"As a profession we need research. We need to know when massage really is effective. We need to know whether the claims we make in our textbooks and our conversations with clients are true or not."
- Janet Kahn, Ph.D.

Janet Kahn, Ph.D., and former president of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Foundation, writes on the topic of research and its place in the massage therapy field in our new column, "Research Matters." Kahn gives a brief definition of what research is and stresses the importance of using research for the "validation (or invalidation) of knowledge about our field." As a means to advancing the professional image of massage therapy, Kahn discusses the responsibility massage therapists have to continually educate themselves on current research. Detailed by Kahn is the governmental funding allotted to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) in 1998 and how the funds were distributed for the study of various therapies. Kahn points out how massage research is the recipient of low funding for the sole reason that "almost no massage proposals are submitted to (the) NCCAM." Kahn believes massage schools are crucial in creating "research savvy" therapists and she encourages all schools to begin to incorporate research as a part of their curriculums.