http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WF3-4FMHSSW-1&_user=10&_coverDate=01%2F31%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor&vi…ew=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=04b1012d2762f8bf848b9be79d6c4094

To test his equation, Pontzer put people, dogs and goats on a treadmill and measured how much oxygen each used during walking and running at various speeds. “All things being equal, leg length is one of the major determinants of energy cost,” says Pontzer, “If two animals are identical except for leg length, the animal with longer legs is more efficient.”

Although his findings seem rational, my question is: “In humans, are the legs really designed to propel motion or do we possess a more complex “whole-body” antigravty “Spring System” which determines gait efficiency. See http://erikdalton.com/articleDontGetMarried_Part2.htm or some of Tom Myer’s stuff at AnatomyTrains.com.

My Mom, a breast cancer survivor,  received 4 CT-scans in the past 6 months due to a minor whiplash injury.

Research just released from Berrington de Gonzalez of the National Cancer Institute found that of the 72 million CT scans performed in the United States in 2007, 29,000 cases will result in cancer. The authors project the most common radiation exposure-related cancers will be lung, colon and leukemia. Not surprising, whole-body PET scans deliver an even larger radiation dosage.

Wouldn’t mind so much if they’d just tell us beforehand….thoughts?

Do you think an understanding of joint mechanics is necessary for massage students?

Although pain from this condition primarily manifests in specifically designated areas, the trained manual therapist refrains from “chasing the pain” and instead, seeks to restore whole body function by testing for ART: asymmetry; restriction of motion; and tissue texture abnormality. Postural evaluations using Vladimir Janda, M.D.’s Upper and Lower Crossed Syndromes have proven extremely beneficial in identifying asymmetrical muscle imbalance patterns that exasperate fibromyalgic symptoms. Specific hands-on techniques that lengthen tight, neurologically facilitated muscles and Tone, inhibited muscles helps restore balance and symmetry while fighting off the compressive forces of gravity. Tissue texture abnormalities must be closely evaluated in clients presenting with fibromyalgic symptoms. Boggy, leathery, fibrotic, contractured, and spasmodic tissues are potential pain generators, with each requiring a uniquely different hands-on approach.

Here is the discussion… Fibromyalgia is a disorder with no widely accepted medical proof. It is a chronic condition characterized by symptoms of widespread pain and tender points as well as fatigue, depression, and sleep disorders. While scientists at the present time have found no generally accepted way to medically document the existence of fibromyalgia, it has been proven that there are physiological changes present in many who have the disorder. The debate will continue to rage as to its origin and existence. Some insist that it is a medical condition while others are convinced that it is a mental health issue.  What is your take on this?

While attending massage college in San Diego in 1979, we were privy to little scientific data to support our work and, therefore, addressed the tissue we could best evaluate and relate to…muscles. So, for a couple of years, every client that came to see me had a muscle problem. In 1982 I entered the Rolf Institute and everything became a fascial problem. Took a couple of James Cyriax workshops and became convinced everything was a ligament problem. Suffered a cervical fracture in a clumsy judo fall in 1989 which led me through a couple semesters of PT school and then to post-graduate workshops at Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine…and everything became a joint problem.

The fact is…all soft tissues are innervated and can be pain-generators. Since massage therapists are considered by most to be “soft tissue experts”, it is necessary we have tools to assess and treat all the body’s soft tissues. For example, one of the first structures that should be evaluated in sciatic cases are the iliolumbar ligaments. When strained by excessive sidebending, they often become fibrotic and because they have ‘hoods’ that lay on the L4-5 and L5-S1 sciatic nerve roots, are often the first structures to compress the overlying capillary beds and dural membrane. Soon the irritated sciatic nerve develops intraneural edema and swells. As inflammatory waste products collect, sensitive chemoreceptors flood the spinal cord’s neuronal pool setting off pain-spasm-pain cycles that causes the brain to lay down protective muscle guarding. In the short term, muscle work to the hypertonic (facilitated) erector muscles may make the client feel better as the cutaneous (skin & fascial) receptors are calmed by the deep slow manual pressure. But be prepared to dig out the erector spasm session-after-session until the ligament issue is properly addressed. 

Some muscles are tight (facilitated) and require restoration of extensibility and some are weak (neurologically inhibited) and require restoration of contractibility. Randomly lengthening all tissues presents many obvious problems. The most common example educator’s use is the pec/rhomboid balance issue. Creating extensibility in stretch-weakened rhomboids and lower traps reciprocally (and fascially) allows the pecs to further pull the shoulder girdle forward on the ribcage…dragging the heavy head with it.

As the legendary Vladimir Janda, MD once said: “No pain management approach is truly successful unless posture has generally been improved”.  Chasing the pain by working where the client hurts is, at best, a temporary quick fix.

Do you feel belly-work is under-emphasized in massage trainings? Does the area hold too much emotion or possibly too intimate for some? I’ve written a short e-newsletter & posted a video  showing some basic useful structural integration techniques @ http://erikdalton.com/NewslettersOnline/Sept_09_Newsletter.htm