We all have patients that use them, and I’m sure we’ve all recommended them. However, what does the science say about their use? Well…the evidence is mixed.

Is foam rolling effective for muscle pain and flexibility? The science isn’t so sure – Ken Nosaka

It is really important for us to understand how a treatment affects the people we are helping. Equally important is taking into account contextual factors of treatment and the language we use, or the things we say are just as important to understand.

Nocebo Effect Vs. Placebo Effect: Language Can Affect Outcomes – Joe Camoratto

We know how much the brain influences pain and the perception of pain. Turns out some mindfulness work can influence your thoughts to modulate perceptions of pain which utilizes a completely separate brain pathway than the pathway used to send the physical pain signal to your brain.

Neuroscientists Identify How Mindset Alters Pain Perceptions – Christopher Bergland

Change is difficult, REALLY difficult. However, our profession needs change but we are not alone, every manual therapy profession needs change. The best way to cause change in the profession is to look within and be the change we wish to see, this will cause a ripple effect.

Our Toxic Massage Community Can Change When We Work Together – Stephanie Rodriguez

Science is REALLY cool. While it’s still early and only one person so far, it looks like scientists have found a cure for Type I Diabetes that hopefully will change the lives of so many.

First person cured of Type I Diabetes thanks to stem cells – David Zarley

We talk to our patients about taking care of themselves to prevent disability, but what about when it happens to us? We are in an interesting position as most of us are contractors so unless we pay into it ourselves, likely don’t have any kind of disability insurance. Many of us may push through injury, but how does this really affect us?

When Massage Quits You: The Tangible – Corey Rivera

Remember back in school when we used the pain scale of 1-10 as an assessment for pain? Well, times are changing. Instead, the focus is becoming more around the person’s ability to function. “The assessment of functionality is less subjective than the traditional numeric scale. But that’s not its only advantage. It’s also patient-centred.”

Tired of Rating Your Pain by Numbers or Smiley Faces? There’s A New Way to Communicate Coming – Avery Hurt

Sometimes when a person comes to see us they may have a condition we may know a lot, a little, or nothing about. In a case like Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, all of the above may apply. I did not know there are thirteen different types, nor did I know how it is diagnosed or many of the other things this informative post teaches us.

What Are The Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes? – Ehlers-Danlos Society

We talk a lot about the biopsychosocial aspects of pain. Usually, when we talk about this we’re looking at how these things influence pain. What about when an injury is influencing psychological factors and influencing things like anxiety? Concussions are one of those injuries that can cause anxiety so it’s important for us to understand the symptoms and how to influence better outcomes.

Concussion and Anxiety – Complete Concussion Management

I usually don’t include things I’m involved in with our articles of the week but I think this one is really important. RMT burnout is an important discussion (especially from the last two years) because while we work so hard to take care of the people who come to see us, it’s just as important to take care of ourselves and each other.

RMT Burnout – Jamie Johnston, Eric Purves, Stephania Johnson, Taylor Laviolette, Jocelyn Delorme