Development of a Hospital-based Massage Therapy Course at an Academic Medical Center

Background: Massage therapy is offered increasingly in US medical facilities. Although the United States has many massage schools, their education differs, along with licensure and standards. As massage therapy in hospitals expands and proves its value, massage therapists need increased training and skills in working with patients who have various complex medical concerns, to provide safe and effective treatment. These services for hospitalized patients can impact patient experience substantially and provide additional treatment options for pain and anxiety, among other symptoms. The present article summarizes the initial development and description of a hospital-based massage therapy course at a Midwest medical center.Methods: A hospital-based massage therapy course was developed on the basis of clinical experience and knowledge from massage therapists working in the complex medical environment. This massage therapy course had three components in its educational experience: online learning, classroom study, and a 25-hr shadowing experience. The in-classroom study portion included an entire day in the simulation center.Results: The hospital-based massage therapy course addressed the educational needs of therapists transitioning to work with interdisciplinary medical teams and with patients who have complicated medical conditions. Feedback from students in the course indicated key learning opportunities and additional content that are needed to address the knowledge and skills necessary when providing massage therapy in a complex medical environment.Conclusions: The complexity of care in medical settings is increasing while the length of hospital stay is decreasing. For this reason, massage provided in the hospital requires more specialized training to work in these environments. This course provides an example initial step in how to address some of the educational needs of therapists who are transitioning to working in the complex medical environment

Effect of Massage on Pain Management for Thoracic Surgery Patients

Background: Integrative therapies such as massage have gained support as interventions that improve the overall patient experience during hospitalization. Thoracic surgery patients undergo long procedures and commonly have postoperative back, neck, and shoulder pain. Purpose: Given the promising effects of massage therapy for alleviation of pain, we studied the effectiveness and feasibility of massage therapy delivered in the postoperative thoracic surgery setting. Methods: Patients who received massage in the postoperative setting had pain scores evaluated pre and post massage on a rating scale of 0 to 10 (0 = no pain, 10 = worst possible pain). Results: In total, 160 patients completed the pilot study and received massage therapy that was individualized. Patients receiving massage therapy had significantly decreased pain scores after massage (p < .001), and patients’ comments were very favorable. Patients and staff were highly satisfied with having massage therapy available, and no major barriers to implementing massage therapy were identified. Conclusions: Massage therapy may be an important additional pain management component of the healing experience for patients after thoracic surgery

Inflammatory triggers associated with exacerbations of COPD orchestrate plasticity of group 2 innate lymphoid cells in the lungs

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are critical mediators of mucosal immunity, and group 1 ILCs (ILC1 cells) and group 3 ILCs (ILC3 cells) have been shown to be functionally plastic. Here we found that group 2 ILCs (ILC2 cells) also exhibited phenotypic plasticity in response to infectious or noxious agents, characterized by substantially lower expression of the transcription factor GATA-3 and a concomitant switch to being ILC1 cells that produced interferon-γ (IFN-γ). Interleukin 12 (IL-12) and IL-18 regulated this conversion, and during viral infection, ILC2 cells clustered within inflamed areas and acquired an ILC1-like phenotype. Mechanistically, these ILC1 cells augmented virus-induced inflammation in a manner dependent on the transcription factor T-bet. Notably, IL-12 converted human ILC2 cells into ILC1 cells, and the frequency of ILC1 cells in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) correlated with disease severity and susceptibility to exacerbations. Thus, functional plasticity of ILC2 cells exacerbates anti-viral immunity, which may have adverse consequences in respiratory diseases such as COPD