Last Sunday of every month (beginning September 08, or as requested)
10am - 2pm
$110 15 CPE points with AAMT
Venue: Elwood St Kilda Neighbourhood Learning Centre
Massage therapy is widely known to reduce stress, ease pain and relieve tension. But now something exciting is happening to the public’s perception of massage – it’s gaining ground as a way to treat complex musculoskeletal issues and a host of other pathologies.
In order for massage to move away from being a purely CAM therapy to one whose potential benefits are properly understood and readily prescribed by the western healthcare professionals (such as GPs), there is a need for quality research.
Experiencing the benefits massage brings to clients is such a positive experience, but individual cases are just that – individual. Subjective experiences are not conclusive. Quality research is required.
Research forms the foundation of every conventional medical field. Massage should be no exception. Conducting research illuminates the many beneficial effects of massage therapy and validates the broadening potential of massage techniques to assist conventional medical practice.
As a massage therapist, you understand the need to develop research. But before you can do this, you need to become ‘research literate’. The Massage Therapy Research Curriculum Kit (Dryden & Achilles, 2003, p.1) defines this as: “..the ability to find, understand, and critically evaluate research evidence for application in professional practice."
Most research articles follow a set structure. Imagine learning to become familiar with this structure - you’ll find research easier to read, you’ll understand more, and you’ll be able to navigate some powerfully informative sources of professional development.
There are a few simple rules that give you the ability to become an informed critic of research literature. Good research possesses a number of qualities that contribute to it's validity. These can be investigated by posing a number of simple questions such as:
- Does the title convey the essential point of the experiment?
- Is it written in the third person?
- Does the abstract contain the aim, summary of procedure, results and level of significance, and are the implications of the results discussed?
- Are the limitations of the study recognised and discussed?
In this short seminar, you’ll learn ways to understand some of the key points of analysis that every therapist can use. Guided by Michelle Vassallo, doors will be opened for you to this often misunderstood and overlooked world, giving you the tools to critically examine massage research in order to better understand why massage therapy works.
"Research literacy is something that is really lacking in our profession...but this course was delivered with passion and experience. Michelle was born to be a trainer and this is one of the courses that is truly lacking in our training."
- Amanda Curtis, Melbourne, Australia
Interested in this course? Click here to contact us for bookings and more info.