I came upon a statistic which showed that in the December of 2013, Google garnered a 67.3% share of search engine queries, while Bing (18.2%) and Yahoo (10.8%) trailed considerably. My favorite search engine, Google Scholar, did not make the list. Google has…

If there were one map of the body for all to follow, a map that showed all areas of injury, trauma, and pain, along with the necessary route to take to eliminate those issues, life would be simple.

I received a new GPS this past Christmas. My old GPS had become unreliable due to a few quirks and I did not have full trust in my iPhone’s GPS, given a few wrong turns along the way. While my new GPS offers me nearly a nearly foolproof ability to find my way around while traveling, it…

“I don’t see how knowing the science behind my work will improve what I do…”

“I don’t care about the science behind it, as long as it works…”

“The evidence does not matter, it is results that matter…”

“Stop talking about things I don’t care about…”

“Shut up…”

Do any of these statements sound familiar? Have you said any of them yourself? It may be the places I frequent on the internet,…

I was recently listening to a radio show from a local NPR affiliate. The interview was with the director of a dance company that pioneer an innovative form of dance done while dangling from ropes on the sides of buildings. She described their work as a “cross pollination of various dance forms”. That term resonated with me and where I am attempting to evolve my Foundations in Myofascial Release Seminars.

These of you who have been following my posts for the past few months may see a…

What if today was the first day of your education in bodywork, where you were sitting down in your first class as a budding MT/PT/OT/Whatever T? Your instructor started the lecture with “You know all of those hard/ropy/toughened areas that we feel under the skin? Well the best thing to get rid of those is light, sustained pressure. Make it light enough so that the nervous system does not view it as a threat. If you dig in too deeply, you are only exacerbating things.”…what would you think?…

I remember reading once that you have not mastered a new language until you begin to dream in that language (or maybe I dreamt that, I’m not sure). Either way, I have long realized that the “structuralist” mentality that I possess is a hard one to shake. What is a structuralist? One who sees pain/dysfunction as a result of a structural problem in the body; a problem with alignment. I evaluated posture to check for asymmetries, checked for pelvic issues, recorded scoliosis, etc, etc. All of…

OK, I did a lot more this summer than this, but there is one thing I want to tell you about. Why should you care what I did? Apparently you read my blog because I have something important to say. This one is real important, at least I think so.

Many of you longtime readers know of my dissatisfaction with many existing theories of explanation for myofascial release. If it had stayed grounded in the simple model of 20-30 years ago, a model of ground substance, elastin, and collagen,…

I am a carnivore. I have come to terms with this. I was a vegetarian for a number of years, but drifted back to what was more comfortable. I know what I’m eating, even though the named cut of meat little resembles it’s anatomical name. A strip steak or ribeye give one little clue as to it’s origin. Even though I know that the tenderloin is the cow’s psoas, I feel there is a degree of separation that allows me not to think too much about its origin.

This all changed this morning, with…

I believe curiosity is one of the strongest assets that make a therapist successful. But, curiosity on the part of my patients can reap even bigger outcomes.

I have an acquaintance who is a mental health therapist. In her office she keeps a toy magic wand. Among others things, she will often give it to a client, often a child, and ask them if they could do anything, what would they do to fix things. Not an uncommon approach in mental health, and it often gives the client freedom to…

A funny thing happens when you use a modality long enough; technique seems less important. In the beginning, the techniques were everything. How many classes could I take and how many new techniques could I learn? Of course there were plenty of new seminars to fill my needs, each promising more and more. But after a point I realized that the techniques were the easy part of myofascial release. What was the essence of this work was the development of the feel. I’ve written about this feel in…

I just completed posting another dozen or so new therapists listings to the Myofascial Release and Bodyworker Practitioner Directory. (sidebar: If you have not signed up for this free directory, what are you waiting for?) As I enter information for therapists and practices literally from around the world I am struck with the wide variety of training these therapists possess. I was trained in myofascial release in a sheltered world of thought. I had heard of other trainings but was told that…

(Or, why does committing to this line of seminars feel like multilevel marketing?)

I think most of us have done this; start looking into a line of continuing education seminars and wonder why so many courses are needed? Then you start doing the math. “No way am I going to pay that much to learn that work, just to be classified as an expert or become certified”. Some seminar lines make it less painful ($100 a month for life) to become “certified”, and just what does certification give…

The palpatory sense that good therapist develops never ceases to amaze. This sense of feeling or seeing inside is the basis of my therapy and my Foundations in Myofascial Release Seminars. I've written about touch frequently, but a revisit is in order.

Many years back a retired professional football player was referred to me for treatment due to knee pain. He…

One of the many things I love about my work is the opportunity to interact with and treat a very wide variety of conditions. If I dealt with nothing but low back pain all day/every day, I would be bored rather quickly. Women’s health issues have always been a strong part of my practice, including pelvic organ prolapse. I recently came to know Sherry Palm, who heads a wonderful non-profit organization called the Association…

I have posted this photo in a few other places, including my Facebook Wall and MassageMag.com Blog, but I think that the concept is worth repeating.

I asked the following questions:

1. What do you see?

2. What might be the cause?

3. What, if…

Many times in the past I’ve marveled at a blind person’s ability to read Braille. I’ve passed my fingers over the raised characters many times while waiting for an elevator, etc., and wondered how a person can develop the sensitivity to distinguish those small dots to create meaning.

Then, this morning, I was working with a therapist who was in town for my Myofascial Mentoring Program. We…

One topic which keeps repeating itself, whether I am treating or teaching, is what is the “right” amount of pressure? Myofascial Release is performed with great variations in pressure and depth, with the therapist making in-the-moment decisions as to the correct pressure at any time. Some schools of Myofascial Release…

Wipe Out

This post has nothing to do with the Surfari’s song, I just happen to love it.

How many times have you seen a client for a follow up visit and they tell you that they were completely wiped out after their last session? It happens often enough at my clinic that I try to ward people about the phenomenon. They will ask me why it…

The Myofascial Release that I practice and teach has great benefit for post-mastectomy/lumpectomy pain, tightness, and limitation of motion. Post-surgical scarring, both external and internal, can create tremendous pressure and tightness on the chest wall, but can also…