Sorry Stephen,

It's so late.

Takeshi

Thanks!  Just found this site.  If I can help with trigger point-related questions, be happy to help.

Valerie DeLaune, LAc

Trigger point author & CE instructor

triggerpointrelief.com

Hi Stephen, good to hear from you! I'm doing well. Are you on Facebook yet? That's where I have been spending most of my time posting bodywork stuff.

Thanks for the message.

Hi stephen thanx for the warm welcome.

Pamela L

Hi Stephen,
Yes, New Zealand is very vulnerable to earthquakes. We mostly think of Wellington (the capital) of being the most susceptible as it is built on a fault line (that's right, our capital is on a fault line!)
If you have seen any of the footage or photos from the aftermath you will know of the devastation and loss across the city. This is the 2nd large quake to hit Christchurch in 5 months. The first was 7.1 and despite the magnitude there was no loss of life (To put this into perspective the Haiti earthquake was recorded as 7.0)
The quake on the 22nd February was 6.3 but because of the timing and shallow depth has caused far greater destruction and loss of life. There have been more than 120 shocks since Tuesday's tremor, the greatest of which was magnitude 5.7.

I know of one colleague that is missing feared dead. The tragic irony is that they had moved into a new building after the first quake last year and this building is one of the most badly damaged (CTV building, 122 people are still missing).
It's not just a local tragedy, that building I was speaking of, had an English language school with students from Japan, China and Taiwan. As Christchurch is a major travel destination many have been caught up in the resulting chaos. There was a US trade delegation in Christchurch too.
Both the best and worst of human nature comes to the surface in events such as these. There has a tremendous outpouring of help which been staggering. There are 700 search and rescue staff working in the city from Singapore, Japan, UK and USA, among others. People around the country have opened there homes for evacuees and a 10,000 strong army of students is lending a hand to name a few examples.

Hi Stephen

Nice to find such an active forum.

What is your particular style of practice?

Thanks for the welcome.

Regards

Jeff

Hey Stephen

Sounds like a nice varied approach. I am yet to try Indian head massage.

I am a Chinese Medicine practitioner and started out as a deep tissue massage therapist.

I incorporate massage into my consultations now and also use acupuncture, herbs, diet, exercise and lifestyle advice. One of the things I have found has helped me to become more successful is to broaden my horizons with respect to the knowledge I have. This gives me the ability to be able to value add in a session.

I own and run my own clinic called Evolve Natural Medicine in Brisbane Australia. I currently am building the practice to become less reliant on me and have 3 other part time practitioners working with me.

Thanks for the connection.

Regards

Jeff

Hey Stephen

Looking forward to the dialogue. It's the best way we can find our true position on issues.

Massage therapists and natural medicine practitioners are a passionate personality so I always expect controversy on these type of sites. Feel free to let me know if I miss anything of note.

Regards

Jeff

Congrats Stephen. 14 years is a great innings but I do know some people who struggle after 20 years. It's not that they aren't good practitioners but they just lack the necessary drive and focus to create the practice they want.

One issue I have is with the get rich quick crowd who offer the world, charge the earth and provide little but string along tactics. The reality is there are many strategies but drive and consistency are the key factors that make them successful. Hype and BS just leave you feeling used.

My 2 cents :)

Regards

Jeff

Thanks Stephen!  Your suggestions for my knee pain client will have to wait until she's comfortable enough to lay face down.  She is struggling with supine but she can do it.  I did some MFR techniques on her knee yesterday with some success!  The main source of pain in her knee so far seems to be the lateral collateral ligaments.  Of course there is much more involved but I can't do more until I can get that pain under control for her.  

However, I did use your technique with great success on a client today!  He came to me because of sciatic pain and painful hamstrings and calves; this was my 3rd session with him.  I worked on the medial tendons and ligaments in the back of his knee and his medial gastroc let go!  It was really cool!

Thanks Stephen - I am very interested in learning more about fascia so I will look into that book.  I noticed some Britishness to your post so I looked to see where you are from - I'm guessing it's been insane in your part of the world today!!  I lived in England when Charles and Di got married.

I look forward to your blog on the anterior knee; in the meantime I got some good techniques from the Advanced Trainings' Advanced Myofascial Release DVD's that I have.  That set of DVD's has transformed my practice!  Thanks for sharing your knowledge and understanding.

Thanks Stephen, I am still navigating my way around. So hope to be more aware of what is happening in the not too distant future.

Have you by any chance had a look at the online curriculum offered by www.abmp.com I would love to use it if it is all it makes out to be. Going to drop them an e-mail shortly.

See you around

Candida

Stephen, it sounds like you are doing great things with your clients!  I've had right knee issues since my field hockey days!  Although it's much better than it used to be.   My knee client is doing some better - slow progress but it's progress!  I did some sidelying work to get to the posterior ligaments and tendons.

The DVD's are the ones produced by Advanced Trainings and Til Lucau.  He does articles in the Massage and Bodyworks magazine, if you get that.  Their website is: http://www.advanced-trainings.com/  I got the DVD's here: http://www.atpeacemedia.com/ .

I think I'm not yet up to reading that book!  It sounds wonderful but I'm way behind on reading already and trying to sort through that level of detail may make my brain melt!!

Hi Stephen,

Thank you for your comment. Hope you are well. 

The more I learn about Til Lucau's approach, knowledge, understanding, etc the more impressed I am!  Training with Art Riggs will be amazing!  He's another one I find very impressive.

I will definitely keep working on this with my knee pain client.  We are making really good progress.  I think she has some hope for the first time in a long time but she's uncharacteristically reserved for an American! :)  So it's hard to tell where she really is.

Your approach to scar tissue sounds very similar to what I learned in a John Barnes MFR class last autumn.  I've used it with very good results for several people.  What you say about the pain rapidly changing is so true!

Hi Stephen,

thank you for the welcoming note.

I am doing a bachelor degree of health science (complementary medicine) at the moment and one of my subject is Evidence Based Practice so I am happy I have found this group.

Thanks for the connection!

Amaury

Thank you Stephen. What a world i have entered :D