abstract background: hypertension has become a major problem throughout the world, especially in developing countries like iran. as it is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, even small reductions in the prevalence can have potentially large public health benefits. among the complementary methods, massage provides an effective means to lower the blood pressure. if nurses perceive the...

CONTEXT Massage is the most common complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy used in hospitals in the United States. As such, it is often the first CAM therapy to be integrated with conventional medicine. However, few academic medical centers have a written standard policy to guide this integration. This lack of standard policy may impede institutions from offering massage therapy as...

BACKGROUND Musculoskeletal pain is a common condition that poses a significant burden to its sufferers and costs the US economy billions of dollars each year in lost productivity. Individuals complaining of musculoskeletal pain make up a large proportion of clients treated by massage therapists in community practices, yet few studies have examined the immediate effect of therapeutic massage on ...

The International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (IJTMB) has as its core a key interest in and mission to develop the practice of therapeutic massage and bodywork by contributing to the field's body of knowledge. The IJTMB Editorial Board understands that one's daily practice provides the initial testing ground for the development of practice-based knowledge and, ultimately, expert...

Being the oldest form of healing art, massage and bodywork were practiced throughout the human history. Although Eastern end Western manual therapeutic approaches are distinctively different, both are based on healing capacity of human touch. Eastern approach includes variety of disciplines, e.g. Reflexology, Japanese Shiatsu massage, Ayurvedic massage from India, Chinese Tuina massage or Hawai...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to determine the change in blood pressure (BP) in normotensive and prehypertensive adults resulting from a therapeutic massage, and the factors associated with such changes, including demographic and massage characteristics. DESIGN SETTINGS/LOCATION National University of Health Sciences Massage Therapy Clinic, Lombard, IL. SUBJECTS The subjects...

[Purpose] To report perceptions about the importance and use of therapeutic massage as a treatment modality among physical therapists working in Saudi Arabia. [Subjects and Methods] A 21-item structured questionnaire was used to assess various domains including the demographic and professional characteristics of physical therapists and their perceptions about the importance and use of therapeut...

OBJECTIVE To review and critique the research on the effect of massage therapy and therapeutic touch in children, and to describe clinical implications and make suggestions for future study. DATA SOURCES Studies were obtained through online computer searches of CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsychInfo, and SocioFile. Key words used were tactile, kinesthetic, massage therapy, touch, therapeutic touch, infan...