NAMING CONVENTIONS

CONCLUSION Massage therapists and researchers have typically used inconsistent terminology to describe massage treatments. We propose a classification system whereby practi- tioners using different styles of massage can describe their techniques using com- mon language. This system could serve as an important step in facilitating standard- ised reporting of massage interventions for descriptive and clinical studies.

AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS MWD conceived of creating the taxonomy, reviewed the literature and drafted the taxonomy, and participated in discussions of the manuscript content and the discus- sion of the neck pain protocol with the massage therapists; KJS obtained funding, participated in the conception of the tax- onomy and drafted the manuscript; DT reviewed the taxonomy, lead the discus- sion of the neck pain protocol with the massage therapists in the neck pain study and participated in discussions of the manuscript contents; DC participated in the design of the overall study and revised the manuscript for critical intellectual content.

THE AUTHORS Marian Wolfe Dixon is a licensed massage therapist with graduate degrees in Health Education and Psychology. She completed a post graduate research fellowship in com- plementary and alternative medicine from the National Institutes of Health. She has 25 years experience as a health and mas- sage educator and has consulted on cur- riculum and research development for the American Massage Therapy Association. She is also the author of a number books. See box for more details.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project was supported by Grant #AT001584 from the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health.Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the funders.

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Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472- 6882/6/24/prepub

BOOKS BY MARIAN WOLFE DIXON

Myofascial Massage published by Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins 2006. ISBN 0781748321;

Body Mechanics and Self Care published by Prentice 2001. ISBN 0838507476; Bodylessons published by Findhorn Press 2005. ISBN 1844090620.