Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/68016
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RESEARCH ARTICLE COMPONENTS, SEE PAST ARTICLES FROM THE SOMATIC RESEARCH COLUMN IN THE DIGITAL EDITION AT WWW.MASSAGEANDBODYWORK.COM. skills, as measured by Gross Motor Function Classification System scores.8 SYSTEMS Massage research at the systems level examines how massage affects larger systemic interactions between multiple organs and other anatomical structures. A. Moraska et al. reviewed the research literature to find and compare what various studies showed about outcomes in stress measurement after massage. They found there is some evidence for the effect of massage on diastolic blood pressure, but more studies, and more rigorous studies, need to be carried out in order to assess the effects of massage on stress hormones and specific organs as parts of a greater effect on physiological indicators of stress.9 INDIVIDUALS Individual-level studies examine the effect of massage on clients themselves, including quantitative measurements and qualitative descriptions of experiences. B.S. Cronfalk's team explored the experiences of terminally ill people dying at home with cancer, who received nine 20-minute hand or foot massages over two weeks as a palliative-care measure. As described in their 2009 research article, those who received massage reported that they appreciated the support and that it gave them a sense of temporary relief from their situation.10 POPULATIONS At the population level of analysis, massage research explores the average effect that massage has on a group of people, rather than concentrating on an individual's unique experience. Cronfalk led a different team to look at a related aspect of the palliative care study—the experiences and opinions of a population of palliative care nursing staff to a brief soft-tissue massage training session. Most of the nurses found the training to be a useful addition to their practice; some of them found it too basic or too intimate to be comfortable applying the training.11 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MASSAGE SCIENCE While knowing how to go back and forth among these levels of analysis is neither straightforward nor immediately obvious, it is necessary if you want to apply findings to an individual in your practice. For example, K.J. Sherman's team has taken a step in the direction of translating research findings among levels and back and forth between the lab and the clinic by developing a taxonomy—a structured standardized vocabulary—for treatment goals, styles, and techniques of massage in the context of musculoskeletal pain.12 And of course, all of these views (and others) are guidelines, not an exact roadmap, for your journey in research literacy. There is something for everyone there; how you find it and what you do with it is up to you. This will be my final column for Massage & Bodywork for a while; I'll be focusing on other projects in the near future. I wish you all the best of luck with your journeys in massage research literacy and capacity. practitioner and biomedical informatician in Seattle, Washington. She has practiced massage at the former Refugee Clinic at Harborview Medical Center and in private practice. In addition to teaching research methods in massage since 1996, she is the author of an upcoming book on research literacy in massage. Contact her at researching.massage@gmail.com. Ravensara S. Travillian is a massage NOTES 1. G. Witherspoon and G. Peterson, "Dynamic Symmetry and Holistic Asymmetry in Navajo and Western Art and Cosmology," American Indian Studies 5 (Peter Lang, 1995). 2. A. Billhult and K. Dahlberg, "A Meaningful Relief from Suffering Experiences of Massage in Cancer Care," Cancer Nursing 24, no. 3 (2001): 180–4. 3. L.H. Craig et al., "Controlled Pilot Study of the Effects of Neuromuscular Therapy in Patients with Parkinson's Disease," Movement Disorders 21, no. 12 (2006): 2127–33. 4. F. Liu and L. Huang, "Noninvasive Gene Delivery to the Liver by Mechanical Massage," Hepatology 35, no. 6 (2002): 1314–9. 5. F. Liu et al., "Mechanism of Liver Gene Transfer by Mechanical Massage," Molecular Therapy 9, no. 3 (2004): 452–7. 6. M. Hernandez-Reif et al., "Breast Cancer Patients Have Improved Immune and Neuroendocrine Functions Following Massage Therapy," Journal of Psychosomatic Research 57, no. 1 (2004): 45–52. 7. D. Grimm,"Biomedical Research: Cell Biology Meets Rolfing," Science 318, no. 5854 (2007): 1234–5. 8. R. MacGregor et al., "Effects of Massage on the Mechanical Behaviour of Muscles in Adolescents with Spastic Diplegia: a Pilot Study," Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 49, no. 3 (2007): 187–91. 9. A. Moraska et al., "Physiological Adjustments to Stress Measures Following Massage Therapy: A Review of the Literature," Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (May 7, 2008). Available at http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/ full/nen029 (accessed September 2009). 10. B.S. Cronfalk et al., "The Existential Experiences of Receiving Soft Tissue Massage in Palliative Home Care—An Intervention," Supportive Care in Cancer (January 28, 2009): 1203–1211. 11. B.S. Cronfalk et al., "A One-Day Education in Soft Tissue Massage: Experiences and Opinions as Evaluated by Nursing Staff in Palliative Care," Palliative & Supportive Care 6, no. 2 (2008): 141–8. 12. K.J. Sherman et al., "Development of a Taxonomy to Describe Massage Treatments for Musculoskeletal Pain," BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 6 (June 26, 2006): 24. connect with your colleagues on massageprofessionals.com 127