The Gift of Touch, KMI training and a Dissection Day

We hope this finds you fit, healthy and full of beans as the nights draw in and cosy evenings in commence.

As always, we’ve had some great contributions, thank you! First off, Marcus Sorensen. I met Marcus recently and was touched by his sensitivity and veryimpressed by his awareness and intuition. In between medical school, massaging clients and attending Barbara Brennan’s healing school, Marcus gives us an insight how he bridges the gap between science and therapy.

Touch – in massage, healing and medicine

It is a gift to be able to put my hands on another human being.

Sometimes it is an office worker with a sore back and neck who needs massage, sometimes it is a performing artist who needs healing because they cannot sleep for worry, sometimes it is a hospital patient whose racing pulse needs to be measured, and sometimes it is a cadaver whose lung I am about to carefully lift out in its entirety during a dissection. The life of a remedial massage therapist who also attends both a healing school and a medical school can be a mind-boggle - but my hands always know what to do.

When my mind cannot reconcile all those different approaches to health and caring – allopathic, complementary, traditional, alternative, eastern, western - there is something about touch that makes it all fit together perfectly. Those who practice massage will know what I mean: you can go mechanically through the motions of a massage, or you can actually connect with the person on your couch and follow what is unfolding in the moment. Right there and then it is not about the system you have learnt or the succession of strokes you had planned – it is about the needs of that fellow human being in their subtlety and simplicity, and your hands are picking it all up from their body and tending to them as they change from moment to moment. It is real contact.

And so, I sometimes perform muscle energy techniques within millimetres of the client’s pain threshold and my hands feel the flicking of their hamstring muscle fibres as well as their emotions oscillating between worry and trust, finally landing in gentle relief as the tension melts away. Or I follow the client through a time capsule experience in a healing session where they convulse repeatedly, lost in a sea of tears in an intense past life, and my hands know the places they need to be held and help move the energy through there. Or again I gently take the hand of a blind and deaf 90 year old who is days from death in a hospital, and I simply sit with her, acknowledging through my touch that she is not alone. We are here with our fellow human beings, in whatever place that may be, together.

When a new client walks through the door, it can get confusing when massage experience says they need to do daily mobilisation and stretches, healing experience says they have some self-doubting emotional baggage to clear, and medical practice says they need Prozac and Paracetamol. On those days, it is a gift for me to put my hands on them and establish real contact, instead of having to choose between different schools of thought. Sometimes it was simply the touch that they needed, and everything then starts falling into place.

Without massage training, I doubt I would have found this middle ground that puts everything else into context. Beyond the paradigms of the systems, modalities and therapies, touch reminds me, very simply, of what this path is and why I choose to walk it.

Marcus is looking for case studies to practise Brennan’s Healing Science - “comprises a powerful set of techniques for working with the human energy field.

Through strengthening, balancing and clearing the human energy field around us, we can regain access to our innermost resources, that we might have forgotten we had. This can have wide-reaching effects on both physical and psychological wellbeing.”
For your free 60 minutes sessions, contact Marcus on 07941 254035 marcus@chaospilots.com
www.chaospilots.com

KMI Training , by Inaki Medela

Inaki, one of our Spanish students, attended the sports massage course with us in the summer of 2009 and went on to study myofascial release. He has very kindly let us share his comments about the myofascial course in which he is currently still training........

Just one week left to start the second half of Part II of the KMI training, so I'll try to tell you how things had gone so far. First day - BIG SURPRISE! We had Tom Myers being part of the teaching team for the first week of Part I and I didn't know it at all. He was introduced as the Master and was seen a bit as the Star. You could tell he knew it and also that he was all the time warm and accessible,but not precisely humble.

He introduce us every day to some of the themes that support theoretically the fascial work: SI History, Embriological - Evolutionary overviews (Something you could read about instead)He also propose some body practice exercises for us to explain/experience with Tensegrity (tension/compression ) and fascial connection ideas.

These little things more than the theory really spoke to me about the way he embodies what he teach-preach. He did a Demo and we had him around to help with the practical work and some people could treat him as well. I found the atmosphere more relaxed without him during the second week though. As I attended two workshops before the training, many of the things that we learnt were not new for me: introduction to anatomy trains, fascial touch, body reading, end game....all this make some much sense to me....

I've been into movement for a very long time and since the first workshop I knew all this work for me. My body experience/awareness tell me that the way SI understand the body is not out the ground; in fact it helps people to ground themselves, it really touches me. First Part felt as a taster, a bit incomplete itself on the practical side without Part II. Part II is being about learning all the vocabulary, going deeper into body readingand developing practical skills. Having to assimilate so many things all together is 'vertigo' sometimes but as the work itself talks about integration, all the bits will fit together at some point; I hope.

Having a deep understanding of Anatomy makes a huge difference, so I think for you both may be much easier. Part II qualifies you to practice with all those elements doing three series until you do Part III, which will be more centered on integration/transformation.

However, even for those who don't decide to take it, having part II done, give you a different dimension of body work and may complement/enhance all the skillsyou have achieved before. We have both, one model from the course and another from the outside to work the three series with - Note I write 'with' because one of the principles is that we don't work on the client's body, we work with him. Two systems working/interacting together; I like it. I think that by reading this you could perceive my enthusiasm. Although there are other little things I'm not so happy with; I do not want to dig into them as they have more to be with personal circumstances andnon-essential issues as venue choice, student number, accommodation......

Please, ask me anything you'd like to know that you think I can answer.
Ianki

If you have a question for Inaki, please contact us and we’ll pass them on.

A Day in The Dissection Lab , by Nicki Mitchell and Di Jackett

We had talked enthusiastically about wanting to see it all ‘in the flesh’ on various occasions in the past and were therefore very excited to learn of the opportunity to spend a ‘Day in the Dissection Lab’ run by The London Massage Company.

However, it was fair to say that as the day drew nearer our previously blasé approach changed to an air of great trepidation.

