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CURRENT STATE OF SHIATSU RESEARCH.

Shiatsu is at a very early stage in building up a body of research on presenting problems to practitioners, efficacy and safety. For example, in a search commissioned from the Research Council on Complementary Medicine (London, UK) on shiatsu and the associated area of acupressure, only 38 English language studies were identified, of which a tiny minority focused on shiatsu. In a recent UK pilot survey (Harris and Pooley, 1998), musculo-skeletal and psychological problems were found to be the most common conditions presenting for shiatsu treatment. No follow up study has yet been done. When the E.S.F. asked every National Association to find out what research was being done by practitioners or Schools in each country we received news of less than a dozen small projects.