The ABMP Podcast | Speaking With the Massage & Bodywork Profession

What matters most in pricing massage services? Business or Pressure host Allissa Haines walks through all the factors to consider to help you gain confidence in your pricing structure. Host : Allissa Haines is a practicing massage therapist, business owner, and columnist for Massage & Bodywork magazine. You can find her building a community of massage therapists at deepbreathdigital.com/community...

With the widespread use of smartphones, many people spend extended periods looking down at their screens. How does prolonged forward neck tilt associated with smartphone use contribute to issues like "tech neck?" In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren speak with David Lesondak about how smartphones affect the biomechanics of neck tilt, possible age-related factors, and ergonomic...

A contributor writes, "I said no to massage to a patient after fresh dialysis. When would it be OK to work on this person?" Seems like a simple question. But it's not. We know a fair amount about kidney disease and about dialysis. And here's a surprise: The interface between massage therapy and people using dialysis has sparked a lot of conversation in research and medical circles. What are people...

As massage therapists, you have client-related pet peeves. But your clients also have pet peeves when receiving massage. In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren are joined by Dr. Joe Muscolino to discuss his top 5 pet peeves when receiving massage and some tips for therapists on how conversations can help reduce these pesky occurrences. Dr. Joe Muscolino has been a manual and move...

"Soo, ummm . . . would you like to come back?" . In this episode of Business or Pressure, host Allissa Haines talks through the after-massage conversations that help us better serve clients. Host: Allissa Haines is a practicing massage therapist and business owner and columnist for Massage & Bodywork magazine. You can find her building a community of massage therapists at deepbreathdigital.com/com...

Over the years, Taylor Symone has used three loans from DreamSpring to grow her business, including buying more inventory as her business's popularity took off.  What was the experience like?   In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren are joined by Metta Smith, chief lending and client experience officer for DreamSpring, and Symone, spa owner and DreamSpring client, to discuss how...

A client has an undiagnosed situation with the skin over their glute, and to the massage therapist it looks suspiciously like ringworm. What is ringworm? How do we get rid of it? And what is the risk to the massage therapist in this situation? Listen to this episode of I Have a Client Who… as Ruth Werner talks about one of her favorite topics: ringworm (RW).   Sponsors:      Books of Discovery:  w...

How do we balance emotional energy as practitioners? And if we lose it, how do we get it back? In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren are joined by Diane Matkowski to discuss how to find the positive and overlook the negative, how to check in with yourself pre- and post-session, and when to pause before you react. Diane was accredited by the Owens Institute of Massage and the Ins...

Communication is everything. In this episode of Business or Pressure , host Allissa Haines demonstrates how to give the "right" massage to every client at every visit. Host: Allissa Haines is a practicing massage therapist and business owner and columnist for Massage & Bodywork magazine. You can find her building a community of massage therapists at deepbreathdigital.com/community.   Author links:...

There are those that influence and those that are influenced. And in the body, muscles fall into the same predicament. In this episode of The Rebel MT , Allison uncovers the splenius capitis and splenius cervicis, discusses which muscles influence them, and explores ways to help them be their own muscles.    Host:                   Contact Allison Denney:  rebelmt@abmp.com              Allison's w...

Ruth Werner has been dealing with a chronic cough for decades. She is now working with Til Luchau to determine what can be done. In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Ruth and Til discuss the process of dealing with this mysterious chronic cough and how massage may be able to help. Ruth Werner is a former massage therapist, a writer, and an NCBTMB-approved continuing education provider. She wrote...

A client reports having Ramsay Hunt syndrome (RHS)—a version of shingles that affects the facial nerve. Her massage therapist can't find any useful information to help guide their decisions. But they were able to establish that it isn't contagious, so they pulled on their gloves and got to work. Listen to this episode of I Have a Client Who . . . with host Ruth Werner to find out what happened, an...

