recovery or maintenance massage (89%). The most frequent client fee per treatment was NZ$60 per hour in a clinic and NZ$1 per minute at a sports event or in the workplace. Therapeutic massage, relaxation massage, sports massage, and trigger-point therapy were the most common styles of massage therapy offered. Nearly all massage therapists (99%) undertook client assessment; 95% typically provided self-care recommendations; and 32% combined other complementary and alternative medicine therapies with their massage consultations.

Conclusions:

This study provides new information about the practice of massage therapy by trained massage therapists. It will help to inform the massage industry and other health care providers, potential funders, and policymakers about the provision of massage therapy in the NZ health care system.

The IJTMB recommends the use of the CONSORT Statement (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) guidelines for the reporting of randomized, controlled clinical trials (RCTs). A careful review of the guidelines shows important applications of these guidelines to all types of research reporting and design, not just RCTs. There is an Extension to these guidelines specific to nonpharmacologic interventions, including manually applied therapies and complementary medicine, and thus therapeutic massage and bodywork (TMB). Components of the Extension are thus relevant to publication in the IJTMB and should be considered part of standard reporting. As well, while the goals of the CONSORT Statement guidelines are to improve reporting of RCTs, the issues raised in the guidelines and explanatory document are relevant to all forms of TMB research and should be considered in all TMB research manuscripts. Finally, while not their purpose, the guidelines could also be used as an informal checklist when developing robust TMB research.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the knowledge, opinions, and referral behaviour of family physicians with respect to massage therapy and to explore factors associated with referral. DESIGN: A random, cross-sectional mailed survey. SETTING: Alberta family practices. PARTICIPANTS: Family physicians (n = 300). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A self-report survey was developed for the study. This survey contained questions about sociodemographic and practice characteristics, perceived knowledge of massage therapy, opinions about the usefulness and legislation (government regulations) of massage therapy, and referral behaviour. RESULTS: Fifty-four percent of physicians (n = 161) completed the questionnaire. Sixty-eight percent of respondents indicated they had minimal or no knowledge of massage therapy. Despite this low level of knowledge, most (83%) believed massage therapy was a useful adjunct to their own practice. Moreover, 71% had referred patients to massage therapists and most (72%) perceived increasing demand from their patients for massage therapy. Approximately half of physicians surveyed supported government regulation of massage therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians demonstrated a discrepancy between their knowledge of massage therapy and their opinions of, and referrals to, the profession. Physicians who referred patients to massage therapists generally held more positive opinions and had more knowledge of the discipline.

Background

Despite the growing popularity of therapeutic massage in the US, little is known about the training or practice characteristics of massage therapists. The objective of this study was to describe these characteristics.

Methods

As part of a study of random samples of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners, we interviewed 226 massage therapists licensed in Connecticut and Washington state by telephone in 1998 and 1999 (85% of those contacted) and then asked a sample of them to record information on 20 consecutive visits to their practices (total of 2005 consecutive visits).

Results

Most massage therapists were women (85%), white (95%), and had completed some continuing education training (79% in Connecticut and 52% in Washington). They treated a limited number of conditions, most commonly musculoskeletal (59% and 63%) (especially back, neck, and shoulder problems), wellness care (20% and 19%), and psychological complaints (9% and 6%) (especially anxiety and depression). Practitioners commonly used one or more assessment techniques (67% and 74%) and gave a massage emphasizing Swedish (81% and 77%), deep tissue (63% and 65%), and trigger/pressure point techniques (52% and 46%). Self-care recommendations, including increasing water intake, body awareness, and specific forms of movement, were made as part of more than 80% of visits. Although most patients self-referred to massage, more than one-quarter were receiving concomitant care for the same problem from a physician. Massage therapists rarely communicated with these physicians.

Conclusion

This study provides new information about licensed massage therapists that should be useful to physicians and other healthcare providers interested in learning about massage therapy in order to advise their patients about this popular CAM therapy.

