Manual Health Care has grown and evolved dramatically over the last century, and never more so than today.
In 2015, evidence-based research seeks to guide practitioners to new approaches and perspectives in patient care. Interdisciplinary practices are ubiquitous, as patients benefit from the therapeutic versatility of teams of Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, and Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) working together. The different approaches and nuances of practice have a tendency of complimenting and supporting each other, syntheses providing a holistic standard of patient care.
ho·lis·tic
hōˈlistik/
adjectivePHILOSOPHY
adjective: holistic
1 characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.
MEDICINE characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the physical symptoms of a disease.
-Internet
The purpose of this blog is to examine the benefit to health-care from Registered Massage Therapy, and the benefit to therapy/ rehabilitation as a whole from the contribution of evidence-based research by Massage Therapists. Of particular interest will be the impact Massage Therapy has when combined with other health care practitioners, such as Medical Doctors, Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, Sports Therapists, Rehabilitative Therapists, Kinesiologists, and more. As we progress, other modalities will be included.
As a recent graduate and registrant of the College of Massage Therapy of B.C., I am aware of lots of basic questions and current issues regarding manual therapy, and as an honours graduate in English I’m aware that these questions are portals to more detailed questions. The beauty of a blog, to me, is the ability to provide an area/arena for the inevitable plenitude/assortment of answers. Facts and data provide (for) the questions. Included will be testimonial information; articles and references to articles from the widest variety of sources, but with a bias, generally, towards text-book material, records, and evidence-based research related to massage therapy; classic references, modern journals, magazines, whatnot.
To open discussion on health care practitioner complementarity, here are a few examples of topics:
Patients and clients frequently report satisfaction and relief following Massage Therapy Treatment, and especially if combined with another health care modality.
The proliferation of Registered Massage Therapy and multidisciplinary practices.
– In B.C. and nationally.
– Reviews and feedback from patients receiving team care.
Doctors have referred patients for Registered Massage Therapy treatment.
The relationship between the “relaxation massage” and therapeutic massage, as performed by RMTs.
In the examination of these topics, one goal is to pool names of primary texts of the health care practices, while hopefully finding opportunities to research and evaluate what they have to offer regarding massage and manual therapy.
