From the Research Editor’s Perspective...
نویسنده
چکیده
E D I T O R I A L I want to open the Research section of this premier issue of the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork: Research, Education, and Practice (IJTMB) with a provocative question. Does the massage therapy profession actually need re-search? To many, it may seem that it does not. Consider the following positions I have encountered that are sometimes held by proponents of massage therapy: • The practice of administering massage for health and well-being is thousands of years old and pre-dates modern methods of scientific inquiry. A practice as time-tested as massage does not need to be proven by science. • Every day, massage therapists are confronted with the evidence that massage works. They see it each time a recipient is happier, calmer, more relaxed, less anxious, or in less pain following treatment. We do not need research when the daily experience of thousands of massage therapists already proves that massage therapy works. • Massage therapy is a profession built on compassion , caring, and warmth, whereas science is cold, clinical, and devoid of feeling. The scientific approach is incompatible with the very nature of massage therapy. • Science is fine for studying conventional treatments and therapies, but massage therapy is different. Because massage therapy is holistic, the reductionis-tic methods of science just do not apply. It is worth seeing whether these positions can be refuted, because if they cannot, we need not even have a research section in the IJTMB! Let us examine each in turn: • The test of time is proof of massage therapy's effectiveness. Proponents of massage therapy are right to be proud of its unique and ancient history. However, that heritage cannot serve as evidence of effectiveness , for human history is littered with other long-lived practices that can be shown to be totally ineffective. Take dowsing, the practice of using a specially shaped stick to detect the " energy " emitted by sought-after water or minerals (1). Like massage , dowsing is old, with a history that extends back at least several hundred years. And, also like massage , it continues to be used in modern times. (In fact, I was personally alerted to its use in modern times just two years ago, when a colleague told me she had hired a dowser to find the best place to site a well on her land.) Does dowsing …
منابع مشابه
Editor’s Note
Iranian Rehabilitation Journal has the chance to issue a special issue on Occupational therapy and rehabilitation which has the perspective of health promotion. In this issue we will have 14 articles from the history to effectiveness of different skills/interventions of occupation therapy. We cover articles from child hood to adults to aged people. Evaluating the assessment tools such as the Pa...
متن کاملSocial Networks, Interpersonal Social Support, and Health Outcomes: A Health Communication Perspective
This manuscript discusses the development, impact, and several major research findings of studies in the area of social network support and health outcomes. The review focuses largely on the development of online social support networks and the ways in which they may interact with face-to-face support networks to influence physical and psychological health outcomes. The manuscript discusses thi...
متن کاملParadigm depletion, knowledge production and research effort
This paper deals with two elements of Thomas Kuhn (1962) ideas regarding paradigm: Depletion and resiliency. The possibility of paradigm depletion taking resilience into account, given the hierarchy among scientists, is modeled as a Stackelberg differential game between editors [leaders] and authors [followers]. A number of results emerge from the model: i) Paradigm depletion can be optimal; ii...
متن کاملClassic Paper in Corrosion Science and Engineering with a Perspective by F . Mansfeld
EDITOR’S NOTE: This new series, “Classic Paper in Corrosion Science and Engineering,” will feature reprints of defining papers that presented milestone advances in corrosion science and engineering. Each paper will be accompanied by a perspective written by a senior member of the corrosion research community. (Comments may be submitted via e-mail at [email protected] or mailed to Dr. J.B...
متن کاملFEATURES AND INFORMATION Anyone? Anyone? A Guide to Submissions on Classroom Experiments
One associate editor’s perspective on classroom experiment articles is detailed in this article. The associate editor provides recommendations for manuscripts for the Instruction (those that describe new classroom experiments) and Research (those reporting studies into the efficacy of classroom experiments as a pedagogical tool) Sections of the Journal of Economic Education as well as some gene...
متن کامل