Identifying and addressing forms of bias in research are critical to the integrity and value of research. Conflicts of interest are an important aspect of research that must be addressed equally to any other form of research bias. Conflicts of interest occur when the judgment of a party involved in the research, either a researcher or a treatment provider, may be compromised by more than one interest relative to the research. As therapeutic massage and bodywork (TMB) is a younger field of research, some forms or aspects of conflicts of interest may not be understood. This editorial explores the meaning of conflicts of interest, how to increase awareness of them, and facets of research specific to TMB that may create such conflicts. Full disclosure in grant applications and manuscripts is critical to ensure that grantors, reviewers, and users of research are better informed of potential conflicts of interest, can understand the steps taken to manage the conflicts, and ultimately can better assess the research integrity and value.

Use of massage therapy by the general public has increased substantially in recent years. In light of the popularity of massage therapy for stress reduction, a comprehensive review of the peer-reviewed literature is important to summarize the effectiveness of this modality on stress-reactive physiological measures. On-line databases were searched for articles relevant to both massage therapy and stress. Articles were included in this review if (i) the massage therapy account consisted of manipulation of soft tissues and was conducted by a trained therapist, and (ii) a dependent measure to evaluate physiological stress was reported. Hormonal and physical parameters are reviewed. A total of 25 studies met all inclusion criteria. A majority of studies employed a 20–30 min massage administered twice-weekly over 5 weeks with evaluations conducted pre-post an individual session (single treatment) or following a series of sessions (multiple treatments). Single treatment reductions in salivary cortisol and heart rate were consistently noted. A sustained reduction for these measures was not supported in the literature, although the single-treatment effect was repeatable within a study. To date, the research data is insufficient to make definitive statements regarding the multiple treatment effect of massage therapy on urinary cortisol or catecholamines, but some evidence for a positive effect on diastolic blood pressure has been documented. While significant improvement has been demonstrated following massage therapy, the general research body on this topic lacks the necessary scientific rigor to provide a definitive understanding of the effect massage therapy has on many physiological variables associated with stress.

Background:

The diverse field of massage therapy has lacked a formal body of knowledge to serve as a practice and educational foundation and to guide future development. This deficit has hampered the growth of the profession and its acceptance and recognition by the medical and allied health care community.

Purpose:

To provide massage therapists, bodyworkers, physicians, educators, and associated allied health care professionals in the United States with a description of the purpose and development of the massage therapy body of knowledge (MTBOK) and recommendations for its future development and utilization.

Methods:

Professional groups in the massage therapy community came together and established a task force to develop a body of knowledge for the profession. Five groups became the stewards for this effort. A nationwide search produced a task force of eight volunteers from diverse areas of the profession charged with the responsibility of researching and developing the MTBOK document. Review of documents, curricula, state laws and regulations, certification exam content, interviews, and public comment resulted in the development of the MTBOK. During development multiple opportunities for comment and discussion by stakeholders (public) were provided in an effort to create a professional consensus.

Results:

The resulting MTBOK document establishes professional descriptions of the field; scope of practice; knowledge, skills, and abilities for entry-level massage therapists; and definitions for terminology to insure standardization, in order to provide a foundation for future discussion and growth.

Conclusions:

The MTBOK fulfills the goal for which it was developed, to serve as a foundation for the growth and development of the massage therapy profession as a whole. A living document, it should continue to evolve and grow with the profession. Maintenance and continued stewardship of this document by the massage therapy community is vital for continued professional progress.

Background

This glocal (global knowledge with local action) symposium was convened by a professional therapeutic massage bodywork professional organization to bring together the fields of economics, politics, and traditional and complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) to begin development of effective TCAM advocacy worldwide. The symposium addressed the core question, “What information will be needed to address issues that will arise as TCAM practitioners advocate for a respectful and equalfooting access to health care provision, public and private, worldwide?”

