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
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.29.3″ text_font_size=”14px”] As a massage therapist who works primarily with relatively healthy clients in a spa or house-call environment, I never thought massage therapy has a pretty big role in mental health care. I mean, when someone is suffering
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
Maybe bodybuilders and those who just want to get buff should include stretching as part of their workout routine. Who knew that stretching at a certain intensity could help elicit muscle hypertrophy? A team of researchers from UBC Okanagan in Kelowna, British Columbia found that six weeks of stretch training creates a
It was time for a career change — or rather a career improvement. There was an opportunity to become a first-aid attendant at a sawmill I used to work at, so I took two weeks off dove into the course. It was intense and I was learning to do things
While my Facebook feed was flooded with shares of the Association of Massage Therapy’s research finding of massage therapy for various health issues last week, I stumbled upon an interest Tweet from PainScience’s Paul Ingraham: This led me to probe a little deeper into AMT’s research summary. Well, a “little
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
Sometimes we see a post on social media about a new research finding that adds a better understanding of how our body works. And sometimes these findings may (or may not) apply to what we do with our clients or patients. So how do we know if certain research can
You may remember when you were a kid or teenager, your parents told you to sit or stand up straight or don’t slouch or you’ll hurt your back. However, this idea that hunching or having too much lordosis alone can cause back pain is not supported by current research. In