Open Educational Resources for Massage Therapists

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The RMT Education Project: Educational Resources for Massage Therapists

The RMT Education Project: Educational Resources for Massage Therapists

The RMT Education Project is an initiative that is working to promote the benefits of massage therapy to an international audience. In this post I have to put together an open educational resource page for massage therapists.

I invite you to explore some of these resources then take the information and share it with your personal learning network to promote the benefits of massage therapy.

Online Articles (Creative Commons Licence) 

A selection of articles that upend conventional wisdom about rehabilitation and pain.

Pain Science
• Pain really is in the mind, but not in the way you think - Lorimer Moseley
• What is pain and what is happening when we feel it? - Lorimer Moseley
• Fixing pain management could help us solve the opioid crisis - Meredith Craigie
• Thinking of taking opioids for low back pain? - Christine Lin
• Three reasons you have neck pain – and why ‘bad posture’ probably isn’t one of them - Christian Worsfold
• Rub on pain products - Andrew Moore
• How to fix Canada’s opioid crisis - Andrea Furlan
• The science of pain - Benjamin Ansell
• Best way to avoid back pain? - Fiona Wilson
• The Cold, Hard Truth About Icing Your Injuries - Lindsay Berra

Exercise Science
• Why do my muscles ache the day after exercise? - Ken Nosaka
• Exercise more this year – it really is good for your heart - Scott Lear
• Can exercise help tackle the opioid crisis? - Nancy Gyurcsik
• If your knee hurts, keep exercising, says expert - Ewa M Roos
• Broke your arm? Exercise the other one to strengthen it… - Jonathan Farthing
• Does foam rolling actually do any good? - Lewis Macgregor
• It’s not just athletes who get Achilles tendon pain, but exercising is the answer - Sean Docking, Ebonie Rio, Jill Cook

Anatomy & Physiology
• What’s happening when our joints crack and is it bad? - Andrew Lavender
• The skin is a very important (and our largest) organ - Cara McDonald
• Common skin rashes and what to do about them - H. Peter Soyer
• Common lumps and bumps on and under the skin - H. Peter Soyer
• Why do we get muscle cramps? - Alan Hayes
• What should my heart rate be and what affects it? - Anna Beale

Neuroplasticity and The Science of Touch
• The Brain and Nervous System - Robert Biswas-Diener
• What is brain plasticity and why is it so important? - Duncan Banks
• Touch in infancy is important for healthy brain development - Harriet Dempsey-Jones
• Nerves of endearment: how a gentle touch affects emotions - Marcello Costa
• Holding your partner’s hand can ease their pain - Pavel Goldstein
• Touch and pain - Guro Løseth
• Sensation and perception - Adam John Privitera

Concussions
• How to avoid, recognize and treat concussion in sports - Kathryn Schneider
• What is traumatic brain injury? - Travis Wearne
• How concussion stresses the heart to protect the brain - J. Patrick Neary

Acupuncture Research
• Emergency doctors are using acupuncture to treat pain - Marc Cohen
• Does acupuncture work by re-mapping the brain? - Vitaly Napadow

Research
• Is this study legit? - Hassan Vally

Videos

A selection of educational videos that therapists can use to supplement continuing education programs.

TED Talks
• How to make stress your friend - Kelly McGonigal
• The mystery of chronic pain - Elliot Krane
• A doctor's touch - Abraham Verghese
• Why do we sleep? - Russell Foster
• The brain-changing benefits of exercise - Wendy Suzuki

TED-Ed - Lessons to spark and celebrate the ideas of students around the world.
• The mysterious science of pain - Joshua W. Pate
• The fascinating science of phantom limbs - Joshua W. Pate
• The benefits of a good night's sleep - Shai Marcu
• What happens when you have a concussion? - Clifford Robbins
• Oxygen’s surprisingly complex journey through your body - Enda Butler
• What happens during a stroke? - Vaibhav Goswami
• Why haven’t we cured arthritis? - Kaitlyn Sadtler and Heather J. Faust
• What makes muscles grow? - Jeffrey Siegel
• How blood pressure works - Wilfred Manzano
• How to grow a bone - Nina Tandon
• The science of skin - Emma Bryce
• How your muscular system works - Emma Bryce
• How does the immune system work? - Emma Bryce
• How your digestive system works - Emma Bryce
• How do your kidneys work? - Emma Bryce
• The power of the placebo effect - Emma Bryce
• Why do your knuckles pop? - Eleanor Nelsen
• How does your brain respond to pain? - Karen D. Davis
• How do scars form? - Sarthak Sinha
• How do nerves work? - Elliot Krane
• The mystery of chronic pain - Elliot Krane
• How do drugs affect the brain? - Sara Garofalo
• What causes headaches? - Dan Kwartler

Crash Course - Tons of courses in one awesome channel.
• Anatomy & Physiology 
• History of Science
• Business Entrepreneurship
• Statistics
• Media Literacy
• Study Skills

• Biology with the Amoeba Sisters

Khan Academy - A non-profit educational organization providing online tools that help educate students.
• Health & Medicine 
• Entrepreneurship 

Open Access Research Journals

If you are a massage therapist who is interested in reading massage therapy research, but don't feel like sorting through hundreds of PubMed listings. Here is a list of Five Open Access Research Articles about massage therapy and pain. Additionally There are a number of scientific journals that publish open access research.
• BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
• BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
• Canadian Medical Association Journal
• Canadian Journal of Pain
• Chiropractic & Manual Therapies
• International Journal of Massage & Bodywork 
• Journal of Physiotherapy
• PAIN Reports 

Anatomy Review (Creative Commons licence)

• UBC Functional Neuroanatomy
• UBC Clinical Anatomy

Anatomical Images
• Dream Anatomy - US National Library of Medicine
• Historical Anatomies on the web - US National Library of Medicine
• Wiki Images - Scientific Animations
• Human Anatomy - Wikimedia Commons
• Anatomy Illustrations - Alice Roberts