Participants and Setting

The 35 international participants convened in a Victoria, Canada hotel. They were selectively invited to provide expertise in: advocacy, politics, public policy, economics, TCAM practice, integrative practice, sociology and TCAM research, education, media and language framing, psychology, and mediation.

Methods

The two-day symposium used a facilitated dialogue and knowledge-sharing design process geared to achieving group-supported recommendations. Invited panelists discussed each agenda topic, followed by facilitated discussion with the entire group.

Results

In general, participants agreed that advocacy from a TCAM perspective is needed. Additionally, more research should use methods with more relevance to everyday health care provision and health care costs such as effectiveness comparative trials and cost effectiveness studies. A number of specific advocacy steps were recommended. Most focused on developing local support for better access and equity regarding TCAM within local health care systems and advocacy work, which needs to both understand and engage the local TCAM practitioners and those using the TCAM services.

Conclusions

The increasing awareness of TCAM and advancement toward integrative medicine—including traditional medicines and perspectives—are themes currently in development worldwide. Now is a good time for TCAM practitioners to open dialogue to develop better partnerships in health care. Such dialogue is facilitated when diverse people at the health care table understand each other’s perspectives. More discussions like this, with diverse people across more disciplines, need to occur worldwide.

Context

There has been little research on body therapy for women in sexual abuse recovery. This study examines body-oriented therapy—an approach focused on body awareness and involving the combination of bodywork and the emotional processing of psychotherapy.

Objective

To examine the efficacy and the perceived influence on abuse recovery of body-oriented therapy. Massage therapy served as a relative control condition to address the lack of touch-based comparisons in bodywork research.

Design

A 2-group, repeated measures design was employed, involving randomization to either body-oriented therapy or massage group, conducted in 8, hour-long sessions by 1 of 4 research clinicians. Statistical and qualitative analysis was employed to provide both empirical and experiential perspectives on the study process.

Setting

Participants were seen in treatment rooms of a university in the northwestern United States and in clinician’s private offices.

Participants

Twenty-four adult females in psychotherapy for child sexual abuse.

Interventions

Body-oriented therapy protocol was delivered in three stages, involving massage, body awareness exercises, and inner-body focusing process. Massage therapy protocol was stan- dardized. Both protocols were delivered over clothes.

Main Outcome Measures

The outcomes reflected 3 key con-structs—psychological well being, physical well-being, and body connection. Repeated measures included: Brief Symptom Inventory, Dissociative Experiences Scale, Crime-Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale, Medical Symptoms Checklist, Scale of Body Connection and Scale of Body Investment. Results were gathered at 6 time points: baseline, 2 times during intervention, post-intervention, and at 1 month and 3 months follow-up. To examine the experiential perspective of the study process, written questionnaires were administered before and after intervention and at 1 month and 3 months follow-up.

Results

Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated significant improvement on all outcome measures for both intervention groups, providing support for the efficacy of body therapy in recovery from childhood sexual abuse. There were no statistically significant differences between groups; however, qualitative analysis of open-ended questions about participant intervention experience revealed that the groups differed on perceived experience of the intervention and its influence on therapeutic recovery.

Objective

To examine paramedical (chiropractic, physiotherapy and massage therapy) utilization among high-level BMX athletes following sport-related injury at the 2007 UCI World Championships.

Methods

Retrospective analysis was conducted on a dataset from international male and female BMX athletes (n = 110) who sustained injury in training and competition at the 2007 BMX World Championships.

Results

Fifty percent of individuals aged 8–17 presented to a chiropractor versus 32% to physiotherapists and 18% to massage therapists. There was a significant difference in paramedical practitioner choice when comparing the sample across the different locations of injury. Specifically, the proportion of individuals presenting for treatment to chiropractors (84%) was much higher than to physiotherapists/massage therapists (16%) for spine or torso complaints.

Conclusion

Utilization of chiropractors by BMX athletes may be higher than utilization of other paramedical professionals as suggested by this study. Chiropractors appear to be the paramedical practitioner of choice in regards to spine and torso related complaints.