Are you ready to reinvent your work? Are you missing intention in each stroke and session? In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren are joined by David Lobenstine to discuss why it's important to refresh and reinvent your sessions, some of the pitfalls that massage therapists get into, and tips to get out of those bad habits by slowing down and finding meaning with each touch. Davi...

It can be challenging to be productive and accomplish business tasks. Getting things done is a foundational skill, and we've got a list of ideas to help you move forward in this episode of Business or Pressure with Alissa Haines. Host: Allissa Haines is a practicing massage therapist and business owner and columnist for Massage & Bodywork magazine. You can find her building a community of massage...

Structurally, the fascia system suspends, supports, and enables all anatomical movement from skin to cells and everything in between. In this episode of The ABMP Podcast, Darren and Kristin are joined by Stretch to Win founders Ann and Chris Frederick to discuss Frederick Stretch Therapy (FST) and its origin, how FST can be integrated with massage therapy and other bodywork, and what the future ho...

A potential client—we don't know how old, or how healthy—has sickle cell disease (SCD). There's very limited information about safe massage therapy in this context. What's an MT to do? One option is to reach out to an expert and hope you'll get a quick but thorough response—if you get one at all. Another option is to check your bookshelf: you might be pleasantly surprised. (And if you don't own a...

What if aliens really did pay us a visit? And what if the reality of their existence were to change everything we know about anatomy? In this episode of The Rebel MT , Allison explores the quadriceps muscle and flips things upside down to get a new perspective. It also might change how you work on the quads.    Host:                   Contact Allison Denney:  rebelmt@abmp.com              Allison'...

The key to pain-free activity is to assess the pain mechanism and employ a matched approach. In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren are joined by Dr. Stuart McGill to discuss how he made the switch from lab scientist to clinician, his approach to identifying back pain, thoughts on "non-specific" back pain, and how he employs his "virtual surgery" approach. Dr. Stuart M. McGill is...

Should you see every client or just the clients seeking a specialty? In this episode of Business or Pressure , host Allissa Haines walks you through the merits of having a general massage practice or choosing a specialty. Host: Allissa Haines is a practicing massage therapist and business owner and columnist for Massage & Bodywork magazine. You can find her building a community of massage therapis...

In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren are joined by the Rebel MT herself, Allison Denney, to discuss why it's OK to not know everything, when to use protocols and when to think outside the box, and how grounded confidence will help your practice and yourself. Allison Denney is a certified massage therapist and certified YouTuber. You can find her massage tutorials at YouTube.com...

Are you a manual therapist with joint mobility issues? Then this episode of "I Have a Client Who . . ." is for you. And if you have a client with joint mobility issues, you'll want to tune in too. My colleague Natalie Pendergrass recently reached out to me to share her experiences with being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). EDS is a genetic disorder involving the formation of abnormal...

In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren are joined by Cal Cates and Kerry Jordan from Healwell to discuss their research study, Massage Therapy for Hospitalized Patients Receiving Palliative Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial , what the objective of the study was, the methods used, and the surprising results that were found. Cal is an educator, writer, and speaker on topics ranging...

Origin/insertion terminology creates a rigidity in thinking that can obscure the simplicity of muscle function. In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Kristin and Darren are joined by Dr. Joe Muscolino to discuss his article in the May/June 2023 issue of Massage & Bodywork magazine regarding origin/insertion and joint action terminology and why the more Dr. Joe has taught, the more he has come to d...

There are a thousand ways to build a strong massage or bodywork business. In this episode of Business or Pressure with Allissa Haines, we'll cover the must-haves to get started, laying the foundation for a long-term, sustainable business. Host : Allissa Haines is a practicing massage therapist, business owner, and columnist for Massage & Bodywork magazine. You can find her building a community of...

MassageNet.org is a practice-based research network (PBRN) that focuses on massage therapy research. In this episode of The ABMP Podcast , Darren and Kristin are joined by Dr. Niki Munk and Sami Zabel to discuss how MassageNet provides resources to clinicians, researchers, and other massage therapy stakeholders to combine efforts to grow research in massage therapy, what involvement in MassageNet...