Research shows massage therapy is a realistic approach to many forms of pain that can either replace use of drugs, such as opioids, or work in conjunction with non-addictive medication for pain management. The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) has compiled some of the strongest clinical and consumer research on massage therapy for pain. (See references below)

OTTAWA – Heads turn and smiles break out as the four veterans make their way through the Bayshore mall in Ottawa's west end one recent Tuesday morning. But it isn't just the men that the shoppers are watching: it's also their dogs.

Although 70 per cent of Americans die from chronic disease, most do not make their preferences for end of life care known to their families, leaving loved ones unprepared for their final days. Patients who wish to die at home and who can benefit from palliative or hospice care usually are referred too late – often in the last four weeks of life – to maintain comfort and quality of life and to better prepare for death.

It all started when the two of us sat down over a cup of coffee. As a family physician and endocrinologist, we stand on opposite sides of a large chasm called patient wait times, and we both started seeing more and more of our patients getting swallowed up by this abyss.

Opioid cessation in non-cancer pain may be more successful when depression is treated to remission, a study from Saint Louis University in Missouri shows.

Nearly every minute, a woman dies from heart disease in the United States – it is the number one killer of women, causing one in three deaths each year, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

As you may know being a registered massage therapist, chiropractor, physiotherapist or other licensed health-care practitioner, it is difficult at the best of times to provide relief for patients who suffer from trigeminal neuralgia (TN).

Legalized marijuana, the growing opioid crisis, technology innovation, research and education – these are some of the hottest issues in health and health care management to watch for in 2018.

There are certain members of our profession that surpass boundaries with their scope, research and accolades. Christine Sutherland is one of those steely individuals, who has explored so many avenues: massage therapist, filmmaker, teacher and author.

Can acupuncture and yoga help to fight the opioid epidemic? These and other integrative medicine approaches have shown at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness in pain management, according to an article in the December issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia – a special thematic issue addressing the opioid crisis.

WASHINGTON – Breast cancer treatment left Susan Wolfe-Tank with an arm too painfully swollen to lift anything heavy or even fit into her usual clothing – a debilitating condition that gets little attention and has no cure.

Recording patient information is an essential part of every good health-care practitioner’s clinical obligations.

In our previous article we discussed offering third party insurance billing and how that benefits your patients and your business. Now, let’s describe and “rate” (good, better, best) the technologies that are available for the electronic claims submission process for your clinic.

TORONTO – A growing and aging population is adding pressure to Ontario's health-care system and spending isn't keeping up – a situation that could result in compromised quality of care if left unaddressed, the province's fiscal watchdog warned Wednesday.

In the not-too-distant future, your health insurance, your prescription drugs and some of your treatment may come from the same company.

A Montreal entrepreneur has opened the first Massothérapie Massage Addict in Quebec in the Carré Lucerne in the Town of Mount Royal (TMR).

It's been said there's nothing better than being your own boss. However sometimes the weight of "wearing all the hats" can be emotionally and spiritually draining. So next time things seem a little overwhelming, refer to these five principles every happy business owner lives by.

Third-party billing is when a health-care provider submits claims on behalf of patients to health insurance providers (the third party). The purpose is to manage and direct payment for treatment and services rendered to the patients.

Health spending in Canada is expected to reach $6,604 per capita this year – or about $200 more per person compared to last year – according to a report released Tuesday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

A job interview with a potential employer. A presentation to a group of investors. A first meeting with your soon to be father-in-law. These situations can make even the toughest person weak in the knees. And in every case it's because they lack confidence. Exuding confidence can make you more approachable, likeable, authoritative, and viewed as a leader. But no one can be confident all the time.

Massage therapists frequently provide progressive care, addressing acute spasm/strain and pain (and the anxiousness which accompanies these symptoms) to improve function and provide a sense of well-being. Our eventual goal is to instill agency in our patients, providing self-care techniques they can apply themselves to ameliorate symptoms.

Hand & Stone Massage Spa Canada Corporation has opened three new locations across Canada, including its first on outside of Ontario.

The CMTO would like to notify the industry of recent amendments to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991. On May 1st, 2018, changes made by the provincial government came into effect. For Ontario's Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs), most changes are not new, they were contained in the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO)'s by-laws and Standards of Practice for Maintaining Professional Boundaries and Preventing Sexual Abuse. The changes relate to the passage of the Protecting Patients Act, 2017, and apply to all regulated health professions in Ontario. The new changes relate to:

Humber College is now offering the Yoga Exercise Specialist Certification – a two-part Hatha Yoga-based program aimed at preparing the participant to teach yoga in the fitness and health industry. Part 1 aims to teach the following: over 50 postures, warm ups and variations; knowledge to integrate yoga into private training and group exercise programs; meditation, relaxation and breathing techniques; and a basic understanding of yoga history and philosophy.

