Massage Therapy: Research & Assignment Tips

Reading a research study article is not the same as reading an article in a magazine. Use the helpful tips in this handout to help you read and understand research articles.

Finding Your Article

• If you aren't getting the results you want, go bigger or smaller.
  • If you don't get enough results: instead of searching for postpartum depression and Thai massage, search for depression and massage.
  • If you get TOO many results: instead of searching for back pain and massage, try low back pain and massage or get even more specific with low back pain and myofascial release
• Remember that you are looking for clinical trials or experiments with a control group.
  • In PEDro, you can see the article type in the right column of your search results
  • In PubMed, you can filter your search, but you may miss some good articles if you do this.

Analyzing Your Article

• For your critique of the study, consider:
  • Who is included (or not included!) among study participants -- are they diverse in age, race/ethnicity, gender?
  • Search the article (use the Find tool, ctrl + F) for the word "Limitations" -- often the authors of the article have already considered some of the weaknesses of their experiment.
  • If you were to repeat this study or create a new experiment on the same topic, what would you change?

Finding Sources

For this assignment, you can use scholarly journals or trade magazines. Trade magazines (like Massage Magazine and Massage & Bodywork) will have recommendations for specific techniques.

Research Notes

Condition Overview and Prognosis: Find this information using library resources like Gale eBooks or on reputable websites like Mayo Clinic.

Cautions and Contraindications: Search articles (using ctrl + F) for these terms. You can also use Google for this (e.g., search headache massage contraindications) -- but make sure you are going to reputable resources. Often you'll get results from places like NIH and AMTA, which are great.

Technique Effectiveness: You'll need to provide evidence for the effectiveness of techniques to treat your condition or its symptoms. You may find this information in research articles (clinical trials, experiments, etc.) or in articles from trade magazines.