Donelda Gowan maintains adverse events are common with massage therapy intervention. In her 2017 dissertation, Gowan posits, "Safety in massage therapy is understudied. There is little information on what constitutes an adverse event from the perspective of stakeholders including MTs, other health care providers, insurers, regulators, educators, and patients."

Today we discuss the frequency of adverse events related to massage therapy, concepts of hurt versus harm and harm versus healing, patient and practitioner perspectives on adverse events, and what the profession can do to measure and monitor adverse events to inform the profession at large, and build public trust.