Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medical Research
Massage Therapy in Naturopathic Practice: A Critical Narrative Review of Mechanistic Rationale, Clinical Evidence and Conceptual Coherence
Massage is among the oldest and most widely recognised components of naturopathic physical medicine, yet its position within the discipline has become unsettled. Naturopathic philosophy justifies manual therapy through claims about circulation, elimination, nervous regulation and the stimulation of self-healing capacity, whereas the contemporary evidence base evaluates massage as an isolated modality tested against pain, anxiety and function in narrowly defined populations. This review examines that divergence. Its …