Radiating leg pain is a common symptom presenting in manual therapy practices. Although this symptom has been reported as a complication of endometriosis, its prevalence and characteristics have not been studied. We surveyed members of a national endometriosis support group with endometriosis using a self-administered, mailed questionnaire. The main outcome measures were the prevalence and characteristics of leg pain. Of 94 respondents, leg pain was reported by 48 women (51%), and was bilateral in 59% of these symptomatic women. The likelihood of experiencing leg pain was related to weight gain since age 18, age, and height. The most common treatments tried included exercise, over-the-counter medications, and massage therapy, all with variable results. These data support leg pain as a prevalent complication of endometriosis, and that the disease may affect multiple peripheral nerves. Manual therapists should remain aware to this possible etiology for radiating pain.

OBJECTIVE: To describe general practitioners' opinions and behaviour regarding alternative medicine. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of a random sample of Ontario and Alberta general practitioners. SETTING: General practices in Ontario and Alberta. PARTICIPANTS: A questionnaire was mailed to 400 general practitioners. Of the 384 eligible physicians, 200 completed the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Reported beliefs and practices concerning alternative medicine. RESULTS: Acupuncture, chiropractic, and hypnosis were considered most useful and reflexology, naturopathy, and homeopathy least useful. Results showed 56% of general practitioners believed that alternative medicine has ideas and methods from which conventional medicine could benefit, 54% referred to alternative practitioners, and 16% practised some form of alternative medicine. Province of practice, place of graduation, training in alternative approaches, number of alternative approaches perceived useful, and attitude toward alternative medicine were clearly related to referring to alternative practitioners. Sex, age, type of practice, training in alternative medicine, referring to alternative practitioners, number of alternative approaches perceived useful, and attitude toward alternative medicine were related to practicing alternative medicine. CONCLUSION: Although acceptance and integration of alternative medicine extend only to certain approaches, alternative medicine cannot be discounted in general practice. A study encompassing all Canadian provinces could help in planning medical education and developing policies to guide physician behaviour.

Background:

Although there is evidence that client expectations influence client outcomes, a valid and reliable scale for measuring the range of client expectations for both massage therapy and the behaviors of their massage therapists does not exist. Understanding how client expectations influence client outcomes would provide insight into how massage achieves its reported effects.

Purpose:

To develop and validate the Client Expectations of Massage Scale (CEMS), a measure of clients’ clinical, educational, interpersonal, and outcome expectations.

Setting:

Offices of licensed massage therapists in Iowa.

Research Design:

A practice-based research methodology was used to collect data from two samples of massage therapy clients. For Sample 1, 21 volunteer massage therapists collected data from their clients before the massage. Factor analysis was conducted to test construct validity and coefficient alpha was used to assess reliability. Correlational analyses with the CEMS, previous measures of client expectations, and the Life Orientation Test–Revised were examined to test the convergent and discriminant validity of the CEMS. For Sample 2, 24 massage therapists distributed study materials for clients to complete before and after a massage therapy session. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the construct, discriminant, and predictive validity of the CEMS.

Participants:

Sample 1 involved 320 and Sample 2 involved 321 adult massage clients.

Intervention:

Standard care provided by licensed massage therapists.

Main Outcomes:

Numeric Rating Scale for pain and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule–Revised (including the Serenity subscale).

Results:

The CEMS demonstrated good construct, convergent, discriminant and predictive validity, and adequate reliability. Client expectations were generally positive toward massage and their massage therapists. Positive outcome expectations had a positive effect on clients’ changes in pain and serenity. High interpersonal expectations had a negative effect on clients’ changes in serenity.

Conclusions:

Client expectations contribute to the nonspecific effects of massage therapy.

Background:

Clinical reasoning has long been a valuable tool for health care practitioners, but it has been under-researched in the field of massage therapy. Case reports have been a useful method for exploring the clinical reasoning process in various fields of manual therapy and can provide a model for similar research in the field of massage therapy. A diagnostically challenging case concerning a client with low back pain serves as a guideline for examining the clinical reasoning process of a massage therapist.

