When Ida Rolf began putting her hands and elbows on people’s skin and applying pressure, creating a slow, sustained stretch, she imagined that she was stretching fascial sheets. Generations of manual therapists have followed her thinking, accepting this explanation to account for the changes felt in tissue tension beneath their hands and the sensations experienced by those who receive this type of therapy.
In July of 2011, Will Stewart of 3-D Optimal Performance interviewed Dr. Timothy Noakes, a South African exercise physiologist and author of Lore of Running. Noakes recently published Waterlogged: The Serious Problem of Overhydration in Endurance Sports
This page was written as a reference for those who attended the Skeptical Society of St. Louis Skepticamp, Saturday, August 18, 2012. It includes websites mentioned during a presentation on the field of massage therapy from the point of view of a science-based massage therapist. The title of the presentation was "Woo, Sloppy Thinking, and Language."
We massage therapists are taught a lot about muscles. We also study bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, fascia. We learn a little about physiology, about other systems of the body, and some lip service is paid to the role of the nervous system in the relaxation response and to how the brain mediates the changes brought about by massage. But mostly we pay attention to muscles. We talk about which muscles are tight, find “knots” in them, and “release” them by pushing into them and/or stretching them with our hands, fingers, forearms, and elbows.
I've been learning a lot about the role of the brain and the central nervous system in our experience of pain. One of the people who studies this and writes about it is Lorimer Moseley, co-author of Explain Pain. His TED Talk explains, in 15 minutes, some important discoveries in pain research.
I'm excited to announce the first of a series of brief videos that will introduce the principles and practice of Russian massage.
Russian Massage is a medical and sports massage developed in the former Soviet Union and used in hospitals and clinics there. Based on research, Russian Massage works with the physiological processes of the body to promote desired change and recognizes the role of the central nervous system in bringing about that change.
This first video gives a brief introduction to the history and principles of Russian Massage and discusses how the practice of Russian Massage agrees with current understanding of neuroscience.
Special thanks to Will Stewart of 3-D Optimal Performance for making these videos possible.
I hope you like it. Let me know what you think!