MASSAGE TODAY
Releasing the Body’s Anxiety. Massage Today, 18(10)
Generally speaking, this is a good article that correctly establishes correlations between anxiety and stress and secondary postural changes. The author discusses this topic using the example of his client. However, the suggested treatment or the way it was presented is what we had a problem with.
From our perspective, sentences like this one can be written for the general public but not for professionals.
“Apply superficial strokes to release the surface tension and some of the ischemia, swelling, inflammation and some of the trigger points.”
Where exactly are the areas of ‘some’ ischemia and ‘some’ trigger points the author suggests readers address when working on clients with anxiety?
The Autism Spectrum & Pediatric Massage. Massage Today, 18(10)
The author of this small article deserves credit for raising a subject of great importance – the positive impact MT has on children with autism. She is completely correct when she states that:
“…children with ASD are characterized as having difficulty with sensory integration…”
The author also correctly identifies MT as a sensory way to restore communication with the child’s brain. In many cases, a correctly formulated MT strategy helps to break through the autism shell and helps children restore normal communication with the outside world.
Vastus Lateralis vs. the IT Band. Assessment Tools to Make the Right Diagnosis. Massage Today, 18(10)
A very good and thoughtful article.
The Sacrotuberous Ligament. Massage Today, 18(11)
A very good article!
The Art & Science of Kinesiology: Exploring Manual Muscle Testing. Massage Today, 18(11)
A good introductory article on kinesiology.
Pregnancy Health: Looking at the Lower Extremities. Massage Today, 18(11)
This article covers the rarely mentioned topic of abnormalities in the lower limbs that develop during pregnancy and gives helpful hints for dealing with them.
Reducing the Need for Replacement Surgeries. Massage Today, 18(11)
This article is dedicated to pre-screening for potential shoulder, hip or knee degeneration. It is true that a massage therapist can be the first health practitioner who may find early signs of joint deterioration, as long as he or she knows what to look for. The article gives readers a set of simple evaluations which may confirm the early stages of Osteoarthritis.
A Perfect Match: Sports Injury & Visceral Manipulation. Massage Today, 18(11)
This article is dedicated to the subject of correlations between soft tissue trauma and secondary tension buildup in the viscera. We think the article itself is written in a fragmented style, with limited clinical value, and sounds more like a promotional piece for seminars. Also, bold statements like this one:
“… 90 percent of musculoskeletal problems have a visceral component.”
require more solid references and more than the author’s quote.
A Postoperative Story: Part 2 of Hip Replacement. Massage Today, 18(11)
The author shares with readers his own recovery after hip replacement surgery and ways to speed up this process.
Let’s Talk About … Collateral Ligaments of the Thumb. Massage Today, 18(11)
A very good article about the anatomy and testing of the thumb’s collateral ligaments.
Kinesiology, A Pathway to Effective Therapy. Massage Today 18(12)
We have reviewed Mr. McCann’s claims about the unique role of kinesiology in treatment so many times (with all necessary references) that another review would be boring for everyone. We just want to point out one more time that kinesiology-based techniques are very effective and efficient tools, but they need to be employed later, when soft tissue injury has healed, reflex zones in the soft tissue have been eliminated, peripheral nerves have been freed from irritation and so on.
When that is done by completely different treatment modalities and the initial trigger is eliminated, kinesiology-based modalities indeed become irreplaceable tools to restore and maintain antagonists’ interactions or postural balance.
The Body’s Role in Replacement Surgeries: How Joint Degradations Occur (Part 2). Massage Today. 18(12)
This article is such nonsense that it is even difficult to decide where to start a counter-argument. The following statements are pure entertainment to read:
“My clinical experience has evidenced that stress affects our visceral suspensory ligaments first [bold by JMS] in the chain reaction within the human body.” AND “All of these [visceral stress forces by JMS] compress the axial skeleton and pull our extremities “down and forward” toward the body’s solar plexus and pelvic floor.”