We spoke the evening before on the phone and agreed to meet at London Bridge station. Being of the female gender we of course debated what we were going to wear - “something red!” Di’s other half chortled in the background. We giggled nervously, rising to near hilarity when Di suggested turning up in one of those glow-in-the-dark skeleton suits. In the end we opted for the safe option of our usual sports massage work gear.

The following morning we met as planned and trundled along to the rendezvous- a beautiful, grand building where we waited in reception as instructed.

As we were quite early we decided to have a wander round, just in case we were in the wrong place and after a couple of trips to the Ladies, found ourselves outside the basement dissection lab. We bravely pushed the bell on the door and a very cheerful lady appeared and confirmed that we were in the right place but that ‘it’ wasn’t quite ready yet and suggested we make our way back up to the main reception. We looked at each other nervously, both wondering what she had meant by ‘it’ and scuttled back upstairs, feeling a little queasy from the strange smell coming from the lab.

Gradually our group began to arrive and it was both lovely (and somewhat comforting) to hook up with Jane Johnson our ex sports massage tutor who was to be our leader for the day. We descended again to the basement lab where we were asked to put on a lab coat and advised that no food or drink of any kind was allowed inside the lab. The earlier nervous giggling was now reduced to a much quieter apprehension as we filed dry-mouthed down the gentle slope into the lab, passing a couple of arms and legs on the way to our seats - our nostrils twitching at the strong smell of the embalming solution. As ever with Jane, the day was very well organised and we settled down, workbooks to hand, all ears to begin our day of learning and human exploration.

Conscious of some of the groups’ unwary glances at the limbs on the stainless steel trolley to our left, Jane eased us in gently by handing round some human scapulae and vertebral columns and before we knew it we were embroiled in our fascinating journey around the ‘real deal’ human form.
The lab is an amazing place and not what we had expected at all. I think we both thought that we would be examining just one body, but it soon became apparent that the lab was stocked with numerous body parts in various stages of dissection, together with several complete (or nearly complete) cadavers. Donning our latex gloves and holding our essential oil soaked tissues to our noses (great idea from Di - ever the aromatherapist!), we steadily gained the confidence to delve into the non-textbook version of skin, fascia, muscles, bones, organs and the like. From gingerly sidling towards the stainless steel containers housing the cadavers, and some of us girls rather cowardly getting the blokes to do the initial unwrapping and handling, we were soon buzzing back and forth from our seats, working through and discussing various sections of our workbooks. We then eagerly went off to explore our subjects and to share our findings with great excitement.

Having decided beforehand to approach what we were to see as simply ‘pieces of meat’ to ease any potential squeamishness, we found ourselves feeling incredible respect and gratitude to the people who had donated themselves to the hospital and we were all very careful to wrap the cadavers up just as we found them, one or two of us passing a few words of comfort and thanks as we did so. They became very much real people and rightly so.

The ladies who run the two labs so smoothly were incredibly kind and helpful and nothing was too much trouble as they disappeared into their ‘store room’ to find appropriate specimens if none were already on display.

The day whizzed past and I think most of us were completely blown away by it all and nearing saturation point with the remarkable things we had seen, touched, shared and learned. We came away feeling utterly privileged and very lucky to have been granted access to such an amazing facility. Sadly the future for body-workers wishing to benefit from this incredible experience will be extremely limited – the preference now is for surgeons to work on bodies that have been frozen, giving a more ‘lifelike’ experience. Apparently we do not currently freeze cadavers in the UK so they are flown over from Germany, making it an expensive exercise which will be limited to the privileged few.

If you have ever thought you might be interested in spending some time in the dissection lab, we would urge you to do so before the opportunity is lost. It was without doubt a once-in-a-lifetime experience that neither of us would have wanted to have missed.
Sure it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you have the stomach for it (and honestly it really isn’t that gory or scary) it will change the way you see the human form forever.

There really is nothing like the real thing.

Nicki Mitchell (www.kentsportsmassage.com) and Di Jackett (Independent Sports Massage in Sunbury and London, Tel: 07917 869107)

Things We Think You’d Like
// We’ll be running the The Day in the Dissection Lab throughout next year, 10am-1.30pm, £90.
For any students attending the day with us we have been granted access to Gordon Museum
usually reserved for the Medical Students. The Museum has a large and growing collection of approximately 8,000 pathological specimens as well as a number of important historic collections.
The lab dates for 2010 are:
January 21st
March 3rd
April 29th
May 27th
To secure your place, drop us an email: ask@thelondonmassagecompany.com

// We need two volunteers to assist Jane on the Mad About Muscles workshop, December 10th at the British School of Osteopathy in London. Assisting on the day is worth a whacking great 10 CPD points! Good muscle knowledge is a bonus. Give us a call if you can help - 0845 688 7188

// We been told about a volunteer event called “Touch a heart” which is organised in the UK. It is a day of massage organised for elderly people in care homes. They are looking for as many massage therapists as possible to offer free short treatments of 15minutes on 10 December 2009. If you’d like to take part, they ask that you register online at www.touch-a-heart.org

// Jo Clements has a shop and clinic in Sevenoaks, Kent and is on the lookout for therapists able to deliver deeper, more therapeutic massage. If you are looking for somewhere to work, please contact Jo on 01732 450049, 07950 033771 or j.l.g@tesco.net

// More intersting CAM conferences coming upin February and March www.camconferences.com

// Jane is a member of the Chartered Physiotherapists in Massage and Soft Tissue Therapies (CPMaSTT), a Special Interest Group of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Each year CPMaSTT host two workshops and provide two very useful newsletters, exploring all aspects of massage. Within CPMaSTT there is a sports massage sub-group, an aromatherapy sub-group, and now a group for those therapists interested in fascia. They welcome Associate Members and with an annual membership fee of just £20 a year I feel that's really good value. If you are a massage therapist in any discipline you might want to consider joining this organisation who welcome contributions from all of their members. For more information and a simple application form contact the Membership Secretary Natalie Lejeune at: nats8784@hotmail.com

If you’d like to contribute to the newsletter, then we’d love to hear from you, as I’m sure would everyone else! We’re really pleased to be able to share your experiences so we hope you guys enjoy it too.

