62 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k n o v e m b e r / d e c e m b e r 2 0 2 0
Palliative Care Massage
The Palmer Study
Charting a New Course for Pain Management
By Cal Cates
We were getting into the weeds—as research
nerds do—during a lively Q&A at the 2010
International Massage Therapy Research
Conference in Seattle, discussing where it made
the most sense to dedicate our admittedly
limited resources. More specifically, we were
debating the question, "Which is more important
to measure: mechanism or effect?" Needless to
say, the debate was spirited.