At Educator Day during the Registered Massage Therapists’ Association of Ontario’s (RMTAO) 2017 Education Conference, moderator Pam Fitch posed the question, “Who in the room has obtained a master’s degree or PhD?”  A small number of hands in a room full of educators went up.

Individuals who have been treated for cancer are at risk for a complication called lymphedema: swelling in the body region where lymph nodes were removed, causing pain and limited function. New research and insights on the management of cancer-related lymphedema are presented in the January special issue of Rehabilitation Oncology, official journal of the Oncology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

Former Paralympic gold medalist Mark Bentz now runs a massage therapy practice in downtown Vancouver. He says the key to a successful clinic and a fulfilled life is simplicity.

When Ed Cunningham resigned his lucrative post as a college football analyst for ESPN last August, he made clear the reason for his departure: he no longer wished to be at the forefront of a sport that endangers its players.

The portrayal of massage therapists in Hollywood has often been a thorn in the industry’s side. Stereotypes and misconceptions abound. An online search for “movies about massage therapy” pulls up all sorts of fantasy and porn that continue to taint our reputation. Memorable, loveable (but not exactly accurate) characters, who double as masseuses on TV (like Phoebe from Friends) easily become synonymous with the profession as a whole.

When a sexual abuse complaint against Ontario massage therapist Fernando Vigon-Campuzano in 2016 led him to surrender his RMT licence, it opened up a can of worms that went back as far as 2014. He has since faced three counts of sexual assault charges, as two more patients came forward.

July 1st, 2017, marked the end of the three-year grace period of the Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), which came into effect July 1, 2014. This means that you now must ensure that your marketing communications methods are on the right side of this law. Failure to comply can result in significant fines.

VANCOUVER – A Vancouver councillor says it may take years, but he can see the day a craft cannabis industry emerges in British Columbia, with smoking lounges in the city allowing people to responsibly sample strains of specially cultivated marijuana.

The new standards drafted by the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO) in response to a new legislation aimed at preventing sexual abuse of health-care patients is now in effect.

A Toronto lawyer has expressed concern a new Ontario legislation designed to protect patients from sexual abuse in the hands of a health-care professional may result in unintended consequences.

While calories from any food have the potential to increase the risk of obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases, 22 nutrition researchers agree that sugar-sweetened beverages play a unique role in chronic health problems. The disease risk increases even when the beverages are consumed within diets that do not result in weight gain.

University of Sydney researchers aim to help clear up conflicting dietary advice around egg consumption, as a new study finds eating up to 12 eggs per week for a year did not increase cardiovascular risk factors in people with pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes.

We all know we should exercise regularly, but it can be difficult to fit exercise into our busy schedules. Most people can only exercise before or after work, so it’s worth examining whether the time of day we exercise affects outcomes such as weight loss and sleep.

In Canada, approximately one in five adults will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, with similar numbers reported in the United States.

VANCOUVER—According to new research from British Columbia, patients with knee osteoarthritis saw substantial improvements in their physical activity when they started using a Fitbit and had ongoing counselling with a physiotherapist.

A new automated text messaging service may curb opioid abuse and reduce the likelihood of relapse while also decreasing treatment costs, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and Epharmix, a St. Louis-based digital health company.

TORONTO — Stress in today's society is more common than ever before, with top causes stemming from job pressure, financials, health, relationships and poor nutrition. 

Millions of workers don't have a typical nine-to-five workday, and many of them – nurses, firefighters and flight attendants, among many other professions – may see their schedule change drastically one week to the next. As a result, these shift workers' biological clocks, which keep track of the time of day, cannot keep accurate time, potentially making the negative effects of a high fat diet on metabolic disorders even more pronounced, according to new research published in The FASEB Journal.

Exercise can reverse damage to sedentary, aging hearts and help prevent risk of future heart failure – if it's enough exercise, and if it's begun in time, according to a new study by cardiologists at UT Southwestern and Texas Health Resources.

BINGHAMTON, New York – Sleeping less than the recommended eight hours a night is associated with intrusive, repetitive thoughts like those seen in anxiety or depression, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

With the holiday season upon us, many business owners struggle between making time for their family while giving their business the attention it needs. The fact is that in most cases, it's the business that wins. Here are five tips to help you focus more on yourself and your family without stressing about the business.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The more educated a member of the baby boomer generation, the more likely they are to misuse prescription opioids, according to new research from the University at Buffalo.

