This is a collection, with notes, of some of the first-line resources I use when gathering information about massage and pathology. Be aware that most of these sites don’t target massage therapists, and so won’t have anything specific to say about massage and pathology; it’s up to us to put information about the etiology of a dysfunction together with what we know about the physiological effects of massage to determine how to maximize benefits and minimize risks.

 If any readers have research sites (with information, not advertising for a product) that you feel should be on this list, feel free to contact me at wernerworkshops@ruthwerner.com. 

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The Massage Foundation: no one else focuses on gathering all the research data pertinent to massage therapy-- always start here! http://www.amtafoundation.org/index.html

The Touch Research Institute: this organization conducts studies of the effects of massage with a wide variety of disorders. http://www.miami.edu/touch-research/Massage1.html

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: current, technical, your tax dollars at work. It can be difficult to find a concise piece of information, but you’ll learn a lot in the process. http://www.cdc.gov/health/default.htm

 
MedicineNet: well written and easily accessible; not very technical.
http://www.medicinenet.com/diseases_and_conditions/article.htm

Emedicine: highly technical, written for doctors and surgeons. Requires registration (free). Can be useful for information about standard allopathic approaches and medications.
http://www.emedicine.com/

 
Intelihealth: concise, easy to use, reasonably current.
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/9339.html

 
The Mayo Clinic: currently my favorite resource. Up-to-date, accurate, easy to read but not simplistic. Outstanding in many ways!
http://www.mayoclinic.com/findinformation/diseasesandconditions/index.cfm


Medscape: requires registration (free). A large collection of articles about tiny aspects related to diseases. Not for general information. http://www.medscape.com/homepage

Dermatology from New Zealand—great pictures! http://www.dermnetnz.org/

National Institute of Health: simplistic, dated, but can be a useful starting place. Often have good links to other resources, including Medline. http://health.nih.gov/

 
Physicians committed to responsible medicine. Highly biased and narrow in scope (look here for information on calcium/dairy products and estrogen imbalances), but they have nutritional information no one else talks about. http://www.pcrm.org/