The role of massage therapy in the health care world is growing, and the research supporting the benefits and applications of massage is growing, too. Meet a pioneer in massage research, Jerrilyn Cambron, DC, MPH, PhD. Dr. Cambron is not only a professor in National University of Health Sciences’ Department of Research, but she also teaches in National’s massage programs and completed the massage therapy certification program herself to earn her LMT!
Dr. Cambron started at National in the doctor of chiropractic program. “When I was in high school, I was on the diving team. My best friend hurt herself and was told she would never dive again. However, she started seeing a chiropractor, and within two weeks, she was able to dive. That got me interested! While in college, I checked around for chiropractic schools near my Wisconsin home, and chose National because of its emphasis on science.”
While earning her DC degree, Dr. Cambron worked as a student research assistant, and was invited to join the department faculty after her graduation in 1991. Within her nearly 20 years of research activity, she has participated in more than 100 different projects at National. Dr. Cambron has also gone on to earn a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“We first started doing research in massage therapy at NUHS in 2004. Our first project focused on different massage techniques and how they affected hypertension or blood pressure. Surprisingly, although previous studies had found massage to lower blood pressure, we discovered that the results varied depending on the technique used. In our study, trigger point therapy and sports massage were found to actually increase blood pressure.” Dr. Cambron and her fellow researchers received lots of attention for the first study with the results appearing in mainstream magazines such as Men’s Health, Women’s Health and Massage.
“I continued to do a few more projects,” she says, “such as an investigation of the positive and negative side effects of massage therapy, and the monitoring of the amount of force applied during massage. National University of Health Sciences is a member of the Massage Therapy Research Consortium and is an advocate for continued research in massage and other forms of integrative medicine.”
Ironically, even though she was a doctor herself and a working faculty member at the university during the day, Dr. Cambron still had to attend the same technique classes at night and serve the same student internship in the clinic as all the other massage students. “I had to report to my supervisor and have her review my charts, and was docked points if they were incorrect!” she recalls.
How did Dr. Cambron feel about being a student again? “I loved it! It was a breath of fresh air. I really enjoyed being with the other students and refocusing on treating patients again, instead of just doing research in front of my computer all day. It was nice to get back in the thick of things.” Not surprisingly, Dr. Cambron was one of three valedictorians in her graduating MT class.
Students in National’s massage therapy programs benefit from Dr. Cambron’s research experience. “I teach a short section in one massage course on how to read a research article. We have an exercise where we read an article and assess the content, and then we talk about it. In another class, I teach how to write a case study and I present all the massage therapy research we’ve done here at NUHS,” says Dr. Cambron.
“It’s very valuable for massage therapists and massage students to stay up-to-date on research in their profession,” she says. “We need to know what types of massage work for which conditions, and we need to know about potential side effects. We also need to know at least as much as our clients, who are very educated nowadays. It’s important for us to know how to interpret and talk about current research with our clients. In addition, we also need to be able to talk to other health care providers and use the same language.”
What is Dr. Cambron’s advice for massage therapists who want to get active in research? “The best thing MTs can do in the field is to write case studies. They can help tell our massage profession, and other health care professions, the exciting results they are finding in their practice.”