Methods:

A two-part methodology was employed: Client profileReflective inquiry

The inquiry included questions pertaining to beliefs about health problems; beliefs about the mechanisms of pain; medical conditions that could explain the client’s symptoms; knowledge of the client’s anatomy, assessment, and treatment choices; observations made during treatment; extent of experience in treating similar problems; and ability to recognize clinical patterns.

Results:

The clinical reasoning process of a massage therapist contributed to a differential diagnosis, which provided an explanation for the client’s symptoms and led to a satisfactory treatment resolution.

Conclusion:

The present report serves as an example of the value of clinical reasoning in the field of massage therapy, and the need for expanded research into its methods and applications. The results of such research could be beneficial in teaching the clinical reasoning process at both the introductory and the advanced levels of massage therapy education.

Background

Several studies have reported on the health benefits of applying an integrated complementary health care model.

Purpose

This paper presents the results of pilot research focusing on the observations massage therapy students made about complementary health care education and integration during massage, chiropractic, and acupuncture treatments at two university clinics. Setting: Observations took place at Northwestern Health Sciences University’s associated clinics that offered massage, chiropractic, and acupuncture. Research Design: Students directly observed how clinicians and interns educated their patients and integrated other forms of complementary health care into their practice. Participants: chiropractors, massage therapists, and acupuncturists, and their patients. All participants were English-speaking and 18–65 years old. Main Outcome Measures: Observations recorded by students in journals about education and integration during massage therapy, chiropractic, and acupuncture treatments were coded and counted.

Results

Qualitative observations showed that clinicians and interns educated patients to some degree, but the clinicians were less apt to integrate other modalities than the interns.

Conclusions

Observations support that professional integrity may limit clinicians in their ability to integrate multiple modalities of health care while treating patients. Since it is well established that integration of multiple health care modalities is beneficial to patient health, it is recommended that clinics assist their clinical staff in applying an integrative approach to their practice.

A questionnaire was mailed to 564 rural Alberta physicians to determine the demographic profile of practising rural physicians, to identify factors that attracted and retained physicians in rural practice, and to identify the skills that newly trained general practitioners require for rural practice. Rural-based physicians were relatively young (50% below the age of 38 years) and predominantly male (86%). Approximately 73% were general practitioners without certification by the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and 19% were family physicians with certification. Compared with the Canadian-trained physicians (56%), foreign-trained rural physicians (44%) tended to be older, to have been longer than 10 years in rural practice, and to have had more than four years of postgraduate training. The major reasons for contemplating leaving rural practice were retirement, career advancement or limited challenge, and heavy work-load.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE

To develop a classification of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices widely available in Canada based on physicians’ effectiveness ratings of the therapies.

DESIGN

A self-administered postal questionnaire asking family physicians to rate their “belief in the degree of therapeutic effectiveness” of 15 CAM therapies.

SETTING

Province of Alberta.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 875 family physicians.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Descriptive statistics of physicians’ awareness of and effectiveness ratings for each of the therapies; factor analysis was applied to the ratings of the 15 therapies in order to explore whether or not the data support the proposed classification of CAM practices into categories of accepted and rejected.

RESULTS

Physicians believed that acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic care, relaxation therapy, biofeedback, and spiritual or religious healing were effective when used in conjunction with biomedicine to treat chronic or psychosomatic indications. Physicians attributed little effectiveness to homeopathy or naturopathy, Feldenkrais or Alexander technique, Rolfing, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and reflexology. The factor analysis revealed an underlying dimensionality to physicians’ effectiveness ratings of the CAM therapies that supports the classification of these practices as either accepted or rejected.

CONCLUSION

This study provides Canadian family physicians with information concerning which CAM therapies are generally accepted by their peers as effective and which are not.

