Good evening, Monkeys.

While reading a narrative review of pediatric massage research, my mind drifted to the thought that massage therapy is a “Miracle Cure”. I immediately rejected it, recalling the dozens of books my mother had in our house growing up. “Garlic Cures All”, “What Your Doctor Doesn’t Want You to Know”, “Deodorant Will Kill You”…blech. What kind of research did those authors do to make their claims? Assuming they even did research, there is a big difference between good and bad “research”. Some people think reading something without verifying the source or accuracy counts as them having done their research.

The best thing I learned in the Occupational Therapy program was how to critique a research study and determine if the results could even be valid from their methods. You’d be surprised what can get passed off as scientific study. For example, only about 7 women were involved in the study which is the basis for everyone thinking women’s menstrual cycles sync up when they live together. Not only did not all the women’s cycles sync, but they only synced up coincidentally for about one cycle. The same thing happens with car turn signals. If they’re blinking long enough, they’ll eventually sync, then unsync again. The researchers were over-excited to have some kind of results so their flimsy study made headlines. Same thing happened with the doctor who drew a connection between vaccines and autism. Bad research that became popular.

That’s why it’s important to read these narrative reviews of where the research currently stands, based on all the studies that have been done. Not just one study. Or two, or six. All the studies. According to the author of this research summary, massage therapy is looking to be a very promising solution for a wide variety of ailments that children and infants suffer. Unfortunately, all the studies involve daily massages, so we don’t know what the results would look like if people were to only receive weekly or even monthly massage. But I support daily massages, regardless.

*https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/6/6/78. Field, T. Pediatric Massage Therapy Research: A Narrative Review. Children 2019, 6, 78.