During and after last month’s San Diego Pain Summit, my brain was overloaded with information that changed some of my own beliefs and perceptions about pain. For those who could not get enough of the pain science and manual therapy, the 2016 Manual Therapy Conference (MTC) in New Westminster, B.C., is one such event with Dr. Eyal Lederman as the keynote speaker, who is an osteopathic physician in London, England.
Similar to the Pain Summit, MTC primary focus is on bridging the gap between science and research with practice and patient care.
He is well-known for his 2010 paper, The fall of the postural–structural–biomechanical model in manual and physical therapies: Exemplified by lower back pain, that challenged the prevalent idea that pain primarily stems from structural problems, such as “poor posture” and spinal “misalignment.”
He argued in favor of the ‘process approach’ instead of the ‘structural approach,’ whereas the former “aims to identify the dominant processes which underpin the individual’s recovery. Once identified, environments that support these innate recovery processes are explored with the patient.
“These environments contain physical, psychological, cognitive, behavioural and social dimensions. They include: hands-on support, exploring movement that would be beneficial for recovery psychological support, working with cognitions, raising awareness to avoidance and recovery behaviour as well as exploring social and physical environments that assist recuperation.”
In other words, the process approach’s aim is to provide support for patients’ recovery rather than implementing a modality to “fix” the problem by influencing biomechanics or a piece of anatomy (e.g. fascia, joints, muscles).
“A [process approach] is informed by and developed from biopsychosocial sciences and evidence based -medicine,” Lederman wrote.
“The Registered Massage Therapy Association of British Colombia (RMTBC) has mandate to advance knowledge and understanding of massage therapy. It is through research and evidence informed practice that the profession and practice of massage therapy is advanced, enhancing the profession’s and the public’s understanding of massage therapy and its therapeutic value,” registered massage therapist Bodhi Haraldsson said in an online interview with Massage & Fitness Magazine, who is the director of research of RMTBC and co-organization of the upcoming conference. “With this in mind the association has previously run three research conferences. MTC 2016 is our fourth.”
When asked why Lederman was chosen to be one of the keynote speaker, Haraldsson said, “I have been watching and reading Dr. Lederman’s work over the last 15 years. He has been on the forefront of shifting manual therapy towards current science. “His work, two books, and many articles have generated many discussions and debates in the manual therapy community. To date, I have not seen him lecturing or teaching in North America. With this in mind, I was very keen on hearing him speak and discuss what lies a head for manual therapists and science.”
“A little known fact is that RMTBC held the first ever massage therapy research conference back in 1999,” Haraldsson continued. “In 1997, our members voted in a special levy for research activities. It was this commitment to research that members portrait that has driven the various research activities with in RMTBC. Our research conferences are one part of this strategy.”
Dr. Sandy Hilton
The four-day event covered various topics relating to physiotherapy, massage therapy, pain science, and professional development and communication, which includes several workshops on April 18 by Dr. Sandy Hilton, Dr. Ravensara Travillian, and Walt Fritz.
“The goal of the conference is to elevate the scientific knowledge of the profession has around manual therapy,” Haraldsson said. “The therapeutic encounter has many components to it. We are hoping to give our attendees good variety of ideas and thoughts around evidence informed manual therapy.”
Hilton, who is a physical therapist at Entropy Physiotherapy & Wellness in Chicago, Illinois, will focus on the biopsychosocial approach for pelvic pain and its nerves. Therapists will learn how to treat to reduce and increase patients’ self-efficacy.
“It is estimated that over 50% of women have experienced pelvic pain (lower abdominal, perineal, genital, sexual or with voiding). Many are not properly cared for for years, meaning they end up with chronic pain,” Hilton said. “It would be amazing to have more therapists understand about the prevalence, signs, and treatments to address and decrease pelvic pain so that we as a whole can reduce the amount of people suffering with chronic pelvic pain.”
Hilton added the pelvic pain is not just about women. “Men get pelvic pain too and can also be helped. The class I will be teaching on Monday after the conference will be all external techniques and functional movement that can be adapted for all clinicians.”
Dr. Ravensara Travillian
In one of these workshops, Travillian will teach about working with trauma victims, such as those with post-traumatic stress disorder and domestic abuse.
“Many of our clients have been exposed to — and are living with the effects —of trauma, and we’re the only ones whom they feel safe and trust enough to open up to about that trauma,” Travillian said. “We need to be ready to stand with them on their journey. This workshop gives you information and tools on how to do that.”
Walt Fritz
Physical therapist Walt Fritz will be teaching a myofascial release course but with roots grounded in science. “The goal of the workshop and lecture are show that there is a space in modern manual therapy for myofascial release when it is explained from plausible perspectives,” Fritz said. “Transitioning to a science-informed perspective need not be difficult; you just need to be able to let go of nearly everything you held dear!”
Dr. Christopher Moyer
The MTC also has break-out sessions, mini-presentations that explore other issues in manual therapy and patient care.
Psychologist and massage therapy researcher Dr. Christopher Moyer said that modern psychology has “tremendous relevance to manual therapy and related practices.”
“Yet few therapists have had classes or training that exposes them to modern psychology. Instead, the psychology they are familiar with, most often, is historical psychology,” Moyer said. “Many manual therapists and massage therapists will have some basic knowledge of Freud, Jung, and even Reich, and those were interesting people with thought-provoking ideas. But their ideas are also 100 years old and not grounded in evidence.
“Meanwhile, modern psychology has made tremendous advances in refining our understanding of how people experience the world and how they relate to each other,” Moyer continued. “The advances being made in affective (emotion) science, pain science, evidence-based treatments for psychological disorders, health psychology, and many other sub-fields of modern psychology have great potential to inform manual therapies and to help those professions progress.”
Massage & Fitness Magazine will be covering some of the event via Facebook and Twitter live.
Nick Ng, BA
Nick Ng is the editor of Massage & Fitness Jounal and the managing editor for My Neighborhood News Group.
An alumni from San Diego State University with a bachelor’s degree in graphic communications, Nick had also completed his massage therapy training at International Professional School of Bodywork in San Diego in 2014. In 2021, he earned an associate’s degree in journalism at Palomar College.
When he gets a chance, he enjoys weightlifting at the gym, salsa dancing, and exploring new areas in the Puget Sound area in Washington state.