Take care. Jane & Zoë


To subscribe to the Newsletter or see what we're up to inside the class room visit : www.thelondonmassagecompany.com or email us:
ask@thelondonmassagecompany.com

Runners World - The Rules Revisted

In the November edition of Runner's World magazine there is an excellent article entitled The Rules Revisited by Bob Cooper.

It it Coper compares the 'conventional thinking' with the 'uncommon wisdom' on subjects relevant to runners such as whether to cross-train for fitness, whether good running shoes really make any difference, and whether there is any value in stretching. In one of his entries, Make Time For Massage, Cooper cites a Canadian study that found post-exercise massage was not able to improve bloodflow and remove products of exercise that affect muscle performance.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you use massage following a run or workout? Are you a massage therapist who treats runners? Many xercisers use massage to help alleviate the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness, beleiving it to really make a difference to how they feel. Is it all in the mind?

Tennis Elbow, Nordic Walking & Myofascial Release

Hello there! We’ve got a mixed bag for you again this month, so thank you to all our

contributors....next time it could be you....!!!

We’ll start off with an inspiring piece from Samantha Armstrong.

Here we go; Lessons in Life

When you realise your dreams it’s truly a great moment and I have done thanks to my daughter Lucie (16) and the support of my husband and youngest daughter (13).

When Lucie was diagnosed with Dystonia, a crippling neurological condition, at the age of 7 it was horrendous. But Lucie won through due to pioneering surgery and empowered me to do what I’m doing now. I’m a Nordic Walking Instructor, Personal Trainer and Sports Massage Therapist, I lead classes in the Peak District and surrounding areas and also take clients on a private basis, lead team building walks and celebration walks. Its great doing something that has a positive impact on people’s lives. I have Lucie to thank for that because, through my family’s

darkest days, exercise gave me inner strength. It was awful watching Lucie in pain, she

almost lost her life, every day was a battle to survive, she faced risky surgery and medical procedures. Exercise gave me a short break from it all. I would return buzzing, refreshed and ready to deal with what the day threw at me. That love of exercise, and its ability to improve well-being, encouraged me to train as a fitness instructor through evening classes, then a Sports Massage Therapist and ultimate a Nordic Walking Instructor. The training took about 3 years all in all, I had books everywhere and still managed Lucie’s hospital visits. The staff at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford would always see me with a folder on my knee writing away or studying! Or even in my gym clothes lunging up and down the ward or popping out for a run! It’s all because of Lucie and now I help other realise the benefits of exercise, not just physically but mentally as well. I like the fact that Nordic Walking reaches out to all abilities, including people with health problems. The arms take more of the strain, a lighter load is placed on the knees and other lower body joints. For anyone with restrictions or complaints of the spine, hip joints, knees of ankles, Nordic Walking provides relief. In the treatment of instability of the pelvis, whiplash, fibromyalgia and chronic problems, experience has shown that Nordic Walking is also

beneficial. Similarly, cardiac patients, people who are overweight or those with diabetes or rheumatism have an opportunity to improve their condition with Nordic Walking.

Lucie is now stable although still uses a wheelchair and has recently won a national Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for overcoming adversity, quite an achievement all round!

Samantha has recently organised a Nordic Walking trip to the French Alps for June 2010, please contact her or go to her web site for more details.

www.coreconcept.org.uk

e-mail: sam@coreconcept.org.uk or 07860 478 409

British Nordic Walking www.britishnordicwalking.org.uk

Letter from Spain and Tennis Elbow to Boot! by Natasha Trendell

Hi

I'm sending you a quick update to fill you in on my latest adventures, and to say a big thank you!

Having completed your fantastic sports massage course in September’ 08, my partner and I

re-located to the warmer climates of southern of Spain, where I was lucky enough to find work in a

beautiful spa hotel near Malaga. I am responsible for the majority of massage treatments, and am the only sports massage therapist employed by the hotel. During the summer I work by the pool, which has incredible sea views!

I wanted to share a brief overview of some of the clients I have treated, and also a case I found more difficult.

I have a client with tennis elbow, who comes for regular treatment and is definitely improving. My client came to me quite distressed, as her doctor had told her to take painkillers for the injury, and her chiropractor had made the situation worse! I treated her using a combination of deep forearm massage, petrissage, STR to wrist extensors, and frictions of 1.5 - 2 minutes to the CEO (Common Extensor Origin) . At first she felt some tenderness; then the discomfort started to subside, as frictioning has a mild anaesthetic effect. Finally, I re-checked resisted movement of the 3rd finger, and the wrist extensors. My client felt less pain.

After the treatment, I gave my client a homecare advice sheet outlining how she could play a part in her own healing, giving her much greater control over her injury. I advised her to continue to friction the CEO daily (she now uses the end of a wooden spoon to stop her fingers aching!). She said that this has been the best advice she has received so far. (Thank you Jane for your ideas).

The majority of cases I have received so far, have been clients suffering from back pain (mainly lumber), and neck strains. I have also treated 6 hairdressers at various stages, complaining of pain inferior to the scapula, and along the latissimus dorsi. I found that deep petrissage, stripping along the border of the scapula, and stripping of the latissimus dorsi itself really helped.

General pain in the lumber region has been treated with pressures to piriformis, rocking the pelvis, and pressures to Q.L. I treated one client who had been in a car accident 8 years ago, but still

suffered from back and gluteal pain. STR, and pressures to the glutes really helped to release tightness in this area. I massaged the area through a towel with my knuckles following the pressure point work. My client has found this very helpful, and has remarked that she has reduced her pain relief medication.

