International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork: Research, Education, and Practice最新文献

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic, particularly ChatGPT's quick adoption and popularity, prompting discussions about its disruptive potential in health care, education, and creative sectors. The author, an early adopter, shares personal insights on leveraging generative AI for creative tasks and communication challenges, while also exploring its role as a tool rather than an author. Opportunities and limitations of integrating generative AI in the massage therapy field are explored, reflecting on the profession's reluctance to embrace technology and the potential efficiency gains. While acknowledging generative AI's creative promise, the importance of ethical and regulated utilization, highlighting data biases and limitations, is underscored. Overall, a balanced and responsible approach to incorporating generative AI into various domains is recommended.

As massage therapy educators, we started with a desire to cement a place for massage therapy as a legitimate and viable health service. A bachelor degree, underpinned by research-informed education, was the selected mode. In December 2023, our 20th cohort of bachelor degree students will graduate. This commentary describes and reflects on progress towards developing research capability, and engagement in and promotion of massage therapy research to learners and practitioners of massage therapy in New Zealand.

Introduction: Pelvic girdle pain is a common problem experienced during pregnancy, with high incidence rates and significant impacts on quality of life. Remedial massage might be able to provide some reduction in pain.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial on the effectiveness of massage in treating pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain to determine its merits and viability for use in a large-scale study.

Methods: A two-arm pilot randomised feasibility crossover-controlled trial. The two treatment phases were a) remedial pregnancy massage, and b) exercise.

Results: Twenty-four women started the study and 19 women completed the study. Data were collected on recruitment and retention rates, crossover study design methodology, participant sub-characteristics, and acceptability of the outcome measures (pain, quality of life, and disability).

Conclusion: Recruiting participants for a pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain study is indeed feasible; however, a crossover study design is not appropriate and future studies should consider a mixed methods study design.

Background: Self-myofascial release has been demonstrated to increase relaxation and improve blood flow, yet it is unknown if it can elicit an acute effect on heart rate variability (HRV).

Purpose: This study aimed to determine if a single-bout of foam rolling could increase parasympathetic activity as measured by HRV.

Methods: Twenty (20) participants volunteered and their baseline HRV was assessed using a finger sensor while lying supine, and then a second measure was recorded with them sitting upright with feet on the ground. This study utilized a practical HRV collection method designed for use in the field settings, and the data is recorded in arbitrary units (A.U.). Participants then oscillated on a closed-cell cylindrical foam roller using their body weight on the triceps surae, hamstrings, quadriceps, lumbar spine, and pectoral muscles each for 60 sec. Participants first massaged the right limb and then repeated on the matching muscle group on the left before continuing to the next region. Follow-up HRV measurements were recorded using the same procedures.

Results: Paired samples t tests assessing pre- and post-foam-rolling HRV measures in supine and seated positions revealed no difference between supine measures (p = .05, d = 0.21), nor the seated measures (p = .27, d = 0.17) among all participants. When sexes were analyzed separately, males showed a significant decrease in HRV in supine positions (p = .03, d = 0.33), but females did not (p = .55, d = 0.09).

Conclusions: The single bout of foam rolling on large muscle groups did not increase parasympathetic activity as hypothesized. Males and females responded differently in supine positions, but no difference was present in seated positions across sexes. The task of self-massage may have prevented the anticipated response from the massage. Further research should investigate if passive massage is more effective on HRV response.

Introduction: Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) commonly result in pain, stiffness, weakness and numbness. There are limitations in the ability of the standard medical approach to manage many symptoms of SCI. This case study examined the effects of massage therapy as a "complementary" therapy to treat post-operative numbness and stiffness after removal of a cavernous hemangioma intermeshed with a 26-year-old male patient's spinal cord.

Methods: The patient received eight, one-hour therapeutic massage sessions over five months. Therapeutic massage techniques were performed by a Board-Certified Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork Therapist and consisted of cranial sacral, Swedish, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, and passive stretching. Symptom intensity was recorded prior to each session on a qualitative scale (1-10) and was trended over the course of the study.

Results: There was a slight decrease over time in left-arm and back numbness, as well as neck and upper body stiffness. The patient viewed therapeutic massage to be a beneficial component to his recovery.

Discussion/conclusion: Massage therapy should be considered as an adjunct therapy as part of a rehabilitation plan to address numbness and stiffness post-SCI. Further research is needed to understand the effects of massage therapy on SCI numbness and stiffness.

