Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/557366
NEWS NOTES compiled by Brandon Twyford ABMP Assistant Editor | brandon@abmp.com Massage Therapy is Cost-Effective Pain Solution Massage therapy is a cost-effective therapy that directly improves quality of life measures, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. Researchers collected data on patients with back or joint pain from a variety of specifi c treatment providers, including acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, physical therapists, and physicians. Self-reported measures of physical and mental health, and general quality of life, were compared with the average total costs of treatment across medical providers. According to the study, "cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that osteopathic, family/general, internal medicine doctors, and chiropractors and massage therapists were more cost-effective than other specialties in improving physical function to back-pain patients … however, only massage therapy was cost-effective among nondoctor providers in improving quality of life measures." The results support what massage therapists have long known: massage as preventive or routine maintenance is a valuable investment toward an improved quality of life. Read the abstract at http://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jep.12411/abstract. ABMP and the 2015 World Massage Festival This year, there was a harmonic convergence between ABMP's EveryBody Deserves a Massage Week ( July 12–18) and the 2015 World Massage Festival ( July 12–15). Some 650 massage therapists fl ocked to Michigan City, Indiana, to celebrate the festival's 10th anniversary. For the seventh consecutive year, festival co-founder Michael Hinkle awarded ABMP the trophy for Association of the Year. ABMP Vice President Communication and Massage & Bodywork Editor-in-Chief Leslie Young was on hand to accept the award. "We appreciate our relationship with the World Massage Festival," she says. "We are inspired by and learn from our members, so we're pleased to accept this honor on their behalf." The festival is also home to the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame, and ABMP's Director of Education Anne Williams was inducted this year. Doing her part for EveryBody Deserves a Massage Week, ABMP member and festival team member Darcy Neibaur coordinated a drive for Sweet Serenity Massage For Charity and raised more than $2,000 in cash and toys for the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Join ABMP in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for the 2016 World Massage Festival, August 7–10. The event features continuing education opportunities, an exhibit hall, and fun social activities. For more information, visit www.worldmassagefestival.com. Massage Boosts the Immune System in Mice Building on past research suggesting massage has a benefi cial effect on the immune system, a team of researchers investigated the mechanisms behind these effects by applying massage-like strokes to mice daily for eight days. A second group of mice were stroked with a soft brush daily for eight days. The hand-stroked mice demonstrated a signifi cant increase in their thymic and splenic T-cell number, which counteracted the immunosuppressive effect of hydrocortisone in vivo. In the article published in the June 2015 issue of Scientifi c Reports, researchers stated, "Our results in mice support the hypothesis that massage-like therapies might be of therapeutic value in the treatment of immunodefi ciencies and related disorders …" Read the article online at www.nature.com/ srep/2015/150605/srep10913/full/srep10913.html. F r e e S O A P n o t e s w i t h M a s s a g e B o o k f o r A B M P m e m b e r s : a b m p . u s / M a s s a g e b o o k 19 Massage & Bodywork columnist Douglas Nelson and ABMP's Association of the Year trophy at the 2015 World Massage Festival.