Despite claims that helmets do not protect the cervical spine during a motorcycle crash and may even increase the risk of injury, researchers from the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics in Madison found that, during an accident, helmet use lowers the likelihood of cervical spine injury (CSI), particularly fractures of the cervical vertebrae. These findings appear in a new article published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, "Motorcycle helmets and cervical spine injuries: a 5-year experience at a Level 1 trauma center," written by Dr. Paul S. Page, Dr. Zhikui Wei, and Dr. Nathaniel P. Brooks.

Chronic pain after surgery is a major health problem but little is known about individual pain experiences and how and why pain usually resolves. A leading pain researcher reported at this year's American Pain Society Scientific Summit that recent studies yield clues about mechanisms believed to be responsible for pain resolution variability and how they might be manipulated to speed recovery and diminish likelihood for long-lasting severe pain.

A study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), in La Jolla, Calif., explains why the risk of osteoarthritis increases as we age and offers a potential avenue for developing new therapies to maintain healthy joints.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Long after cancer treatment ends, many continue to deal with one particular symptom that refuses to go away: fatigue. In a new study, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Harvard School of Medicine have found that the power of placebos, even when fully disclosed to patients, might be harnessed to reduce fatigue in cancer survivors.

The Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF), based in Evanston, Ill., has announced it 2018 research grants and contest deadlines for massage therapy professionals and students.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center examines what may cause chronic back pain in runners and the exercises to help prevent it.

Muscle paralysis rapidly causes inflammation in nearby bone marrow, which may promote the formation of large cells that break down bone, a new study finds. The article is published in the American Journal of Physiology – Cell Physiology.

It is the number one reason that people go to see the doctor, and it is now a national crisis. The problem: chronic pain and prescription opioids. The dilemma: how to provide the most effective pain treatment for 80 per cent of pain patients who are at least risk for addiction while causing the least harm to the remaining 20 per cent who are at most risk. The solution: it's very complicated, but it may be possible to address both problems without adversely affecting either.

McMaster University neuroscientists studying sports-related head injuries have found that it takes less than a full concussion to cause memory loss, possibly because even mild trauma can interrupt the production of new neurons in a region of the brain responsible for memory.

McMaster University in Hamilton and St. Joseph Healthcare Hamilton have teamed up to launch a new multidisciplinary research centre dedicated to cannabis research.

Toronto (Troy Media) – Canadians suffer when important mental health services are unavailable or wait times are too long.

Over the past few months, patients and healthcare providers alike have been encouraged to make pledges to improve compassionate quality care in Ontario as part of an inaugural movement called, Change Day Ontario.

We recently held our first annual conference call with members of our editorial advisory board and it was a very productive discussion of issues and trends affecting health care and the massage therapy profession.

A decade ago, I reviewed the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) in preparation for dramatic changes in submitting auto insurance claims.  I recall thinking how limited the list of conditions is in relation to soft-tissue dysfunction.

Many Canadians can hardly wait for the day that the recreational use of marijuana becomes legal. As a medical doctor, I'm far less enthusiastic. I worry about two things: the experimental nature of marijuana in medical practice and the public health consequences of legalized marijuana.

It's no secret: Ontario is getting older. The number of seniors in our province has been steadily increasing and over the next twenty years, will double. Including factors like increased use of health services and evolving technology, this will result in a substantial increase in demand across the health system. Those services will cost money.

The Trudeau government is set on legalizing marijuana by the summer of next year. While they will enjoy the political payoff of appearing progressive on this matter, all of the associated problems and the logistics of legalizing pot will fall on the shoulders of the provincial governments.

The impending legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Canada – which is expected to take effect by next summer – is causing anxiety among many in the health-care profession, and for good reason.

As a massage therapist, I appreciate and benefit from the relationship between our professional association and our regulatory body.

Mental illness is not always an easy conversation topic. The fact that one in five Canadians will personally experience a mental health issue in their lifetime does not make it any less uncomfortable or less stigmatizing. It does make it all the more real, however.