Objective

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is associated with difficult-to-treat infections and high levels of morbidity. Manual practitioners work in environments where MRSA is a common acquired infection. The purpose of this review is to provide a practical overview of MRSA as it applies to the manual therapy professions (eg, physical and occupational therapy, athletic training, chiropractic, osteopathy, massage, sports medicine) and to discuss how to identify and prevent MRSA infections in manual therapy work environments.

Methods

PubMed and CINAHL were searched from the beginning of their respective indexing years through June 2011 using the search terms MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus aureus. Texts and authoritative Web sites were also reviewed. Pertinent articles from the authors' libraries were included if they were not already identified in the literature search. Articles were included if they were applicable to ambulatory health care environments in which manual therapists work or if the content of the article related to the clinical management of MRSA.

Results

Following information extraction, 95 citations were included in this review, to include 76 peer-reviewed journal articles, 16 government Web sites, and 3 textbooks. Information was organized into 10 clinically relevant categories for presentation. Information was organized into the following clinically relevant categories: microbiology, development of MRSA, risk factors for infection, clinical presentation, diagnostic tests, screening tests, reporting, treatment, prevention for patients and athletes, and prevention for health care workers.

Conclusion

Methicillin-resistant S aureus is a health risk in the community and to patients and athletes treated by manual therapists. Manual practitioners can play an essential role in recognizing MRSA infections and helping to control its transmission in the health care environment and the community. Essential methods for protecting patients and health care workers include being aware of presenting signs, patient education, and using appropriate hand and clinic hygiene.

The contribution of different general practitioner characteristics, views, and experiences to the likelihood of their providing child health surveillance (CHS) was determined and their perceived training needs discovered. Family health service authority administrative data on the study population was combined with a postal questionnaire survey. Subjects were all general practitioners in three district health authorities in the North West Thames region. There were striking differences between districts in the proportion of practitioners undertaking CHS. General practitioners with paediatric training were three times more likely to do CHS. Women doctors were twice as likely to do CHS as men. The personal views of general practitioners were significantly associated with whether or not they undertook CHS. The CHS fee did not appear to be the major motivating factor. There was considerable demand for further training. The proportion of general practitioners undertaking CHS is likely to increase with the proportion of women and vocationally trained doctors. More local training is wanted, both by general practitioners already doing CHS and by those who would like to do it. Health authorities need to ensure that such training is convenient and continuing.

Background

One of the challenges in conducting research in the field of massage and bodywork is the lack of consistent terminology for describing the treatments given by massage therapists. The objective of this study was to develop a taxonomy to describe what massage therapists actually do when giving a massage to patients with musculoskeletal pain.

Methods

After conducting a review of the massage treatment literature for musculoskeletal pain, a list of candidate techniques was generated for possible inclusion in the taxonomy. This list was modified after discussions with a senior massage therapist educator and seven experienced massage therapists participating in a study of massage for neck pain.

Results

The taxonomy was conceptualized as a three level classification system, principal goals of treatment, styles, and techniques. Four categories described the principal goal of treatment (i.e., relaxation massage, clinical massage, movement re-education and energy work). Each principal goal of treatment could be met using a number of different styles, with each style consisting of a number of specific techniques. A total of 36 distinct techniques were identified and described, many of which could be included in multiple styles.

Conclusion

A new classification system is presented whereby practitioners using different styles of massage can describe the techniques they employ using consistent terminology. This system could help facilitate standardized reporting of massage interventions.

The massage profession has grown rapidly since the late 1980s. As with business startups that begin informally and successfully mature into larger enterprises, growth brings new organizational challenges, together with greater visibility and opportunity. The maturation of massage as a health care profession increases the need for a process to formalize the synthesis of massage therapy knowledge from clinical experience and research—to collect what we know and to make such baseline knowledge widely available to practitioners, consumers, and other health care stakeholders. In short, we need to create a process for setting guidelines.

