Erik Dalton's Blog – October 2009 Archive (3)

While it could be assumed that people with back pain should not be exercising frequently, a new study by Robert Kell, professor of exercise physiology at the University of Alberta, found that working with weights four days a week provided a significant decrease in the amount of pain and improved quality of life. In the study, groups of 60 men and women with chronic low back pain exercised with weights in two, three or four-day weekly programs, or not at all. Their progress was measured over 16… Continue

I've found many workshop participants are uncomfortable performing hands-on abdominal work, i.e., pelvic and respiratory diaphragm releases and sometimes even superficial belly techniques. This seems particularly true when working with pregnant clients/patients. Do you feel belly-work is under-emphasized in bodywork trainings? Does the area hold too much emotion or possibly too intimate for some? I've written a short e-newsletter & posted a video showing some basic, but useful structural… Continue

Often in workshops and just yesterday on Facebook, I encounter therapists inquiring about the meaning of muscle facilitation and inhibition. Why is this central nervous system process so important to bodyworkers. I'd like to hear what your take is and how you use it in a therapeutic setting.