Steps toward massage therapy guidelines: a first report to the profession.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Professional Practice Standards

Background:

• The massage profession has experienced significant growth since the 1980s.
• Maturation necessitates formalizing knowledge synthesis from clinical experience and research.
• A need exists to make baseline massage therapy knowledge widely available.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the framework and motivations for creating evidence-informed massage therapy guidelines.
• To report on the Massage Therapy Foundation's Best Practices Committee work since 2006.
• To establish a healthcare literature basis for academic discourse on massage therapy.

Main Methods:

• Review of Institute of Medicine definitions and research on expertise.
• Extensive review of healthcare literature on guideline creation, credentialing, competence, and informatics.
• Proposed process includes a "World Café" symposium and emphasizes transparency and peer review.

Main Results:

• Identified challenges in creating guidelines for massage therapy.
• Considered various stakeholder perspectives.
• Addressed credentialing, competence definition, and technology's role in managing competencies.

Conclusions:

• A process for creating credible and usable massage therapy guidelines is proposed.
• Transparency and broad peer review are essential for guideline acceptance.
• Formalized guidelines will support the professionalization of massage therapy.