Evidence based massage therapy group

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Comment by Susan G. Salvo on April 5, 2012 at 6:53am

Massage Effects. What we DO know. Great article by JoEllen Sefton, PhD, ATC, CMT

Comment by Stephen Jeffrey on March 21, 2012 at 3:58am

http://www.csmt.com.br/sites/default/files/pdf/Howell-Willard-Phisi...

Nociception: New
Understandings and
Their Possible Relation to
Somatic Dysfunction and
Its Treatment.

Comment by Stephen Jeffrey on November 21, 2010 at 9:59am

My appreciation of sensory feedback has been somewhat revolutionised by Robert Schleip.
I now veiw every muscle fiber, every fascial bag and network as fascial inteligence that feeds our ability to function with fluid efficiency.

The disproportianate amount of pain we feel from a paper cut to the finger, is not related to actual tissue damage, but the sectioning/disconnection of communication within the fascial network.

Comment by Stephen Jeffrey on November 21, 2010 at 9:10am

Hi Tanya, you make an excellent observation re piriformis indeed, but what about all the deep muscles of the hip ! !
I've spent the last year including this group for examination and treatment with excellent results, having previously ignored this group due to not developing a method that "gets around" the extreamly intimate nature of this work.
Surely there is a strong conection between hip rotator function and core stability issues?

http://www.ccptr.org/articles/rebalancing-hip-muscles/
http://www.movefreeblog.com/hip-mobility/why-to-strengthen-hip-rota...
http://www.massageprofessionals.com/profiles/blogs/hip-rotators-tre...

Comment by Carl W. Brown on November 10, 2010 at 4:08pm

Taya, I have had the best luck working with hospice where to model shift from doing the right thing to quality of life. Focusing on the model can get obssesive and I found that if I stopping focusing on "doing the right thing", I started picking up on observations outside of the model. However, I kept the doubting Thomas hat on becasue if you step outside of the tested model you need to have an alternative methodology to determing not only the course of action but to test the effectivness of what you do. Becasue your observations may be subjective the tests must be objective. Where medicine fails is trying to make all observations abjective and in the process you lose vast amount of information in the process of codifying. Too often they assume that if the observations are objective they can rely on the model any not test the results at all. They also are unable to help people who don't fit the model. I believe that you must always test objectivly each time you work. Each person is different and if we could develop a model that was complete it would be too complex to use.

Comment by Don Solomon on November 9, 2010 at 6:50pm

One last note, If you have a chance check out Dr Lorimer Moseley's (et al) work on their blog at http://bodyinmind.com.au/ where they post their findings on the role of the brain and mind in chronic pain. Lorimer and a chap named David Butler co-wrote a brillaint book called "Explain Pain" about 8 years ago http://www.amazon.ca/Explain-Pain-David-S-Butler/dp/097509100X/ref=... In My opinion Explain Pain is a must read for anyone who works with people with chronic pain.
Yours,
Don Solomon, RMT (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

Comment by Don Solomon on November 9, 2010 at 6:34pm

Grrr, I don't know why the hyper text did not post on this @#$%&* board
1) Robert Schleip http://www.fasciaresearch.de/ or http://www.somatics.de/
2) Jaap van der Wal article http://www.fasciacongress.org/2009/articles/IJTMB_vanderWal_62-436-...
3) Dr JC Guimberteau's Strolling Under The Skin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01jdrGrp4Fo
Don