The present paper lays out the motivations and framework for creating massage therapy guidelines that are informed both by research and by clinical experience. It also acts as a report to the massage therapy profession and to other stakeholders about the work of the Best Practices Committee of the Massage Therapy Foundation since 2006. And it has the additional goal of providing a health care literature basis for future academic discussions of massage.

The discussion here is based on a definition from the Institute of Medicine and on research into the nature of expertise. Guidelines are targeted for submission to the National Guideline Clearinghouse. Challenges in creating guidelines for massage therapy are discussed. Various stakeholders are considered. Current literature from the wider scope of health care is extensively reviewed. Topics addressed include guideline creation, credentialing of complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, definition of competence, and the increasing role of technology (that is, informatics) in managing training and task-necessary competencies. Finally, a process for creation of massage therapy guidelines is proposed. A central feature of the proposal is the use of a “World Café” symposium to elicit knowledge and solutions from diverse experts. The role of transparency and broad and open peer review is emphasized as essential to the usability and credibility of guidelines.

Objectives

To develop and test the feasibility and acceptability of a structured design for a massage therapy clinical trial that included a treatment arm designed to control for the non-specific effects of a massage-therapy intervention.

Design

Pilot randomized controlled clinical trial

Setting

University integrated medicine research clinic

Interventions

Participants were randomized to a structured Swedish-style massage therapy intervention, a light-touch bodywork control intervention, or usual medical care. Details of the interventions are provided.

Main Outcome Measures

The primary outcome measures were the adherence of the participants to the study protocol and the perception of the intervention experience.

Results

Forty-four participants were randomized. Participants often found adherence to the twice-weekly outpatient bodywork interventions to be somewhat difficult; while, overall, 84% of participants completed the study, only 76% of those in an intervention arm successfully completed the trial. Participants randomized to the massage arm expressed uniformly positive attitudes both before and after the intervention. While some participants randomized to the light-touch bodywork arm initially expressed some reservations about their randomization assignment, all participants available for interview were pleased with their experience after the intervention period.

Conclusions

The proposed design was found to be relatively straightforward to implement and acceptable to participants. Early disappointment with not receiving massage therapy expressed by the light-touch intervention participants dissipated quickly. Twice-weekly outpatient intervention appointments were found to be highly burdensome for many patients actively undergoing chemotherapy, thus reducing adherence.

Background

Since the last decade there has been a gradual change of boundaries of health professions in providing arthritis care. In Canada, some facilities have begun to adopt new arthritis care models, some of which involve physiotherapists (PT) working in extended roles. However, little is known about PTs' interests in these new roles. The primary objective of this survey was to determine the interests among orthopaedic physiotherapists (PTs) in being a certified arthritis therapist, a PT specialized in arthritis, or an extended scope practitioner in rheumatology, and to explore the associated factors, including the coverage of arthritis content in the entry-level physiotherapy training.

Methods

Six hundred PTs practicing in orthopaedics in Canada were randomly selected to receive a postal survey. The questionnaire covered areas related to clinical practice, perceptions of rheumatology training received, and attitudes toward PT roles in arthritis care. Logistic regression models were developed to explore the associations between PTs' interests in pursuing each of the three extended scope practice designations and the personal/professional/attitudinal variables.

Results

We received 286 questionnaires (response rate = 47.7%); 258 contained usable data. The average length of time in practice was 15.4 years (SD = 10.4). About 1 in 4 PTs agreed that they were interested in assuming advanced practice roles (being a certified arthritis therapist = 28.9%, being a PT specialized in rheumatology = 23.3%, being a PT practitioner = 20.9%). Having a caseload of ≥ 40% in arthritis, having a positive attitude toward advanced practice roles in arthritis care and toward the formal credentialing process, and recognizing the difference between certification and specialisation were associated with an interest in pursing advanced practice roles.

Conclusion

Orthopaedic PTs in Canada indicated a fair level of interest in pursuing certification, specialisation and extended scope practice roles in arthritis care. Future research should focus on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the emerging health service delivery models involving certified, specialized or extended scope practice PTs in the management of arthritis.