I am improving my knowledge with every client, and regularly consult my notes. "Sports

Injuries" by Lars Peterson, and Per Renstrom is a very useful book; an absolute must for

anyone studying/practicing sports massage. The only client I was a bit stuck on was a man who had been told that the longhead of his biceps tendon kept slipping out of the bicipital groove. He was given a massage by a junior physio back in the UK, who worked very deeply on the tendon and made the pain worse. I advised him to speak to his doctor and to try to get referred for a MRI scan to confirm the diagnosis; I didn't believe massage would be particularly helpful; however I wasn't 100% sure, so I sent Jane a quick email for some advice and her reply was:

"I have heard about the long head of the biceps tendon slipping. The osteopath Hoppenfeld mentions this in his book and although many people are sceptics, I did have a sports massage student who presented with what could have been this. You are quite right, massage probably would have made not difference. Things that may help are passive tractioning to the glenohumeral joint and Soft Tissue Release to forearm flexors (ie. biceps and all the wrist flexors). The rational behind that is that you are taking some tension out of the tendon so when they flex at the shoulder or elbow it is less likely to snap out of place (much the way that the flexor and extensor tendons of the big toe eventually pull the toe out of alignment in a bunion and because so shortened and tightened the they keep the toe in that position)."

I am starting to build up regular clients, and many local residents have been back for follow up treatments which is very satisfying. I can't thank you enough, as without your course, and your expert tuition!!) I wouldn't have this job, and I certainly wouldn't be able to treat as many clients as I have done. Thank you so much!!

Natasha Trendell, Sports Massage Practitioner

Fascial Release Technique Workshop with James Earls, 28th Sept, by Alison Dodd

I am a newly qualified Sports Massage Therapist having completed the APNT course last year with the huge help of Jane Johnson who I was lucky enough to have as my tutor! I love what I do and as a Therapist, I am keen to learn more and develop my skills further and of course obtain more CPD points along the way!! Since last October, I have been busy building up my therapy practice but I felt it was now time to start looking at developing my skills a little further. I started looking into some different workshops and courses and came across myofascial release which I found really interesting and I wanted to get more of an understanding about it. Luckily, in my research, I came across the workshop with James Earls on The London Massage Company’s website and for me it was perfect timing and seemed the ideal introduction…….

James was lovely and really enthusiastic. He introduced his workshop talking about how he had developed his interest in myofascial release and had trained with Tom Myers who many of us have come across in our training in reference to "Anatomy Trains". We were asked to introduce ourselves to the group - a really nice cross section of people with varied experience, a couple of whom I already knew from my course last year which was nice.

I suppose one of the first major points James made was to change our way of thinking with regard to the anatomy of the body, specifically muscles and their attachments. We have all been taught the basic anatomy of how tendons attach to the bones in order to create movement. However, James clearly explained, with the help of a video called “Strolling under the Skin”, together with some slides, that although some fibres of the tendons/fascia do attach to the bones at the attachment points, they are very much continuous from that point onwards and throughout the body forming an interconnected web. The video was really fascinating as it showed a dissected human body with it’s skin and adipose tissue removed revealing in detail how fascia basically envelopes everything in the body!!

James explained how fascia is different in it’s formation and make-up depending on its function within the body. When an area of the body comes under tension, the fascia acts to disperse the force and thickens which affects the whole myofascial system. It changes from being a gel fluid-like substance allowing gliding and movement, to a much dryer and harder substance in response to this tension. There was a brilliant (although rather messy) demonstration showing how fascia changes its structure and texture using cornflower mixed with water!

Another good way in which James tried to explain to us how fascia works is by likening it to a “pull” in a t-shirt or jumper. This showed how restrictions or tightness in one part of the fascia can cause problems in other areas of the body which made perfect sense! With this in mind, it also made you understand that by “normalising” the fascia with the method of myofascial release, it would help restore balance to the body.

Next we moved on to some practical work, working on different areas of the body including the lower leg, the IT band, the hamstrings and the neck and chest. We worked on different people which was really useful to get an idea of how different everyone was and how to assess different areas of the body. James demonstrated really well and when it was our turn, he came round to us all answering any questions we had. He also made me understand how important my posture was whilst working which is something I definitely need to work on!

When we asked James questions like how fast do we go or how deep do we work, it was impossible for him to give us an answer at the time and if I remember rightly, he said “enough but not too much”! However, having put myofascial release into practice with my clients since the workshop, this answer now makes complete sense! Obviously every client is different and the more I use it, the more I understand it and get a feel for how fast or how deep to work! I suppose it’s a matter of understanding that its really the fascia which dictates how you work as you feel the sensation of it “melting” or “giving” under your hands or fingers as it reverts to its “normal” status!

Overall I thought the workshop was excellent and there was a good balance of enough theory to help you make sense of it all without being too overloaded in the brain department! Plus enough practical work to help you get the feel for the method in order to put it straight into practice. I have to say it has definitely changed how I treat some of my clients and feel it has really helped to

develop and enhance my skills.

A totally worthwhile workshop and one I would definitely recommend!

Alison Dodd, Sports Massage Practitioner

www.bodylogics.co.uk

Things We Think You’d Like

// For any of you who’ve already done a course or workshops in Myofascial Release then Cheli Mula would love to hear from you. Having been inspired with an Anatomy Trains weekend she would like to start a study group to practice further the meridians. She’s based in London and can provide fascilities. She’d like to meet on a regular basis as time allows, over a period of time. If you’re interested please contact Cheli on 07789567612 or chelimula@hotmail.com

// Back workshop reccomened by our colleague Stephen Ward. For more information on this workshop with Dr. Stuart McGill. Visit www.backfitpro.com

// The Yoga Show, brings you YogaAid - Aiming to raise money for a range of charities, during a three hour Yoga session! For more information visit www.theyogashow.co.uk or call tel: 01787 224040 - 30th, 31st October, & 1st November 2009

// Institute of Anatomical Sciences(IAS) The IAS is always looking to recruit new members. "Founded twenty-five years ago, the IAS is a growing international group of Anatomy and Anatomically-related professionals dedicated to sharing knowledge, techniques and practices to ensure informed intellectual and technical expertise in the Anatomical Sciences." Jane’s been a member for many years and attended some very interesting lectures and meetings. Membership is inexpensive and as far as I am aware has only one other member who is a massage

therapist. For more information contact: www.anatomical-sciences.org.uk

// Sue Carberry has found brilliant book that's not too expensive which she’d like to share with us: A Massage Therapist's Guide to Pathology "I've been in practice for nearly 13yrs and I wish I'd had this book when I was training, even so it's a valuable asset now."

Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins,US; 4Rev Ed edition (1 Feb 2008)

ISBN-10: 0781769191 / ISBN-13: 978-0781769198

// Prof. Eyal Lederman’s supervision groups provide the participants with tools to understand the different processes underlying their patients' conditions and to learn to optimise clinical

management. During the sessions the participants will have the opportunity to discuss case histories and practice techniques as well as explore their practical application in clinic. For further information and registration contact: cpd@cpdo.net (www.cpdo.net)

Help!

We could do with getting our hands on the Oct ‘09 issue of SportEx Medicine (we get SportEx Dynamics each month).

If you receive SportEx Medicine in hard copy we’d love to borrow it : ) Please give us a call: 0845 688 7188 or drop us an email if you can help.

Just For Fun

Jane sent me these two emails and they made me smile so we thought they’d make you smile too......!

Rain Rain Go away

Absolutely teeming down. Think I shall have to start placing the old sandbags up against the doors soon to prevent the floodwaters entering.

Bring a mack in october, wellingtons and perhaps a small inflatable lifecraft in your hand luggage? In fact, we could revolutionise the Boden autumn range with colour coded dinghies? Have a

feeling its going to be a wet autumn. Mum's going to despair as this will bring the snails out to eat her newly planted garden. I read that slugs and snails love the inside of grapefruit skins (how anyone worked that out I don't know - maybe someone came down to breakfast to find two small creatures enjoying it for them?) so the patio is littered with upturned fruit, like a load of mini alien craft have landed, and I've snuck them between the plants too. So far the molluscs seem to prefer the plants and it looks like I've simply been chucking my rubbish in the garden. No doubt the newspaper article left out a vital piece of information, like the slugs only like red grapefruit or something, or perhaps it wasn't grapefruit at all but melons of avocados. Might as well make a giant fruit salad and toss the entire thing outside for a midnight mollusc rave, round up the criters in the dead of night and submit to The Royal Academy entitled Slug Salad.

Jane

Chocolate Therapy

I found an article which says that milk chocolate is actually helpful in speeding muscle

repair.

Here at the LMCo we are both obviously keen to advance science and looks like our recent binges are in fact worthwhile experiments. The things we do for our newsletter subscribers and students huh?

I didn't access the article and am only hoping it advises ingesting the material not rubbing it in. (I've no intention of wasting my Lindt on some rugby players hamstrings thank you very much).

Or perhaps the therapist could eat it whilst massaging a muscle injury?

Who knows, we could invent our very own contrast bathing: 2 mins in warm chocolate, 2 mins Devon icecream. Mmmm.

Now all I need is an article supporting the ingestion of peppermint and dark chocolate, preferably specifically in the form of After Eight Mints cooled in the fridge for an hour, and I'm sorted!

Until next time......

Jane & Zoe

P.S Jane’s at CAM Expo this weekend for those of you that want to say “Hi”

To subscribe to the Newsletter or see what we're up to inside the class room visit : www.thelondonmassagecompany.com or email us:
ask@thelondonmassagecompany.com

Anatomy, Anatomy, Anatomy

Hi there. We hope we find you fresh and relaxed after a summer break, or perhaps you’re waiting until the school hols are over to take a break from it all.....

Things have been relatively quite here at the LMCo, as is the norm over the summer, except for Jane pouring her heart and soul into another successful sports injuries diploma. But on top of that she’s still had time keep Jake occupied over the summer with their usual choice of weird and wonderful

exhibitions........ get that kettle on!

Dig This

I can't seem to help myself. It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing, bones are at some point going to feature in my day. Even when I'm not working, not studying, not ruminating on anatomy, there they are, the inescapable evidence of life on earth. And so it was when I took young Jake to the Museum of Docklands to wander the three floors charting the history of the great river Thames and all that's connected with it. I'd been here many times before and, despite two rather impressive whale bones mounted on their ends like the entrance to a chapel, and a strange collection of fragile animal skulls in one of the curiosity shops that make up the wonderfully reconstructed and rather spooky Sailortown section, one can be fairly certain most of the exhibits pertain to the river, shipping, docking, docklands and life in and along this wonderful geographical feature, with little in the way of anatomy. There are coils of huge rope, barrels and barrel making tools, sacks of tea, spices, weights and measures, 'bum' boats and tunnels. But not many bones.

Yet here they were again. I was on my hands and knees scraping out the contents of a large archaeological trough, Jake and I having enrolled on The Big Dig, an activity to get people interested in archaeology. Jake was curious and excited, believing as many 10 year olds do that Indian Jones is the world's greatest hero and requiring constant reassurance that all of the booby traps have been removed from Petra. Whereas I had rather reigned myself to the activity, not particularly motivated to unearth pottery, albeit 1800 years old.

A lovely and knowledgeable archaeologist (Sarah) was in charge of Jake and I for an hour, and no sooner had we started to lift out the mud from our site when Jake found a bone...then another..then a bit of pottery...then another bone...and more pottery. So of course, curiosity got the better of me and as he trowelled away and the archaeologist asked questions and explained about Roman pots and pot firing methods and clay and tiles, I couldn't help but examine our osteological

specimens. We had quite a few sheep ribs, several vertebrae from a cow, two large cow tarsals, one large chicken femur, and four or five ulnar bones, which I think must have been from sheep too. There was even the bone from a dog, with its very thick compact wall, and everything worn to that smooth caramel coloured patena, hardened and preserved through time. All were genuine, 1800 years old explained our guide, common remains when digging in London.