Now let’s decode these very scientific-sounding but, in reality, misleading statements. According to the author, powerful everyday stress first of all shortens the patient’s esophagus, ligament of Treitz, mesenteric root of the small intestine and supporting apparatus of the ascending and descending colon (why the author missed the transverse colon is still a mystery only he can explain). This dramatic shortening of inner organs greatly affects the skeleton and soft tissues which support our somatic functions. It triggers a chain of events which are responsible for the subluxations and cartilage destruction in the shoulder and hip joints, and ultimately it brings patients to unavoidable joint replacements. Wow! We’ve read a lot of mesmerizing claims in massage publications, but this one tops the list!
What is unique about Mr. Alexander’s publications, some of which contain very strange claims, is his heavy reliance on his own(!) writings as references. Additionally, why didn’t the author share with readers the mysterious evidence he collected during his clinical experience? Apparently, this unique evidence was so convincing to the author that he built the entire theory on it while conveniently keeping it hidden from us.
It would take pages to dismantle all the author’s claims from this article. Let us shed scientific light on one aspect of this para-scientific theory proposed by Mr. Alexander – shortening of the esophagus as a direct cause of degeneration of the shoulder and hip joints and their eventual need for replacement. Here is an amazing piece of fiction from the article (Alexander, 2018):
“The esophagus has its originating attachment to the occipital bone of the cranium so when its longitudinal and circular fibers shorten and narrow, it pulls the head down and forward upon the neck (Alexander, 2014 – is actual reference from this article). This postural distortion activates a war between the body’s flexor / extensor reflex systems that contribute to somatic symptoms potentially anywhere along the axial spine. The same progression occurs as in the hip and shoulders, internal distortions potentiate vertebral and rib subluxations then the soft tissues spasm to protect their respective joint(s).”
First of all, we would like the author, who writes for a national publication, to open a very basic anatomy book and point us to where he found information that the esophagus originates from the occipital bone. For example, Gray’s Anatomy tells us that the esophagus originates from the pharyngoesophageal junction at the C5–6 vertebral level behind the inferior border of the cricoid cartilage. In that case, the author places the origin of the esophagus five vertebrae above its real anatomical position.
Despite the fact that Mr. Alexander specifically mentioned that “the esophagus has its originating attachment to the occipital bone of the cranium,” let us play devil’s advocate. Let’s say that he misspoke and meant to say that the esophagus originates from the pharynx and pharyngeal muscles that are attached to the occipital bone. However, in this case, the shortening of the esophagus must shorten the pharynx as well, and it is going to immediately affect the act of swallowing, since swallowing heavily relies on the softness and elasticity of the pharynx. Some readers may have experienced uncomfortable sensations associated with the pharynx losing its elasticity when they suffered from pharyngitis, which is a very frequent complication of severe flu.
Another piece of information the author seems to be completely unaware of is the fact that the esophagus constantly generates peristaltic waves at 4 cm/second. While writing about inner organs, Mr. Alexander should know that for the walls of the esophagus, stomach and intestines to move, they must be relaxed. If they are short or overstretched, there is very little peristalsis. A very simple example is the stomach after part of it is removed due to cancer. The more pressure there is in the stomach walls, the fewer peristaltic waves it is able to generate. Another example is constipation, since inner pressure on the intestinal walls additionally delays peristalsis. If Mr. Alexander is correct, then patients with Osteoarthritis must complain of Achalasia or food retention in the esophagus.
Finally, there is another aspect of a shortened esophagus which the author missed while constructing his theory: esophageal spasm also triggers acute chest pain (Richter and Castell, 1984). So, if the author is correct, all patients with shoulder or hip osteoarthritis are supposed to be suffering from dysfunction of swallowing (due to a short pharynx), acute chest pain and food retention in the esophagus (due to Diffuse Esophageal Spasm). However, according to the medical data, signs of esophageal spasm are very rare and are registered in only approximately 5% of all patients who are clinically suspected of having such a spasm (Sperandio et al., 2003).
