November/December 2014
Technique
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Two Roads Diverged; I Took Both
Doug Nelson addresses how he would approach a client when facing two 'diverging roads'—one muscular and one neural.
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Fielding Energy
By Cyndi DaleBodyworkers typically better their clients’ lives by working on the physical body, mainly using touch. So why work outside of the body?
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Amputation Adaptations
By Ruth WernerAbout one in every 155 Americans is missing some part of an extremity due to surgical removal. The chance of massage therapists having amputee clients is reasonably high, yet almost none of us get any training to prepare to work with this special population.
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Sports Massage
Learn these ten winning concepts to employ for sports massage. Tip: sports massage has a lot to do with movement and connections.
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Understanding Pain
Regardless of how and where you practice massage, you will encounter clients living with pain. A 1999 national survey found that approximately 50 million Americans live with chronic pain.
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6 Weeks to Better Body Mechanics
By Barb FryeLet’s take things one week at a time to focus on each of the six functional actions of massage and bodywork, from standing to bending, lifting, and more.
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Reiki and PTSD
A staggering number of American veterans are coming home from service with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The following are some ways a traumatic tour of duty may wreak havoc on the chakra system, and what you can do to help.
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Freeing the Quadratus Lumborum
By Peggy LambThe short, thick quadratus lumborum is a wonder of a muscle. The QLs work as a team, along with the iliopsoas, lumbar paraspinals, and multiple ligaments, in stabilizing the lumbar spine. Distress in this fundamental stabilizer can have devastating effects, like a hurricane blowing through the body.
Critical Thinking and Essentials
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Spring in the Arches
The spring mechanism in the foot works best when the joints are optimally aligned in neutral on heel strike, which allows a normal range of supination and pronation a person has when rolling from heel to toe. Let's explore techniques to help develop the arches.
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Scoliosis: Fixed of Fixable
Manual therapists often shy away from treating seriously malformed spines, and for good reason. In the absence of a basic understanding of spinal biomechanics, soft-tissue work may not produce desired results. Yet I’ve learned one thing: there is always a functional (fixable) component to every structural (fixed) scoliosis.
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Working with the Lumbars, Part 2
By Til LuchauDeeper isn’t necessarily better. But with skill and sensitivity, working deeper can sometimes help in ways that nothing else can. Let's look at an example through deeper TLF work.
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Change Is Good
By Les SweeneyStuck in a rut? Not feeling fulfilled? Expected more from your practice? Don’t fire yourself—fire yourself up! Here are eight areas to think about improving within your practice.
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Boundaries
The desire to help people release their pain and heal is what draws most of us to the profession. This is a wonderful mission and yet it can be a challenge to keep something as intimate as physical touch contained in a professional manner.
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Biceps Femoris
By Christy CaelThe biceps femoris is located on the posterior thigh and is one of three muscles that form the hamstring group. The biceps femoris is also responsible for external rotation of the knee.
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Reviewing The Reviews
One approach to better understanding what the research says is to look for review articles. Review articles compile research articles into one big overview of a given topic. Let's review how these articles can help you ask and answer questions.
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Cultivating Neutrality
By Robyn ScherrCultivating neutrality encourages us to be aware of our choices and challenge our habitual reactions and assumptions.
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Rebuilding Alan's Thumb
By Whitney LoweIn this Clinical Apps column, we explore a case in which the client is convinced he has one condition, but in fact, he has something else.