Niki Munk, Ph.D., LMT, is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences and leads the department. She is a clinically trained and licensed massage therapist and completed her doctoral training in gerontology at the University of Kentucky.
Munk is one of 13 international fellows in the International Complementary Medicine Research Leadership Program at University Technology Sydney (UTS): Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM). In addition, Munk is a Massage Therapy Foundation Trustee and co-investigator on the VA-funded TOMCATT study, which examines care-ally assisted and therapist provided massage for veterans with chronic neck pain.
Prior to beginning her appointment as faculty at the School of Health & Human Sciences, Munk worked in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Kentucky on the KYPROS study which examined real-world massage therapy for primary care patients with chronic low back pain. Before her research career, Munk was the associate then program director for the Lexington Healing Arts Academy in Lexington, Kentucky, and president of In Touch Inc., which provided massage therapy for older adults in their homes, care centers, or in professional therapeutic space.
Munk’s research explores real-world massage therapy for chronic low back pain, trigger point self-care, massage for amputation related sequelae, and the reporting and impact of massage related case reports among other projects. Among Munk’s various academic duties, she is a core professor in the school’s doctoral program in health and rehabilitation sciences and teaches the aging-related courses in the undergraduate health sciences program. Munk was recognized for her excellence in teaching and mentoring with the 2018 IU Indianapolis Trustees' Teaching Award.
Publications: (¶ indicates co-first author, † indicates senior author)
Kennedy, A.B. & Munk*, N. (2017). Experienced Practitioners’ Beliefs Utilized to Create a Successful Massage Therapist Conceptual Model: a Qualitative Investigation. IJTMB, 10(2), 9-19.
Shue, S. Richmond, A.K., Mulvihill, T., Munk*†, N. (2017). Treating individuals with amputations in therapeutic massage and bodywork practice: A qualitative study. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 32, 98-104.
¶Elder, W.G., ¶Munk*, N., Love, M.M., Bruckner, G.G., Stewart, K.E., Pearce, K. (2017). Real-World Massage Therapy Produces Meaningful Effectiveness Signal for Primary Care Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain: Results of a Repeated Measures Cohort Study. Pain Medicine, 18 (7), 1394-1405.
Munk*†, N., Zakeresfahani, A., Foote, RT, Ralston, R, Boulanger, KT. (2017). Negative Implications of Inconsistencies and Deficits in Case Reports for Massage Related Adverse Events for the Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork Field: A Systematic Audit through mid-2016. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine,17(Suppl 1): O24.
Munk*, N., Shue S., Freeland, E., Ralston, R.K., Boulanger, K. (2016). Identifying Inconsistencies and Reporting Deficits in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (TMB) Case Reports Authored by TMB Practitioners: A TMB Adapted CAse REport (CARE) Guidelines Audit Through 2014. IJTMB,9(3), 3-14.
Munk*†, N., Freeland, E., Mannheimer, S., Shue, S., Bair, M.J. (2016). PO4.10 Therapeutic Massage Combined with Mirror Therapy for Phantom Limb Pain: Two Experimental Cases. The International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA May 17-20, 2016. JACM,22(6), A63.
Munk*, N. Boulanger, K. (2014). Adaptation of the CARE Guidelines for therapeutic massage and bodywork publications: Efforts to improve the impact of case reports. IJTMB,7(3), 32–40.
Munk*, N., Stewart, K., Love, M.M., Carter, E., Elder, W.G. (2014). Intersection of massage practice and research: Community massage therapists as research personnel on an NIH-funded effectiveness study. IJTMB, 7(2), 10-19.
