Many therapists believe that having a “normal” spinal curve is associated with less or no back pain. Thus, people with too much or too little lordosis are at a higher risk of getting low back pain. However, much of the research in the past 20-plus years do not support such

Athletes — especially those who perform high-intensity and long-duration activities like marathons and Tour de France — produce a huge amount of lactate compared to most non-athletes. However, since cancer cells thrive on lactate as their primary source of fuel, wouldn’t that process increase ultramarathoners’ and similar endurance athletes’ risk

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

We talk a lot about massage therapy as a healthcare profession, but are we really making any progress toward that goal? When I graduated massage school in 1992, we were deeply enmeshed in the passionate arguments you still find online about whether “energy medicine” has anything to do with massage

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the last sixty years in research, many manual therapists and fitness professionals are still being taught and adopting outdated ideas about pain.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

Massage therapists can be an important entry point to access of care. With direct public access and discussion with patients about their pain and life challenges, massage therapists will often hear patients’ problems first. By Sandy Hilton and Sarah Haag A pelvic health physical therapist is trained in specific internal

We owe much of our current understanding and treatment of pain to many scientists, clinicians, and philosophers in the past centuries. From René Descartes’ origin of the specificity theory of pain to Dr. Ronald Melzack and Dr. Patrick Wall’s gate control theory of pain, pain science and treatment has been

Imagine being a child in the hospital with several weeks of treatment ahead of you before you can go home. Doctors and nurses enter your room multiple times a day, dressed in isolation gowns, gloves, and masks. They visit you about your medication, progress, and upcoming procedures. Then they leave.

A while back, Massage & Fitness Magazine analyzed some of the claims made in a recent article from Velo Magazine about massage and muscle recovery on cyclists. While digging through various studies, I found this one small study with half-marathon runners by Dr. Peter Tiidus et al. (1) where some runners who received a massage