Comment by Don Solomon on November 9, 2010 at 6:26pm

Taya, many of models we have been using to try to understand anatomy and physiology today, are out dated. As is evidenced by the argument you brought forth about the muscular relationships in hip stabilzation. Granted you did mention Tom Myers's work. However, many others are working behind the scenes to rework and replace these models. One such group is Robert Schleip and his team at the University of Ulm, Germany Or Roberts's web site at Where, among other things tyhey are looking at the tremendously important roll superficial fascia plays in proprioception. In the past we have based our understanding of anatomy from the perspective of the anatomist working away with his or her scalpel. "ya cut through all of that nausty spiders web looking goop to get down to the good stuff beneath"!! . Or you tear away the skin of an animal and never stop to think what is this line of separation that makes skinning so easy?? Its the Fascia!!!!! Those wonderful pictures you see in Frank Netters books are fiction an artistic license! However, because of advances in technology (Imaging Ultrasound, MRI. RTF-MRI and CT scans) we are able to better appreciate fascias vital function. Checkout (a clip on youtube) and order a copy of Dr JC Guimberteau landmark film "Strolling under the Skin' to see this truly awesome tissue at work. A wonderful paper written by Jaap van der Wal and presented by him at the 2nd International Fascial Congress entitled "The Architecture of the Connective Tissue in the Musculoskeletal System–An Often Overlooked Functional Parameter as to Proprioception in the Locomotor Apparatus " blew the lid off our perception of how muscles worked. You can find it at

So the notion of kinesthetic muscular action as a function or origin and insertion is out dated. We need to look at the entire architecture and the mechanisms of force transfer through forced stabilization and force closure (Andry Vleeming, Diane Lee et al) to truly appreciate how the body reaches equilibrium. Please bare in mind that "all the forces are subjected to all the structural elements. With the result that the slightest increase in tension on any one of the elements, is transmittes to all the others, even those the furthest away" (Guimberteau 2009).
Yours,
Don Solomon, RMT (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

Comment by Christopher A. Moyer on November 9, 2010 at 10:10am

"How do I convince a PhD to do a study to that challenges a system that people have paid good money to memorize, learn, and apply."

That's a good question. Researchers are generally interested in researching things that have a good chance of generating a finding, so if you can convince one that there is something to be discovered, they may be interested.

Do you currently work with or know any anatomy or physiology researchers?

Comment by Taya Countryman LMT on November 9, 2010 at 9:55am

Thanks for your comments. I have been wanting to express my feelings but was hesitant. So I find that by believing what we are told is the attachment of a muscle and/or the action we can only see the problem from this perspective. Tom Meyers is starting to challenge what we have been taught about attachments (Thanks Tom!) and I would like to challenge the actions. Piriformis is a great example. Did you know that the actions of muscles that we memorize came from the electrical probing of the muscle and watching it contract then applying the logic of, "The fibers attach here and here so the action must be...?" Why do all muscles have to be movers? Can't some of them be stabilizers? If we accept the piriformis as an internal rotator of the hip, then using scientific logic we have to intellectually guess the antagonist. But if we look at it as a stabilizer then we can look and feel the stabilizing antagonist. (I think in men the antagonist is the abductors of the same leg and for women the abductors of the opposite leg) I can prove this over and over. But how can you change the already accepted science? Research is not even close to doing any studies of this type.
I have read many studies by Physical Therapists that are great and many of them are about functional actions of the muscles. But PT's have not accepted or applied much of this information because they are still using isolated contraction of a muscle to determine muscle "weakness".
I guess I am asking, when do we question the already acceptable "standards of practice'? How do I convince a PhD to do a study to that challenges a system that people have paid good money to memorize, learn, and apply. AND what about all the products that make money by supporting that system such as braces, weight lifting equipment, etc?
Ok, I am ranting again... Carl, I do want to team with traditional medicine and when I worked at the Everett Providence Hospital Pain Control Center in the 1980's I worked with a team of traditional practitioners like a neurologist, PT, OT, biofeedback techs, psychologists, & nurses. The patients were treated with traditional medicine and now in constant pain and it was our job to help them cope with this pain. I was so naive that I kept thinking that there must be something we missed so I kept searching and trying. I have been very successful with treating chronic and complex conditions. The doctors in my area call and ask me to look at patients. Am I using magic to help these people? No, I have been using questions. I have come to question the traditional way we look at the body, what the patients symptoms are telling us, and even the diagnosis the physician has given them.
I have asked Diana Thompson to do a two weekend class for us in Washington to teach us how to do case reports and to have a case report ready to submit to the MTF. She has encouraged me to write some of my outcomes in this format so I will learn how and start sharing. This class is the first and my hope is to help her design one that can be the blueprint to be taught around the country. Thanks for listening.

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