I just spent 5 days in beautiful Padova, Italy where I attended another great Fascial Manipulation Conference and Teacher’s meeting. This is a great opportunity for us teachers to get up to speed on research that is recently published or that is still in the works. Being a manual medicine physician means that we stay up on the science and training that makes us the best hands on healers we can be.
I won’t bore you with the details but, suffice it to say, the theory of muscle pain is getting more and more support from the mad scientists who are capable of doing detailed research that we clinicians put into the field for testing. There are times when theory is merely interesting and doesn’t translate into clinical value. But it is still critical for therapists to know what is going on. If we are working w/ old data and theory, we are likely working from a ‘shotgun’ point of view rather than a pinpoint, highly efficient, targeted approach.
One thing I’ve learned over time is that soft tissue work doesn’t have to take 30 treatments nor does it have to hurt to be effective. We so often see that manual therapist feel the need to crush a painful point but, this is way too much for the patient to bare. Our job is to coax the stiff muscle and fascia into a more pliable and elastic tissue that contracts smoothly and conducts force easily and correctly. This is done with gentle, targeted work to a very precise area, in a balanced pattern. And this is why patients will be surprised that I can fix a chronic elbow pain by working on hand and shoulder muscles.
The most important thing is that you, the patient, get value from the treatment you receive from us here at 3D. This is why we keep studying!
Remember, It Feels Good to Feel Good!
See you soon