Was there much unearthed nowadays in London?" I asked. She went on to tell us that most of her work involved working on building sites in London where she was called in to retrieve human remains that had been unearthed accidentally. Apparently this was very common and her job was to oversee the safe removal of the remains to the Museum of London where they were examined and reburied. But the work was not something that enthused the guide I could tell. Her thing was the Saxon period. I however, was thinking just how interesting it would be to work through a 'stack' of around seven bodies, carefully documenting them. It was noisy, dirty and very unsafe she said candidly, with the builders eager to start work. With a Saxon site you got a few weeks but with bodies just a few days. Aren't other peoples' jobs interesting?

Comparative Anatomy

"But it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know" moaned Jake as he and I wandered around the new exhibition, Exquisite Bodies at the Wellcome Collection. Was this because I'd been taking him with me to similar exhibitions ever since he was in a pushchair and he was jaded by such curiosities, or was there something in this comment? Here we had wax models that had been viewed rather voyeuristically when they were first created hundreds of years ago, women with removable shiny intestines and real hair, arms with strange skin lesions, that sort of thing. I got his point. This wasn't really about the teaching of, nor the acquisition of anatomical knowledge, it was simply a presentation of models that had caused intrigue, unrest and perhaps even distaste amongst viewers all those years ago, and Jake and I had seen it all before. So today we were the 21s century voyeurs. Walking around I was torn as to how I felt about this exhibition. On the one hand, I'm always grateful that any anatomical specimens in any medium are available to view by the public, grateful to institutions who aim to help de-mystify anatomy and bring it to a wider audience. And I always recommend the Welcome for their determination to bring science and art to the public in that respect. Yet on the other hand this exhibition seemed to lack a certain cohesiveness. There wasn't quite enough material and not quite enough to substantiate an exhibition. Perhaps we would have benefited from each model having slightly more explanation? Or for greater comment on their use? Or the process behind the making of the models themselves? Or perhaps I am being too harsh on the Wellcome. They don't make any claims for the exhibition other than to tell us that these are Exquisite Bodies . But is that enough? I wonder what any readers think?

Outside the gallery and snuck into a corner the museum had the Primal Pictures CD-Rom available for use. Now this really did excite Jake and for 45 minutes we sat together and tested our anatomy, he clicking on every part the virtual skeleton to highlight bones in different colours as I read out the accompanying text. He was genuinely intrigued that the the skull contained so many different bones, and went 'ergh!' on vomer and emthmoid for some reason, considering them nasty and peculiar shapes for bones to be. What a contrast to the wax models was this electronic aid. I wondered whether Jake's fascination was down to the fact that he had been born into a world of computers, it was no wonder he much preferred the interactive learning this CD-Rom afforded. Both forms of learning have their good points of course, both their bad points. I am waiting, as always, for the day when an institution puts on an exhibition with the aim of helping people learn anatomy. Something comprehensive, intelligent, useful. Sadly, the Human Biology exhibition at the Natural History Museum is now very dated, with huge chunks of certain body systems missing and a disproportionate amount on the brain, brain function and psychology. Nevertheless that particular exhibition goes some way to helping people learn their human biology and so must be commended for that.

Things We Think You’d Like:

// The Yoga Show, October 30th- November 1st at London’s Olympia - www.theyogashow.co.uk

// The Olive Cafe and Treatment Rooms, Wimbeldon Park, SW19, have an introductory offer on treatments rooms - £10 hour to hire. For more information contact Cathi Moore on 07932788650, or email cathi.theolivecafe@ymail.com, for all bookings and enquires.

// We’ll be at CAMExpo again this year. If you want to meet up for a chat, then be in touch and we can arrange a time. Jane will running taster workshops on - everyone’s favourite -

Soft Tissue Release, The Shoulder: Clinical Tips and Tricks, The Back: Clinical Tips and Tricks. For more info take a look at the CAMExpo site - www.camexpo.co.uk

// We now have a profile on Facebook so if you’re on there too, come and join us. We’ll be

posting bits and bobs as they occur - interesting articles that we find, new techniques we come across etc - anything, as usual, that we think the wider world of therapists may like.

// Zena Khan is running her 4-day Onsite Chair MassageOnsite Chair Massage course for Quntum Metta in September - for more details www.quantummetta.co.uk

Great news!

We are very excited to have been able to secure podiatrist and sports massage therapist Kevin Thomas to run a foot and ankle workshop for us on 12th December at the British School of Osteopathy.

Do you struggle to treat clients with foot and ankle problems?

Do any of your clients suffer from unstable ankles? Heel pain? Foot pain? Plantar fasciitis? Metatarsal stress fractures? Painful bunions?

Perhaps you would simply like to learn more about the kinds of conditions that affect feet, or foot and ankle anatomy, or whether orthotics really work, or how foot and ankle problems contribute to knee pain?

Contact us to let us know what you would like us to cover on our foot and ankle workshop and together with Kevin's expert knowledge we will put together a practical, interactive workshop for those of you interested in this much neglected part of the body. We want to bring you up-to-date information on the assessment and treatment of foot and ankle pathologies so if you are interested in learning more, please be in touch.

Best feet forward (sorry, couldn't resist!)

There are still a few places left for

// September 25th - Soft Tissue Release, £100

// September 28th - Fascial Release Technique with James Earls, £100

// October 5th-9th (week 1) 12th-16th (week 2) Intensive Sports Injuries & Massage diploma, £1700

Or if drop in for Individual days during the two weeks in October -

Mon 5th: The Shoulder

Tues 6th: Soft Tissue Release (If you can’t make 25th Sept)

Wed 7th: Hip & Thigh

Thur 8th: Muscle Energy Technique

Fri 9th: The knee - Half a day

Mon 12th: The Spine

Wed 14th: Elbow, Wrist, & Hand (again, this is a half day).

