21/03/2026
A 2024 open access review in JAMA Network Open mapped systematic reviews of massage for adult pain conditions (2018 to 2023). Even with hundreds of trials out there, the authors found no high certainty conclusions, and only a small number of moderate certainty conclusions, most evidence was rated low or very low certainty.
Takeaway for therapists, this is not bad news, it is guidance. Talk about massage in careful, accurate terms, for some people it may help pain and comfort, but it is rarely proven as superior to other active options. Keep your claims inside the evidence, and your credibility goes up. ✅
Read the paper here - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11250267/
GCMT The General Council for Manual Therapies