by David Palmer | Dec 27, 2025 | Bodywork, Chair Massage, Politics
Why the regulations designed to protect the profession actually limit its reach By David Palmer The American massage profession has spent decades fighting for legitimacy. At the heart of this struggle has been a critical mission: separating professional massage from...
by David Palmer | Oct 22, 2025 | Bodywork, Science
A new study explores how “smart touch” technologies could expand the reach of manual therapy The Chinese been working hard for the past few years on practical applications for robotics and artificial intelligence. One of the areas of focus has been improving...
by David Palmer | Jan 7, 2014 | Bodywork, Touch
A recent article in The Atlantic about a phenomenon called ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) reminded me of how little we celebrate the purely sensational nature of massage. ASMR is a subjective sensory experience that typically includes highly pleasurable...
by David Palmer | Aug 2, 2012 | Bodywork, Business, Education, Politics, Touch
One of the critical topics in the massage community is how to define and label what we do. How we define massage influences how we market our services, how we regulate them and how we educate new people coming into our profession. Like the classic tale of the blind...
by David Palmer | Jul 10, 2012 | Bodywork, Education, Politics
Have you every wondered why the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) has such an awkward name? What’s with that business of “Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork?” Couldn’t they have stopped after the word...
by David Palmer | May 15, 2012 | Bodywork, Politics, Touch
Reading the impressive 58-page paper entitled Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge (MTBOK) was both exhilarating and disappointing. Developed by a coalition of six national massage organizations, Version 1 of this effort was published in 2010 and is a landmark document...