The assessments, tests and pathologies covered are all in the outline of the Sports Injuries & Sports Massage Diploma syllabus on our website:www.thelondonmassagecompany.com

Each full day £100, half a day £50

And last but not least:

// December 10th - The Skeletal System - We'll cover everything on the ITEC syllabus (2009) - Section 3, Unit 346, Knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology & Pathology for Complimentary Therapies, £20

// December 11th - Mad About Muscles - a great way to get to know or revise your muscles, £20

Have you been on a Lymphatic Drainage course, or have you heard good things about a course or a tutor? If so then let us know. We’d like to run a ‘Guest workshsop’ on the subject but we need to find a great tutor. If you can help us then please drop us a line - Thank You!

Also we’re looking for people to volunteer for the next sports clinic day - October 15th - where you’ll be assessed and hopefully treated by the students. If you’d like to join us then please email us.

You know where we are if you’d like more information or to secure your place! See you next time round, and remember, if you want to share what you’ve been up to, write us a piece and we’ll put it here - it’ll count towards your CPDs too! Jane & Zoë

To subscribe to the Newsletter or see what we're up to inside the class room visit : www.thelondonmassagecompany.com or email us:
ask@thelondonmassagecompany.com

Massage Newsletter 15

And we’re back......

We’ve had some great contributions to the newsletter this month - thank you very much to all of you. Hopefully you’ll learn something new and be inspired!

As always at The London Massage Company we are thinking of new ways to raise standards in the industry and bring you something different. At the moment we’re working on a set of ‘Guest Workshops’. We’ll bring in guest tutors who are experts in their fields to deliver one-day workshops in keeping with our existing advanced one-day workshops. First up is Fascial Release Technique with James Earls, 28th September 2009 in London. He’ll be teaching you practical techniques that can be applied to various parts of the body which will give you a greater understanding of the principles involved in fascial release. You’ll come away with a better visual sense of what the connective tissue is and its variations as well as its role in supporting the body and how it adapts to compensations and stresses.

We are also launching our Massage Teacher Training Opportunities. We’ve had some great feedback over the years about our dynamic approach to teaching which leaves students juiced up and ready to go out into the world with some fantastic new, advanced skills. We’ve also had many a conversation with therapists who would love to teach massage in all its forms but find that when it comes to teaching massage, the teacher training qualification alone doesn’t really prepare them for a full-on practical massage workshop.

These wonderfully encouraging words, combined with the need of therapists, has inspired us to trial our Teacher Training Opportunities.

It gives people the chance to earn CPD points (10 for one days assisting), whilst getting a feel for teaching, or making days with us part of their Teacher Training qualification.

We’ll provide each assistant with clear objectives based on the day teaching and a form to fill in should they wish to submit their experience for CPDs. If this interests you, or anyone you know, then be in touch.

Now it’s time to grab a cuppa and see what other therapists (and Jane) have been getting up to..........

Life as a Sports Massage Therapist in the Alps,

by Laurie Cooper

I qualified as a Sports Massage Therapist in November 2008 and had a job as a Sports Massage Therapist in the Alps with an English company called Pamper off Piste lined up for the winter season in the French Ski Resort of Courchevel.

My sports massage course gave me confidence in becoming a working therapist but above all my tutor Jane gave me a real passion in my subject and I couldn’t wait to get out there and start treating clients. I enjoyed every subject within the course and felt I came away fully equipped to make the most of my new qualification.

I completed my season in mid April and I’m now back in London looking to pursue my career here. I’ve now had time to look back and reflect on my time in Courchevel and I see it as an excellent, worthwhile and somewhat interesting experience for many reasons.

I was treating clients with both Holistic and Sports Therapy requirements and I feel I used my skills in a very beneficial way to help my clients get the most out of their ski holiday. My clients were hugely varied, from those who were experiencing their first massage to those who have a variety of treatments at home on a weekly basis, then from those who had been skiing twice a year for twenty years to those who were new to the mountain scene and booked a massage as they were unable to walk without feeling the effects of the days activity.

As a newly qualified therapist I was determined to go straight into practicing, and working in the Alps proved to be the ideal situation. I was treating between 15 and 20 clients a week and really feel I’ve now got true massage hands. I feel I now know how to communicate with a vast array of people and have learnt that as a practitioner the importance of client care and correct communication. As I was working as a mobile therapist I was treating clients in their chalet or hotel room. I was responsible for having everything required to carry out the treatment, ensuring the client was safe to receive a treatment and taking payment at the end. This initially was terrifying; my first week was very stressful and not particularly enjoyable. This combined with driving added to my stress levels, navigating the mountain roads when having no clue where you’re heading and snow falling heavily from the sky took it’s toll and there were moments of wondering what the hell I was doing! Luckily I had seven great housemates who were all going through the same emotions and we all picked each other up and soon my confidence was on the way up and I started to love my job.

Then there was the fun part of my Alpine experience, hitting the mountains and learning to snowboard. After three weeks of getting to grips with my new life I took a week’s course in snowboarding. The initial three days were painful, frustrating and mainly spent on my bottom or knees. I really started to sympathise with my clients and gained insider information on what parts of the body really needed some TLC after a day spent with my feet bizarrely strapped to a bendy piece of wood. At the end of the week I was starting to feel I was making progress and getting the buzz and bug for wanting to go steeper and faster.

The following weeks were spent getting out first things to practise, practise, and practise so I could join my experienced housemates as soon as possible on the more

demanding red and black runs.

This proved no chore, waking up to blue skies, bright White Mountain tops and crisp fresh air was enough motivation for me. The views and scenery were magnificent and certainly a healthy place to clear and freshen your mind. The whole thing became addictive, Living with other therapists,

including a Physiotherapist and Osteopath gave me the chance to learn new techniques and skills and has encouraged me to look into further courses now I’m home to further this knowledge.

