Written by the Director of the world-renowned Touch Research Institutes, this book examines the practical applications of important massage therapy research findings. Each chapter of this comprehensive resource provides a clear and authoritative review of what is reliably known about the effects of touch for a variety of clinical conditions such as depression, pain management, movement problems, and functioning of the immune system. Coverage also includes the benefits of massage to specific populations such as pregnant women, neonates, infants, and adolescents. This book is suitable for massage therapists (including Shiatsu practitioners), aromatherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, physical therapists, and nurses. Provides a thorough yet concise review of recent research related to the importance of touch. Offers practical guidance to healthcare professionals whose work involves physical contact with patients.

Massage Therapy: Integrating Research and Practice presents the latest research examining the evidence for the use of various massage therapy techniques in treating pathological conditions and special populations. In this resource readers will find a synthesis of information from the diverse fields of kinesiology, medicine, nursing, physical therapy, and psychology. Authored by experts carefully selected for their specific knowledge, experience, and research acumen, Massage Therapy: Integrating Research and Practice will assist both students and practitioners in these areas: • Learning the benefits of evidence-based massage therapy practice • Understanding various research methods • Developing research skills by learning guidelines for writing case reports and journal articles • Understanding how to integrate massage therapy research into education and clinical practice This text presents a seamless integration of research and practice in four parts, providing readers first with a background to the field of massage therapy followed by discussion of research methods. Next is an evidence-based presentation of the efficacy of massage therapy for conditions and populations often encountered in massage therapy practice. This clinicial section presents three patient populations (pediatric, athletic, and elderly); three pain-related types (headache, neck and shoulder pain, and low back pain); and six conditions that massage therapists may encounter: pregnancy and labor, scar treatment, cancer, fibromyalgia, anxiety and depression, and clients who have experienced sexual trauma. Recommendations and evidence-based treatment guidelines are clearly defined for each condition. Case reports developed from real-life cases are included in this section, offering readers a real-world context for the clinical content presented. The final section illustrates specific ways to integrate research into the educational and professional development of current and future massage therapists. It provides readers with the fundamental tools for a research-based approach in clinical practice, especially as it relates to special populations. A running glossary, chapter summaries, and critical thinking questions assist students in learning the content and act as self-study tools for practitioners. Massage Therapy: Integrating Research and Practice offers both students and practitioners of massage therapy the most current evidence-based information, guidelines, and recommendations for the treatment of conditions often seen in massage therapy practice. This essential reference will assist practitioners in understanding the scientific literature and its application in enhancing the practice of this safe and effective health intervention.

"Research Methods for Massage and Holistic Therapies supplies you with a comprehensive resource enabling you to become a knowledgeable reader of research material as well as an active researcher. Each chapter is consistently formatted with detailed learning aids, such as concept maps, content outlines, and objectives. For each research category covered, you'll discover the specific research strategies, research methods, research designs, and research procedures you need to become a successful massage therapist or holistic practitioner."--BOOK JACKET.

This comprehensive resource covers a broad array of research strategies available to massage therapists to give them the tools they need to be knowledgeable readers of research literature, as well as active researchers. The primary focus of the book is on the quantitative aspect of research that encompasses the principal types of studies most extensively used in the various health care professions, specifically massage therapy. Extensive coverage is also given to the qualitative and integrative research categories that are progressively gaining recognition among researchers in various health science disciplines and professions. Accommodates the March 2003 mandate from the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA) that massage therapy schools incorporate into their curricula provisions to ensure a research literate profession. Examples and techniques for interpreting research guide practitioners and students to be knowledgeable readers of massage therapy research, allowing application to practice. Relies heavily on concept maps, flowcharts, tables, and illustrations and excerpts of published studies to augment the book's narrative development of topics by providing pictorial displays and summaries of the material. Literature-based and hypothetical research examples/illustrations from several manual therapy professions employing therapeutic massage make the material pertinent to real-life settings An introductory section at the beginning of each chapter reviews the material covered in the previous chapter and how it relates to the new material. Chapter coverage spans the quantitative, qualitative, and integrative research categories and affiliated research strategies and methods are considered in detail. Review/summary tables give an overview of the narrative development of topics. Boxes provide the essential features of a given topic. Relies on multiple examples of possible research scenarios and illustrative excerpts from the published research literature. Content is cross-referenced for use with the Massage Therapy Foundation's Massage Therapy Research Curriculum Kit to provide both instructors and students in the 6-, 15-, and 24-hour options/levels an extensively-developed resource in one place. Each chapter includes recommended web sites and software application packages for further information.

Present this quick, effective method for assessing and managing common medical conditions! The central tool of this text is the decision tree, a simple flowchart that helps students quickly determine the optimal massage therapy approach for specific medical conditions. A Decision Tree is included for each of the more than 50 conditions discussed in the book, with massage considerations listed for numerous additional conditions in brief. Also unique to this text are questions therapists can ask clients during the interview process to help the therapist understand not just the medical condition, but how it presents in a particular client.

In this update of the 2000 edition, Fritz, the owner and head instructor of a school of therapeutic massage and bodywork in Michigan, treats touch as a form of communication and expands coverage of ethical and legal issues, contra/indications for massage, and condition assessment and management. The treatment of medical terminology, core principles, and techniques is enhanced by color illustrations, case studies, review questions, resources and other appended information. The first edition was published in 1995. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Why we need a daily dose of touch: an investigation of the effects of touch on our physical and mental well-being. Although the therapeutic benefits of touch have become increasingly clear, American society, claims Tiffany Field, is dangerously touch-deprived. Many schools have “no touch” policies; the isolating effects of Internet-driven work and life can leave us hungry for tactile experience. In this book Field explains why we may need a daily dose of touch. The first sensory input in life comes from the sense of touch while a baby is still in the womb, and touch continues to be the primary means of learning about the world throughout infancy and well into childhood. Touch is critical, too, for adults' physical and mental health. Field describes studies showing that touch therapy can benefit everyone, from premature infants to children with asthma to patients with conditions that range from cancer to eating disorders. This second edition of Touch, revised and updated with the latest research, reports on new studies that show the role of touch in early development, in communication (including the reading of others' emotions), in personal relationships, and even in sports. It describes the physiological and biological effects of touch, including areas of the brain affected by touch, and the effects of massage therapy on prematurity, attentiveness, depression, pain, and immune functions. Touch has been shown to have positive effects on growth, brain waves, breathing, and heart rate, and to decrease stress and anxiety. As Field makes clear, we enforce our society's touch taboo at our peril.