Tracy Walton is a massage therapist, researcher, writer
and teacher. She focuses these efforts on massage therapy
for people with cancer, offering instruction and writing
in oncology massage. She works to bring safe, effective
massage therapy to people in cancer treatment, at end
of life, and in survivorship. In a typical week, she
will interact with a variety of people - researchers,
spa directors, other therapists, massage clients, educators,
health care providers and an editor or two - toward
this end.
Tracy's writing appears regularly in the Massage
Therapy Journal. She writes
a regular column on oncology massage in Massage
Today.
Currently she's
at work on a textbook, Medical Conditions
in Massage Therapy,
for Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Best known for an intensive continuing education course
for massage therapists, Caring for
Clients with Cancer,
Tracy has taught it nationally since 1999.
Her course
offerings also include an Advanced
Seminar and a basic one-day
Cancer and Massage Training in safety essentials.
Numerous massage therapists have trained with her as
part of their spa employment or at state and national
meetings. They give her courses rave reviews.
Tracy's classroom is known for lively discussion
and humor.
She attends to diverse learning styles and
offers an easy note-taking format that frees people up
to soak up new skills and information. Her wholistic
approach to teaching balances the heart, soul and science
of healing touch. She adds music and words from people
with cancer to deepen understanding of the cancer journey. Students leave her courses with extensive
training materials and support.
Tracy warmly welcomes
and reaches people from all levels of training and experience.
In 2003, Tracy was selected by the American Massage Therapy
Association as their teacher of the year.
Before
that, she taught physiology and pathology at the Muscular
Therapy Institute (MTI) in Watertown, Massachusetts for
thirteen years. She chaired the MTI science department
for eight of those years, and served for five years as
Academic Dean. 
She is frequently sought as a speaker
at conferences and in hospital and medical school settings, often when
Complementary and Alternative Medical (CAM) therapies
are being considered for people with cancer. She has
presented on massage therapy research, massage education,
and integrating oncology massage therapy into the treatment
setting.
As a researcher, Tracy has worked on several research
projects on massage therapy and cancer. These include
a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded study
of massage for people with metastatic cancer done at
the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Another NCI-funded project, carried out
by Collinge
and Associates of Kittery, Maine,
looks at the viability and effectiveness of teaching to families and
caregivers to massage their loved ones with cancer.
Recently
Tracy worked with a team at the Moffitt
Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida on a systematic
review of research on massage and cancer symptom
relief. This review will appear in the Winter 2007 Journal of Society of Integrative Oncology.
Back home, she holds a private
practice in massage therapy.
Since 1990 she has worked in a friendly office near Central
Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Her clients come
from all backgrounds, and many are in cancer treatment,
survivorship, in the middle of the diagnostic process
or living at the end of life.
Tracy holds a Master's degree in biology, with
a concentration in cellular physiology and biochemistry
from Northeastern University.
She received her undergraduate
degree from Wellesley College and her massage therapy
diploma from the Muscular Therapy Institute.
Course Approvals
Tracy Walton is approved by the National Certification
Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) as
an approved provider, #283404-00.
Tracy Walton is approved by the Florida Board of Massage
Therapy, provider # 50-3354.
Selected training is recognized by the Society for Oncology Massage.
