{"podcast":{"title":"The Thinking Practitioner","slug":"the-thinking-practitioner-958450","podcast_index_feed_id":958450,"rss_url":"https://www.thethinkingpractitioner.com/feed.xml","website_url":"https://www.thethinkingpractitioner.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/6037716/ttp_cover_art_1400x1400px_20191001al.jpg","author":"Til Luchau & Whitney Lowe","episode_count":175,"summary":"For the practitioner who’s never stopped being curious. Til Luchau and Whitney Lowe bring together leading researchers, master clinicians, and big questions from across bodywork, massage, and manual therapy — exploring not just what we do with our hands, but why it works and how to do it better. Smart, grounded, and genuinely useful conversations for the somatic arts and sciences. For professional practitioners in bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, chiropractic, myofascial and myotherapy, orthopedics, sports massage, physical therapy, and osteopathy — as well as yoga, strength and conditioning, and allied professions. This podcast is not medical or treatment advice.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T18:19:44.451763+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-thinking-practitioner-958450"},"episode":{"title":"166: Does Research Support What We Do? (with Bodhi Haraldsson)","slug":"166-does-research-support-what-we-do-with-bodhi-haraldsson","published_at":"2026-03-18T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-thinking-practitioner-958450/166-does-research-support-what-we-do-with-bodhi-haraldsson","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-thinking-practitioner-958450","url":"https://www.thethinkingpractitioner.com/e/166-does-our-research-support-what-we-do-with-bodhi-haraldsson/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/bru9z8ytpwxk5fbe/TTP_166_audio_20260309a2vc2.mp3","summary":"🎙 Does Massage Research Actually Work? (with Bodhi Haraldsson) Bodhi Haraldsson is a registered massage therapist, researcher, and self-described “pracademic” who has spent over 25 years bridging the gap between clinical practice and scientific inquiry. He joins Whitney on The Thinking Practitioner to talk about one of the most important — and most misunderstood — questions in our profession: what does the research actually tell us about massage therapy? Bodhi’s journey into research began at McMaster University — the birthplace of evidence-based practice — where he joined the Cochrane Cervical Overview Group and helped author a landmark systematic review on massage for mechanical neck disorders. That review, first published in 2006 and later in Spine, analyzed thousands of studies down to just 14 qualifying trials — and found that most of the evidence was limited or unclear. Nearly 20 years later, a 2024 update reached essentially the same conclusions. But this isn’t a discouraging story. It’s a call to understand what research can and can’t tell us — and why that matters for every practitioner. Bodhi and Whitney explore why absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, why no single study can capture the complexity of clinical practice, and how evidence-based practice isn’t about recipes or checklists — it’s about better understanding what we do and why. ✨ Topics discussed include: Whitney and Bodhi walk through the Cochrane review process, the state of massage research, and what individual practitioners can take away from the evidence conversation. • What a “pracademic” is — and why massage needs more of them• How the Cochrane Cervical Overview Group conducted its systematic review of massage for neck pain• Starting with thousands of studies and ending with 14 qua…","meta_description":"🎙 Does Massage Research Actually Work? (with Bodhi Haraldsson) Bodhi Haraldsson is a registered massage therapist, researcher, and self-described “pracade…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2915,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-thinking-practitioner-958450/episodes/166-does-research-support-what-we-do-with-bodhi-haraldsson/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-thinking-practitioner-958450/166-does-research-support-what-we-do-with-bodhi-haraldsson.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}