Living as a seasonnaire in Alps comes with a work hard, play hard attitude and after four months, although having had an amazing time I was ready to come home. The social life is manic and you can hit it hard seven nights a week if you can cope with it, I soon realised that once to twice was enough for me! Going straight into a job after my course was daunting but definitely the best thing I could have done. I love my new profession and all that I can offer people. There is something very rewarding when a client gets off the couch and tells you “That was the best massage I’ve ever had”

I now face a new challenge of building a client base within London, I am confident and passionate that putting in the hard work will get me there and I’m very, very excited about it.

Laurie Cooper, Sports Massage Practitioner

Equine Body Work: Sports massage and therapeutic bodywork for horses

by Oonagh Bannister BSc (Hons), EBW

I have been working as a full time sports massage therapist, therapeutic body worker and healer since 2002. Originally I qualified as a therapist for people with a Health Sciences degree at the University of Westminster. At the time I was living in London and stayed until 2006. Following my move to Cambridgeshire I added to my qualifications by training as an Equine Body Worker with Equinenergy at Writtle College in Essex. Having embraced country life fully this felt right. I have

always loved horses and in recent years enjoyed riding in Hyde Park on a regular basis. The training course was extremely thorough but nothing could have prepared me for the wonderful rewards that would come from working with these animals. I am humbled by their wisdom and sensitivity, they just get it!

Anyone who is already a therapist or has received sports massage knows how much this can help with pain reduction, stress release and much more. Apply the same principles to the horse and the specific benefits include; improved motion and stamina, better temperament and improved disposition, ability to reach full training potential and achieve optimum performance. In the same way people look for that extra performance from sports massage it is the same for our equine friends. Improvement in stride length can enable horses to cover the ground quicker which helps give them an edge in racing, cross country and showjumping.

People benefit from massage by getting better tone in the muscles and improved range of motion. For horses this improvement of tone can lead to strength and gymnastic ability which can improve dressage performance. Marathon runners have long known the benefits of pre and post event therapy and it is the same for endurance horses and their riders, being fitter through training and massage therapy increases stamina and helps to prevent repetitive strain injuries. Horses can gain immensely from receiving sports massage as an adjunct to good training methods, correct saddle fit and well maintained feet. There are many parallels that are common to human and equine sports performance and principles from human research studies are now often used to relate these proven principles to sports horses.

In my experience the most valuable benefit is the prevention of injury and health maintenance. Keeping the muscles flexible and in good working order decreases stress and strain on the joints, tendons and ligaments in much the same way as in people. Since the horse has little muscle below the knees and hocks the many long tendons are anatomically susceptible to possible injury.

Massage really keeps horses in better shape and once any initial problems are resolved they are easier to keep right than people.

Before any treatment the person responsible for the horse must get permission from the veterinarian for sports massage, this is a legal requirement. A typical session will last 50 to 90 minutes and includes observation of posture and conformation with gait analysis. During the massage the horses reactions to treatment are very honest and immediate. This does sometimes involve moving very quickly out of range of teeth and hooves! The techniques are primarily

effleurage, petrissage and friction with tapotement used for a full body massage. Although I practice different therapies, sports massage in particular can help both horse and rider immensely. I am continuing my professional development with equine myofascial release at present, also with Equinenergy I work throughout Cambridgeshire and surrounding counties offering a mobile therapy service for both horse and rider.

Please contact me to find out more or to come and watch me work on horses. Please also see my websites for full details of all therapies available: www.energyheal.co.uk &

www.energyhealequine.co.uk or call 07930 464123

Oonagh Bannister

Exhibition

by Jane Johnson

Last week I found myself walking along a long curved corridor in a cylindrical sanitorium, doves cracking their wings on the air outside as they tried to find roosting spots above the windows, mis-shapen skeleton specimens in class cabinates to my right. This was a video installation, part of the exhibition on art and madness in Vienna at the Wellcome Collection here in London. I particularly liked the photograph of the 'Mechanotherapy Rom" c1905 in the Purkersdorf Sanatorium in Austria, with its wheels and pulleys that looked more like a laundry room than a place of therapy. It was common in 19th century Vienna for people to spend time in hospitals for recuperation from conditions such as mental exhaustion, where doctors prescribed 'rest, diet and technologically enhanced physical therapies.' Some of these technological therapies were on display. I shuddered at the 'electrotherapeutic cage' which was apparently painful but which physicians believed to help increase general metabolism and helpful in cases of hysteria.' There was an exercise 'mechanotherapy' chair, that put me in mid of the hair-cutting contraption the inventor (played by Dick Van Dyke) created in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which he takes to the travelling fair and pedals away on, accicdently shaving a monk-like circle off the top of some poor pundits head, which steams away beneath the circular tin cutting bowl. This mechanotherapy chair was designed to 'bring the body and nervous system back into balance.' I don't know about you, but I have my own ideas about how best to bring my nervous system back into balance, and it doesn't involve leather foot straps.

Perhaps one of the best exhibitions I have attended of late was Bobby Baker's Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me. Diagnosed with a personality disorder these 159 paintings chart the artist's journey from diagnosis to recovery. Every doctor, psychiatric nurse, ward 'sister', psychotherapist and art therapist dealing with patients such as this should see this exhibition. Trained at St Martin's School of Art, Baker's beautiful, funny, weird, and inspirational paintings, taken from her many art journals are an amazing insight into how one person felt at the 'patient'. Every one different, every one evocative and personal. Wild splashes of colour, streaks, Bobby curled in foetal like position on her bed, withdrawn for the world, scary faces, laughing faces, moments of sadness, fear and anxiety, moments of joy, elation and hysteria. Technically accurate in form and composition, perspective and tone I marvelled at the skill of this artist, able to paint and document her inner feelings. Unable to take my eyes from the walls and the progression of amazingly colourful images, I suddenly came to the shocking brevity and blandness of a single picture, so out of character with the others, a child-like attempt in the centre of the page.

Beneath the picture the caption read, 'the art therapist today suggests I yet again paint a mug'. Guess what the picture was of?

Jane

See you next time!

To subscribe to the Newsletter or see what we're up to inside the class room visit : www.thelondonmassagecompany.com or email us:
ask@thelondonmassagecompany.com