Background: Most stroke survivors continue to live with disabilities and may require physical rehabilitation to control the trunk and balance during the post-stroke period. The cause of lack of trunk control and balance among stroke patients is the weakened trunk muscle strength.

Purpose: To study the effect of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) neck pattern and trunk-specific exercise on trunk control and balance among stroke patients.

Setting: The study was conducted at the medical wards of Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, India.

Participants: Sixty patients with stroke who met the inclusion criteria participated in the study.

Research design: This is a quasi-experimental study.

Intervention: PNF trunk-specific exercise was administered to the experimental group for 45 min of 28 sessions, which contained 15 min of stretching exercise and 30 min trunk-specific exercise. The control group received routine hospital care services.

Main outcome measures: The study's primary outcome was balance and trunk control, measured by the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS) before the intervention and at the end of the intervention of 28 days.

Results: Within-group analysis, paired t test showed a significant improvement comparing the trunk control and balance score before (13.40±1.04 & 25.40±1.81) and after (15.03±0.96 & 27.07± 1.48) the intervention in the experimental group (p < .001). Between-group analysis, both the experimental and control group post-test mean score of TIS (15.03±0.96 &13.70±1.15) and BBS (27.07±1.48 & 25.30±1.73) showed significant difference (p < .001).

Conclusion: PNF neck pattern and trunk-specific exercise used in this study effectively improved balance and trunk control among patients with stroke.

An investigation into the work-related pain (WRP) experienced by Massage Therapists (MTs) in Ontario, Canada was undertaken using voluntary completion of an online questionnaire following broad distribution of requests to take part in this study. Data from respondents were included for analysis if they provided informed consent and were a currently or previously registered MT in the region. With voluntary participation, self-selection respondent bias must be considered in evaluating reported results. Valid questionnaires (n=1103) were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Massage therapists ranged in age from 20 to 73 years, and 85% of respondents were female. The overwhelming majority (85%) of MTs had experienced, or were experiencing, WRP at one or more of five pre-identified, primary locations with the hand/wrist, the most common site (65.5%); followed by the fingers/thumb (60.3%), shoulder (55.0%), lower back (50.1%), and neck (49.2%). Females were significantly more likely to report neck and shoulder pain than males, and were significantly more likely to report WRP at a higher number of body locations, with approximately one in five female MTs reporting WRP at all (5) primary sites. On a 10-point pain-severity scale, females reported significantly higher perceived pain than males. Work-related pain was attributed to the gradual onset of musculoskeletal conditions by 60.3% of respondents, with no other choice of cause being reported by more than 11.1%. There was clear indication of WRP impacting the lives of MTs, with 48% reporting an impact on activities of daily living, 31% reporting a loss of income, 54.6% working in pain, and 30.5% considering changing (or having changed) their profession. Various work adjustments to WRP were reported, including altered biomechanics and greater rest between patient treatments. The reported data suggested that WRP was a limiting factor for MTs' work capacity.

Introduction: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a deformity that affects the spine in three dimensions. Even though AIS patients are usually asymptomatic, AIS negatively impacts them, affecting their quality of life and restricting their social life. There are many treatment options but no gold standard. Visceral manipulation (VM) is widely used in osteopathic practice for the treatment of several conditions, but it is little known among the medical community. To the best of our knowledge, there are no scientific studies reporting VM as a treatment alternative for AIS.

Case presentation: The case was a 14-year-old girl with AIS (baseline Cobb angle of 38.9° in the lumbar spine and 32.3° in the thoracic spine). Although the patient had no physical symptoms, she was recommended for surgery to correct the deformity. The osteopathic assessment indicated that the uterus and pericardium where the main anatomical structures creating tension. Two VM sessions were conducted with a month-and-a-half interval between sessions. The follow-up X-ray revealed a Cobb angle of 32.1° in the lumbar curvature and 34.3° in the thoracic curvature. The results were perceived as an improvement by the patient and her parents. No adverse events or complications were reported.

Discussion: After two session of visceral osteopathic treatment, this document reports a 6.8° Cobb angle reduction of the primary curve in a patient with AIS, with the thoracic curvature becoming the major curve.

Massage therapy education processes, practices, and research are rarely described in the scientific literature, and the Covid-19 pandemic may have caused dramatic shifts in how massage therapists were being educated. To date, findings of the impact of the pandemic pivot on massage therapy education have yet to be reported. This editorial explores the trends in hands-on education of other professions during the pandemic and relates these trends to massage therapy education. Currently, it is unknown how institutions supported massage therapy educators in preparation for the shift to online and hybrid learning.