Our objectives

The objectives of this blog are to give you enough knowledge and background to:

1. Acquire, organize, and manage massage research information. You will be able to:

• Recognize the structure of a research article, and the purpose of the different sections, and use that knowledge to help you read articles of interest.



• Deepen your understanding and insight of the connection between research studies and the meanings their findings hold for health, disease, and suffering.



• Explain effects of massage and name several benefits of massage for specific conditions and populations, as backed up by the research literature.



• Understand the meaning of common statistical measures in medical research, and how they are used in assessing the outcomes of studies.

2. Use massage research information. You will be able to:

• Understand patients' usage and expectations of massage.



• Apply this knowledge to patient cases in your own practice.

3. Share massage research information. You will be able to:

• Communicate the benefits of massage to patients, other health-care providers, third-party reimbursers, and the public.



• Explain those benefits in a clearly-understandable and easy-to-remember way that does not unnecessarily rely on specialist jargon.



• Know when evidence indicates that massage should be recommended, and when it should not.