MassageNet Member-Generated Study

The April 2025 International Massage Therapy Research Conference brought some exciting developments and opportunities for MassageNet PBRN. The final education session on day three brought together MassageNet members who attended the conference for the first convening session of the PBRN. This gathering provided an opportunity for members to participate in developing research questions of interest for MassageNet’s first member-generated research study, including being part of the study topic generation process. The study will follow a case series study design, focusing on a population chosen by MassageNet members.

The session began with an introductory educational session about how a case series study is designed and conducted. Then, members participated in a brainstorming session to identify populations, conditions, and diagnoses of interest, as well as associated challenges and facilitators. The group came up with a shortlist of target interests, including menopause, touch deprivation, veterans, and massage therapists themselves!

A second, virtual convening session was held on August 28, 2025 to further hone in on the study topic. Additional sessions will be held on Wednesday, November 5 at 7:00-9:00pm EST (register here) and in the second week of December (date/time TBA). All MassageNet members are welcome to join! We will be finalizing the topic and research questions for the case series study. Keep an eye out for more information coming soon!

MassageNet Special Session at 2025 IMTRC

MassageNet members can look forward to an exciting and educational networking opportunity at Massage Therapy Foundation’s 2025 International Massage Therapy Research Conference (IMTRC), April 27-29, 2025, in Alexandria, Va.! The conference concludes with a special session for MassageNet members, giving you the opportunity to share your ideas and research interests. In this session, members will decide on the topic of the first research study developed and run entirely by MassageNet and its members. Participants will discuss research ideas, capabilities, and practice needs in order to develop a project that is specifically geared toward garnering what MassageNet members want to know and benefits for their clients.

Get the most from your IMTRC experience; become a MassageNet member:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WMN5B8F

Learn more about IMTRC and register for the conference:
https://massagetherapyfoundation.org/imtrc-2025/

Research Literacy and Reading Scientific Papers

Scientific articles are often packed with difficult vocabulary and complicated statistics. Reading one can be daunting if you’ve never done it before. With practice and a little strategy, even the most complex article can reveal valuable information that can help improve client care. A team of writers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine put together tips to make reading scientific literature more digestible. The article can be found here: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008032

Carey MA, Steiner KL, Petri WA Jr (2020) Ten simple rules for reading a scientific paper. PLoS Comput Biol 16(7): e1008032. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008032

Free CEs for Members Only

Healwell is an organization aimed at establishing massage as a component of healthcare, working with inpatient and outpatient facilities in the Washington, DC area to provide massage to patients. They have worked with several local hospital systems to implement research studies in oncology massage and massage for palliative care, and they provide continuing education courses for massage therapists and other members of the community. Healwell has generously offered to provide access to one of these courses to MassageNet members at no cost.

The course, “The State of Massage Therapy Research,” was presented by Dr. Niki Munk at the 2023 Healwell meeting, “Within Reach: The Quest for Information and Research.” Viewers will learn about the history of massage research, important key points and players in the development of massage research as a discipline, and the future trajectory of the field. This course provides two CEUs (a $50 value) at no cost to MassageNet members.

Register here: https://online.healwell.org/courses/state-of-massage-therapy-research

Find your MassageNet member-only code for the free course in your Summer 2023 member newsletter.