Meta-analysis in JAMA “favors” spinal manipulation, but the data itself indicates “not really.” A recent NPR article touted that spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) “can alleviate back pain” in its title based on a recent systematic review and meta-analysis that was published in JAMA recently. (1,2) The story stated that “patients reported greater ease and comfort engaging

Three massage therapists walk into a bar and saw that the bartender is grimacing in pain with one hand on his right lower back. Massage therapist A asks, “Hi Carlos, what’s bothering you?” Carlos replies, “My lower back has been hurting for more than a week, and it seems to

Despite the advances in our understanding of pain in the last sixty years in research, many manual therapists and fitness professionals are still being taught and adopting outdated ideas about pain. However, there is a small and emerging population of therapists and trainers who are gradually learning (and unlearning) about

What is muscle energy technique? Muscle energy technique is “a system of manual therapy for the treatment of movement impairments the combines the effectiveness, safety, and specificity of reeducation therapies and therapeutic exercise. The therapist localizes and controls the procedures, while the patient provides the corrective forces and energies for

A recent study published in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery challenges the existing idea that shoulder impingement syndrome (SIS) is caused by compression between the coracoacromial arch and the humerus during shoulder elevation above the shoulder height. Oftentimes, patients with SIS tend to have anteriorly tilted shoulders, causing the