A physician's guide to therapeutic massage

As consumers increasingly choose to blend their use of medical and complementary modalities, practitioners in all health fields are challenged to understand each other's approaches to patient care. The physician who cannot provide knowledgeable advice about concurrent use of practices like massage therapy risks being out of touch with the benefits they can provide as well as the health considerations for different populations. Massage therapists need an evidence-based understanding of their work and a shared language in order to engage in meaningful dialogues with medical doctors with whom they share patients.