Release. Adhesions. Breaking things up. Some of the words we use every day in massage make claims we can’t always back up. But what if being honest about what we don’t know made our work more credible, not less?
In this Meet the Researchers episode, Rachelle talks with Dr. Anna Gabriel, a physiotherapist and fascia researcher studying non-local effects—how an intervention at the foot can create measurable changes elsewhere along the posterior chain. But observing a change isn’t the same as knowing why it happened. Dr. Gabriel offers a refreshingly simple approach: say what you did, say what you observed, and don’t claim a mechanism you didn’t measure.
Join Nicole and Rachelle for a conversation about scientific precision, the language of massage therapy, professional credibility, and why we don’t need to have all the answers to do meaningful work.
Resources and Author links:
LAB COURSE: Journey into the MATRIX
www.anatomyscapes.com/MATRIX for more information about “Journey Into the MATRIX: the Fascial System” dissection lab workshop.
LAB COURSE: Dissection Lab Intensive
https://www.anatomyscapes.com/DLI for more information about the “Dissection Lab Intensive” lab workshop.
Check out the Anatomy for Touch column in the Massage & Bodywork magazine at https://www.abmp.com/massage-and-bodywork-magazine/anatomy
Check out some of Dr. Anna Gabriel’s Research:
Anatomy Trains is a global leader in online anatomy education and also provides in-classroom certification programs for structural integration in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, and China, as well as fresh-tissue cadaver dissection labs and weekend courses. The work of Anatomy Trains originated with founder Tom Myers, who mapped the human body into 13 myofascial meridians in his original book, currently in its fourth edition and translated into 12 languages. The principles of Anatomy Trains are used by osteopaths, physical therapists, bodyworkers, massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonics, and other body-minded manual therapists and movement professionals. Anatomy Trains inspires these practitioners to work with holistic anatomy in treating system-wide patterns to provide improved client outcomes in terms of structure and function.
Website: anatomytrains.com
Email: info@anatomytrains.com
Facebook: facebook.com/AnatomyTrains
Instagram: www.instagram.com/anatomytrainsofficial
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2g6TOEFrX4b-CigknssKHA
Precision Neuromuscular Therapy seminars (www.pnmt.org) have been teaching high-quality seminars for more than 20 years. Doug Nelson and the PNMT teaching staff help you to practice with the confidence and creativity that comes from deep understanding, rather than the adherence to one treatment approach or technique.
Find our seminar schedule at pnmt.org/seminar-schedule with over 60 weekends of seminars across the country.
Or meet us online in the PNMT Portal, our online gateway with access to over 500 videos, 37 NCBTMB CEs, our Discovery Series webinars, one-on-one mentoring, and much, much more! All for the low yearly cost of $167.50. Learn more at pnmt.thinkific.com/courses/pnmtportal!
Follow us on social media: @precisionnmt on Instagram or at Precision Neuromuscular Therapy Seminars on Facebook.
At Heights Wellness Retreat, we believe every person is an unstoppable force, whether navigating daily demands, pursuing goals, or striving to be their best. This drives everything we do. We go beyond traditional spa services by creating a purpose-driven environment where wellness professionals are empowered, valued, and positioned to grow. With steady clientele, support, and a wellness-forward culture, Heights Wellness Retreat is where therapists build meaningful, sustainable careers while shaping the future of the wellness industry.
www.massageheightscareers.careerplug.com/jobs
www.heightswellnessretreats.com
https://www.instagram.com/heightswellnessretreat/
https://www.facebook.com/heightswellnessretreat/
Save your hands for the smaller structures and start getting your clients underfoot! At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we teach you how to enhance your pressure using gravity and physics and help your clients recover from persistent pain through nerd-level anatomical attention to detail—we just happen to use our feet to do it all!
From the slow, down-regulating glides of our FasciAshi Fundamentals strokes to the proprioceptive “pattern-interrupts” of our Barefoot Matwork techniques and the resisted movements from our Stretch Therapy class, we offer a complete suite of evidence-based tools for deep, myofascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage—we nicknamed our approach “FasciAshi.”
Worried about your body size in relation to your clients? Our innovation—the suspended Ashi-strap—allows a more diverse population of massage therapists to regulate and vector their weight and pressure distribution with clinical precision, making deep work effortless on a variety of client bodies.
At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we believe the future of massage is afoot! Find when and where our CE classes are happening next at centerforbarefootmassage.com.