Recently, a distraught young mother from British Columbia took her own life while in the grip of postpartum depression, leaving behind a grieving husband and infant son. She was a registered nurse and had been seeking treatment for depression and anxiety. Tragically, the health-care system she worked for was unable to help her.

iMag contains a 100 per cent naturally occurring form of magnesium chloride. Its zero stability constant makes it the most bioavailable form of the magnesium ion for humans. iMag is sourced from the Ancient Underground Zechstein Seabed, a mineral deposit in the Netherlands which has been preserved underground for over 250 million years, making it naturally pure and free of pollution and heavy metal toxins. The people at iMag are focused on purity and quality, and stress that this precious form of natural magnesium is not only unprocessed, but unlike most other products. It is packaged in glass, as opposed to plastic, which is known to leach chemicals that have been linked to cancer, mental, hormonal and even fertility problems. iMag can be found at ineedmag.com, which is also linked to its sister website that serves as a comprehensive data resource for all things magnesium: imagnesium.com. iMag is a proud Canadian company founded by Matt Selma.

Vitality Depot has launched Pain Gone, a clinically tested pen-like device that patients can use for pain management.

Length Tension Testing provides clear and comprehensive descriptions and photos for assessing flexibility and length tension in the muscles of the lower quadrant. Book 1, Lower Quadrant includes techniques for the lumbar spine and pelvis, hip, knee, and foot and ankle, while Book 2, Upper Quadrant features techniques for the cervical spine, temporomandibular joint, thoracic spine, shoulder, elbow, and wrist and hand.Each technique listing includes concise, standardized descriptions of the actions and positions involved, high-quality colour photos and alternative positions to accommodate patient variability and comfort. Most of these tests can be adapted into treatment techniques. These resources are designed to help physiotherapists, kinesiologists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and osteopaths improve patient care, and they will be invaluable references for students at the college and university level, book proponents say.Length Tension Testing is written by Paolo Sanzo and Murray MacHutchon. Sanzo is an assistant professor in the school of kinesiology and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine at Lakehead University. A practicing physiotherapist at the Victoriaville Physiotherapy Centre in Thunder Bay, Ont., Sanzo is also an examiner and instructor with the Orthopaedic Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. MacHutchon is a physiotherapist at Pembina Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic in Winnipeg, Man. He is also an examiner and instructor with the Orthopaedic Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association.

Brain Stars: Glia Illuminating CranioSacral Therapy by Tad Wanveer, LMBT, CST-D, has simplified the complexity of the function of glial cells within the craniosacral system. Upledger Institute International is excited to announce the release of this highly informative book.The information presented, along with the author's own numerous illustrations, make it a valuable resource to any CranioSacral Therapist (CST) desiring to grow in their understanding of how the body functions, and for those wanting to further their ability to help their patients overcome dysfunction. CranioSacral therapists have a wealth of knowledge to gain and nothing to lose by reading this book, according to Upledger Institute.Brain Stars: Glia Illuminating CranioSacral Therapy can be purchased at: shop.iahe.com for $74.95.

LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services has launched JOINTstat, a diagnostic blood test for rheumatoid arthritis. The JOINTstat blood test is the first test of its kind available in Canada that aids in the early detection and diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. When caught and treated early, rheumatoid arthritis outcomes can be greatly improved.

Massage therapists have a new convenient option for processing client payments. Amazon is taking direct aim at mobile payment systems such as Square by introducing the Amazon Local Register, a credit-card processing device and mobile app designed to help small business owners accept payments through their smartphones and tablets. The move places the largest U.S. e-commerce retailer in competition with Square and other established mobile payment processing systems such as PayPal Here and Intuit's GoPayment.

Massage Warehouse, providers of high quality, cost-effective massage products, announces the release of its paraben-free line of Massage FX lotions and creams. Parabens, preservatives that are quickly absorbed through the skin, have been shown to mimic the activity of estrogen in the body’s cells. Some researchers suggest that methylparaben, which is widely used in cosmetics and skin creams, may increase risk of breast cancer, or accelerate the growth of these tumors.

Dr. Chris Oswald had been practicing chiropractic in the Toronto area for 16 years when he reached a point of frustration and decided to change the game.

While people usually think of sports when talking about athletic activity, most Canadians engage in some form of physical activity every day. Whether it’s lifting an infant into a highchair, running for the bus or bending to reach a fallen sock behind the dryer, people move and exert their bodies constantly – sometimes feeling the pain from those movements.

May 20, 2014 – Tiger Woods still doesn't know when he'll return. For a while, he didn't know whether he would return at all. On Monday, Woods said his back injury became so debilitating this year it caused him to doubt his ability to play golf again.

May 14, 2014 — A new study from the University of Messina in Italy and University of Louisville in Kentucky shows wearable pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) device may help reduce pain for patients with osteoarthritis.