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COMPATIBILITY of SHIATSU and RESEARCH.

Many people in the shiatsu community are either fearful or distrustful of research. Many of us also know little or nothing about research, or may only know about mechanistic research methods. So some are not convinced of the wisdom or the need for it. But as I have been telling you, the E.S.F.'s study is that it will break new ground in the research methodology.

Medical research relies on randomised controlled trials (RCT's). (An RCT, basically, is where a particular treatment for a particular condition is studied using a group of people who receive the treatment and another group who receive a placebo under similar conditions and over the same time period. The method has the capacities for some variations of the basic form).

Clearly this method is inadequate to study the complex range of characteristics of shiatsu and of complementary disciplines in general. RCTs do not properly consider and evaluate such things as the effect of a holistic approach, the effect of the client/practitioner relationship, the different range of outcomes of treatment sought by both clients and practitioners from treatments such as Shiatsu.

The major research interest of Professor Long who will direct our study is in methodology appropriate to the holistic understanding and methodology of complementary healing. His approach is to look for what is actually happening and to study it in terms of outcomes and not in terms of the methods, expectations, or values of some other method, and in particular of conventional medicine.

Professor Long has studied methods to ' move the centre of attention from the process of care (expected outcomes from efficacy evidence) to the achieved results in routine practice'. Or, to put this another way, to shift the research process from one that fits a particular model of study to one where the desired outcomes of both the client and the practitioner are documented and evaluated in terms of the therapeutic philosophy, the therapeutic relationship and the healing techniques. We aim to respectfully study shiatsu and in so doing to invite it's due public respect.

We, therefore, have a most fortunate and rare opportunity to work with a scientist who is actually excited about working with us precisely because of how we work.