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 concerni...

Background: Massage therapy has been commonly practiced as a traditional complementary therapy in neonates. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of massage on decreasing bilirubin levels in infants undergoing phototherapy. Materials and Methods A total of 60 term icteric infan...

OBJECTIVE Stimulation of the nervous system plays an important role in brain function and psychomotor development of children. Massage can benefit premature infants, but has limitations. STUDY DESIGN The authors conducted a study to verify the direct effects of massage on amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG), oxygen saturation (SaO(2)), and pulse analyzed by color cerebral funct...

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 m...

OBJECTIVES The effect of massage therapy on chronic nonmigraine headache was investigated. METHODS Chronic tension headache sufferers received structured massage therapy treatment directed toward neck and shoulder muscles. Headache frequency, duration, and intensity were recorded and compared with baseline measures. RESULTS Compared with baseline values, headache frequency was significantly...

background : many women suffer from perineal trauma during the normal vaginal delivery. perineal trauma is mainly associated with pain and complications after the childbirth. perineal management techniques can play a significant role in perineal trauma reduction. this study aimed to compare the effects of perineal management techniques (hands-off technique, ritgen maneuver and perineal massage ...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this 2-study research project was to measure the physiologic effect of the M technique (see Appendix for description) on the brain using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and compare it to conventional massage therapy. METHODS In the first study, 4 participants received 1 M technique session. Each participant was injected through the intravenous cannula ...

INTRODUCTION Having poor sleep quality is common among patients following cardiopulmonary artery bypass graft surgery. Pain, stress, anxiety and poor sleep quality may be improved by massage therapy. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated whether massage therapy is an effective technique for improving sleep quality in patients following cardiopulmonary artery bypass graft surgery. METHOD Participan...

BACKGROUND Adipocytes in femoral areas are known to be metabolically 'silent'. Changes related to fat cell hypertrophy may be involved in the formation of cellulite. A mechanical massage technique, with circulatory and dermotrophic properties, has been shown to have an impact on clinical evaluations (i.e. changes in morphometric measurements) in cellulite areas. Whether this technique affected ...

BACKGROUND Conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are merging into the broader field of "integrative medicine." Massage is no longer considered complementary or alternative in some conventional medical circles today. PURPOSE We aimed to determine the prevalence of massage use among children with cerebral palsy (CP) in the Pacific Northwest in the United States,...