Massage Therapy

This book aims to present, in a single volume, the best of modern massage research.

While research indicates that 1 in 3 Americans use alternative health care modalities, little research has been completed and disseminated in the area of massage therapy. This volume will present about ten chapters in areas of research probably including studies of massage for: stress (post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, depression, abuse), spinal cord injuries, enhancing growth (pregnancy and infancy), pain reduction (rheumatoid arthritis, back pain, migraine, and fibromyalgia), pediatrics, the elderly, increasing employee satisfaction (chair massage), enhancing cognition (alertness, autism), and/or immunity (HIV, cancer).

SECTION 1: METHODS AND MASSAGE. Introduction. Evidence-based massage therapy: a contradiction in terms? Methodological issues in the design and conduct of massage therapy research.

SECTION 2: MASSAGE RESEARCH ON VARIOUS CONDITIONS. Introduction. Massage therapy for immune disorders. The effect of massage therapy on self-reported anxiety, depressive mood and pain in ovarian cancer patients: a pilot study. An economic evaluation of massage therapy in controlling chemotherapy-induced emesis in women undergoing treatment for breast or ovarian cancer. Massage as a modality to improve health following spinal cord injury.

SECTION 3: MASSAGE ACROSS THE LIFE-SPAN. Introduction. Supplemental tactile and kinesthetic stimulation for preterm infants. Hand massage in the agitated elderly.

SECTION 4: MASSAGE AND THE WORKPLACE. Introduction. Employee outcomes following work-site acupressure and massage.
Index