GET THEIR MRI

I want to encourage all of you therapist to get in the habit and ask for the patients MRI report and learn to understand the impression.  There are too many reasons for hip pain, back pain, shoulder pain, cervical, etc.  When the patient brings you the MRI report, you can give an honest opinion if massage therapy will really help or if it will be temporary and they should seek further medical care.  I know we all want to help and want to do it holistically, but sometimes it truely is a medical case that needs allopathic help.  We can love and support our clients no matter what, lend an ear when no one else will listen.  They believe in you, so take the time to really understand their condition.  Knowing is far superior than guessing.

Happy Therapy!

Anterior Rotation and Assessment

I just worked on a PGA golf professional which has been experiencing back pain for the past year.  He has been seen by chiropractors, physical therapist, and massage therapists.  It still amazes me when he tells me they didn't assess all the motions that the back can do.  Why?  Isn't it logical to first look at all the motions the spine makes before treating?  Anyway, after watching him forward flex, backbend, rotate and side bend.  It was obvious that there was a problem at his transition point on the right hand side.  On his finish (extreme rotation) he hurts at the very end of the movement (bone), on side bending he hurt at the very end of the movement (bone).  A trigger point doesn't do this and think this is a chronic positional problem.  Psoas was hypertonic on the right, right QL hypertonic with the same point on the other side equally as tight and hypertonic.  Now think this through, psoas when tight can flex and side bend him right, when QL is tight it side bends and rotates the vertebra it is attached to.  So long story short, I had him evaluated by another Chiropractor to confirm what I felt the muscular structure was doing and she concurred with me without a doubt.    There is much more to tell about this and how he will be treated to correct this, but for now I just want to make a point. 

The point:  Assess don't guess.  

Latissimus Dorsi

I couldn't believe the difference I made in such a short period of time in shoulder flexion and external rotation.  Recently I had a young man that I worked on at the FCA.  We tested him before getting on the table and on the table both his Lat test and GH joint were positive for lack of ROM and hypertonicity.  He was unable to lay his arm flat to the table by about 30 degrees and the same with external rotation.  I turned him into a side posture did pin and stretch to the lat and movement therapy.  I used the manual cup on his infraspinatus and teres and some more on the Lat.  Within five minutes we retested and the arm could now comfortably lay down to the table and he about a 10 degree deficit left of external rotation.  We finished the last 10 degrees with muscle energy.  He got off the table and had full function in both flexion and external rotation.  He said he had been having trouble for about a year.  Lesson learned, the more you understand which muscles are involved the quicker and better result you will get.

Debbie

AMTA Trip to Minneapolis

I was helping out at the CranioCradle booth for the 3 days.  I touched many lives and one in particular stood out enough to write about.  She shared with me that her husband was legally deaf from an accident and that she had just graduated massage school.  Since working with him with her limited skills and knowledge he was able at times to go without the hearing aides.  She asked me about his forward head posture and the types of therapies she should take in the future to continue to help him.  I explained the role of SCM over working as he was overworking to hear someone.  Go ahead, lean your ear to listen closely as someone whispers.  That is using the SCM, scalenes, traps, etc.  So what would help?  NMT for head, neck, and TMJ work, Craniosacral therapy, muscle energy, entire fascial lines, cupping, heat, body retraining for posture, craniocradle, ATM for Cervical and that is just to name a few.  I told her to keep adding to her tool box every chance she got because you just never know which technique or combo will do the trick.

Happy educating to all

Flexibility and Fibromyalgia

How can flexibility help fibromyalgia? The more flexible the muscles are the less likely they will be to cause compression on the nerves. Put a rubber band around your finger or wrist and leave it there, you will soon find out how compression can cause pain, tingling, and numbness all of which patients complain of that have the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. Adding flexibility to your massage therapy sessions will help take the stress off of you as a therapist and will give the patient long lasting benefits. Using stretching in your therapy sessions is also a great teaching tool to the patient as to what they should continue to do at home. If you are unsure of how to add stretching to your massage routine, join us for our Flexibility Coaching Program.

Happy Stretching.