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Article History

Received: 21 June 2025

Accepted: 2 January 2026

First Online: 8 January 2026

Declarations

:

: See the section “ Ethics approval and consent to participate” within the main text. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Western Sydney University (No: H15261). The Australian HRECs are the gatekeepers ensuring research follows the ethical blueprint established by the Declaration of Helsinki and detailed in the National Statement. Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the study.

: Not applicable.

: SF is a practicing massage therapist. NM is a full-time academic, long-time consultant and mentor to SF, who receives no financial compensation for her effort on this work and is Research Director of the Massage Therapy Foundation. It is not expected that the study findings will yield any financial gain for SF or NM. NM’s role at the Massage Therapy Foundation has no bearing on the study implementation or results. PH has received sessional and lecture fees from the Australian Medical Council, Therapeutic Guidelines publication, and New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry and royalties from Hogrefe and Huber, McGraw Hill Education, and Blackwell Scientific Publications, and she has received research support from CAPES, NHMRC, and ARC. She is the Chair of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration in Australia (2019-current). She has been a consultant for Tryptamine Therapeutics Pharmaceuticals.