In closing, we would like to appeal to the common sense of the author and of those readers who still consider this information valuable. The activity of our stress or sympathetic nervous system has always been our main tool of survival since the dawn of time. If Mr. Alexander’s ancestors who survived in the wild world of the early savanna had reacted to the stress of being hunted by lions or tigers by shortening their esophagus and other inner organs first and by tension in the soft tissues and skeletal arrangement secondly, they all would have been eaten, and Mr. Alexander wouldn’t have had the privilege of writing for Massage Today. The fact that he does means that his ancestors’ first reaction to stress and danger was tension and the use of the soft tissues and skeleton. This perfectly arranged mechanism allowed them to survive in a hostile environment without powerful fangs or claws, while Mr. Alexander now undermines it. This survival tool allowed the author to be with us today. It is simply awful that such misinformation is published in a national publication and presented as legitimate clinical data!
REFERENCES
- Richter JE, Castell DO. Diffuse esophageal spasm: a reappraisal. Ann Intern Med. 1984;100(2):242-245. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-100-2-242
- Sperandio M, Tutuian R, Gideon RM, Katz PO, Castell DO. Diffuse esophageal spasm: not diffuse but distal esophageal spasm (DES). Dig Dis Sci. 2003;48(7):1380-1384. doi:10.1023/a:1024131814888
MASSAGE & BODYWORK MAGAZINE
Simple Things First. Soft-Tissue Sources of Discomfort Are Often Overlooked. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
As usual, a very good article about interactions and correlations between the brain and different somatic structures.
Rectus Abdominis. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
A good article on the anatomy, function and palpation of the rectus abdominis.
Massage for Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Patients. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
This article reviews the results of a study which examines the impact of MT on pediatric cardiac surgery patients.
In-Depth Learning. The Importance of Cadaver Anatomy Lab Experience. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
This article discusses the benefits of cadaver anatomy studies. We completely agree that it is an irreplaceable experience, especially for every therapist who practices the clinical aspects of MT.
The Human Fascial Net Plastination Project. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
Simply Bravo to the Fascia Plastination Project and to the authors of this article!
Touch Therapy Researcher. TIFFANY FIELD. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
Dr. Field was a lonely warrior who pioneered massage science in the USA long before the current interest of the medical and massage therapy communities. She deserves our appreciation and admiration for her continued work and dedication to the MT profession. Dr. Field was once Person of the Month in our Journal.
Clinical Relevance of Overpronation. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
Yes, it is true that foot overpronation affects the body’s somatic function and balance. This article addresses that topic.
Boost the Bliss. Triggering Feel-Good Hormones Through Touch. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
This article covers the central mechanisms of somatic or visceral pain and dysfunction from a different but equally important perspective – the balance of hormones and neurotransmitters.
Decoupling the Ankle and Leg. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Sep/Oct 2018
A very good short piece that explains in simple terms the differences between I. Rolf’s and M. Feldenkrais’ work and, more importantly, the inner connections between the two views on somatic rehabilitation when they address the same abnormality from different directions.
If Touch is Communication. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018
Touch is indeed a way of communication, and we are deprived of touch in our modern society.
Adductor Magnus. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018
A good article about the anatomy, action and palpation of the adductor magnus muscle.
Don’t Blame the Rotator Cuff. Addressing Arthrokinetic Reflexes. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018
A very good article which shines a light on a rarely discussed issue.
Understanding Inflammation’s Progression. Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018
An excellent article about the mechanisms of inflammation.
MASSAGE THERAPY JOURNAL
Stand Up To MS. How Massage Therapy Can Help Manage an Unpredictable Disease. MTJ. Fall 2018
Despite the fact that this article touches on an important subject and gives a general review of MS, it offers little information on what to do and what not to do for patients with MS to improve the quality of their lives.
for Veronika Peycheva, RMT (Canada)
for MTJ
Massage Therapy for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy. MTJ. Fall 2018
It is very unfortunate that the Editorial Board of MTJ decided to publish clinical cases not as the author/therapist originally intended, but rather as MTJ’s editor’s interpretation of the case. As a result, a great clinical case which could potentially help therapists deal with complex patients became a lay description.
MASSAGE MAGAZINE
Gut Feeling: Exploring an Elongated Definition of “Core”. Massage Magazine, December 2018
An excellent article on how soft tissues and inner organs are integrated together within a fascial system.
Category: Good Apples, Bad Apples
Tags: JMS 2018 Issue #4
