The New Generation Massage Therapist

Send us Fan Mail Most of us were never taught that our words could make our patients worse. But the research is clear — the language we use in the treatment room produces real, measurable outcomes. Not just emotionally. Neurologically. In Part 2 of the Are We Mental Health Professionals? series, we're diving into one of the most underappreciated concepts in all of healthcare — the nocebo effe...

Send us Fan Mail Are we mental health professionals? It's a question that might make some of you uncomfortable. And honestly, that discomfort is exactly why it needs to be asked. Because most of us are already influencing our patients' mental health every single session. We're just not being intentional about it. In Part 1 of this three-part series, we lay the foundation — the hidde...

Send us Fan Mail As our profession pushes toward patient-centered care, one thing is becoming clear — the old clinician-as-the-expert model isn't serving our patients the way we think it is. In this episode, Jamie sits down with Walt Fritz — a physical therapist with nearly 40 years of experience and someone who famously walked away from a prominent role in the myofascial release world to pub...

Send us Fan Mail We've been told a lot of things by our regulatory bodies about what we should and shouldn't do in our treatment rooms. But there's one area where I think we've been steered in the wrong direction — and that's mental health conversations. Of all the musculoskeletal professions out there, our patients open up to us the most. They're on our tables for an...

Send us Fan Mail We didn't learn this in school — but we probably should have. In this episode, Jamie sits down with friend and fellow RMT Mike Reoch to talk about something most massage therapists are never taught: how to actually build a sustainable practice. Mike has been a massage therapist for 18 years, worked in seven clinics across five cities, and now runs a thriving clinic in Kamloop...

Send us Fan Mail We've spent three episodes talking about your patients' nervous systems. This one is about yours. If you're showing up for complex, trauma-affected patients with skill and sensitivity — you're absorbing something in the process. That's not a weakness. That's the cost of caring. And it puts you directly at risk for compassion fatigue. In this final epi...

Send us Fan Mail "Your patients don’t respond to a technique. They respond to safety." Why do some patients instantly brace when you touch them, while others fail to relax no matter how gentle your manual pressures are? In this episode, Jamie Johnston cuts through the academic fluff surrounding "trauma-informed care" to deliver a highly practical, clinical protocol for the trea...

Send us Fan Mail "It's not a mechanical problem. It's a biological debt." Why do some patients plateau despite perfect manual technique? In this episode, Jamie Johnston dives into the structural and neurological changes that trauma leaves in the body—long after the distressing event has passed. We move past the philosophy of trauma-informed care and get into the hard science: h...

Send us Fan Mail "It's not an attitude problem. It's a nervous system response." Have you ever had a patient who seems "jumpy," constantly guarded, or simply fails to respond to treatment despite your best manual techniques? In this episode, Jamie Johnston breaks down why these "complex" cases often have nothing to do with physical tissue issues and everythi...

Send us Fan Mail "If you move, your disc will bulge." "Your pelvis is out of alignment." As massage therapists, we often use language intended to help, but we might actually be planting seeds of fear. This fear of movement, or kinesophobia , is one of the biggest drivers of long-term disability. If you find yourself constantly adding new manual modalities to your toolkit becaus...

Send us Fan Mail "How do I treat PTSD differently than childhood abuse?" If you have ever asked this question in an RMT group, you aren’t alone—but you might be focusing on the wrong thing. In our profession, we’ve been taught to categorize trauma into boxes: combat, medical, sexual, or relational. This categorization often leads to "analysis paralysis," leaving therapists seco...

Send us Fan Mail "I’ve tried every technique and every modality, but they’re still not getting better." If you’ve ever felt this frustration, you aren’t alone. When a patient is stuck in a cycle of persistent pain, our instinct as massage therapists is to chase the next certification or find a "magic" hands-on tool. But what if the problem isn’t your toolkit? What if the proble...

Send us Fan Mail "I'm not a psychologist. I should just stay in my lane, right?" As massage therapists, we are often told to refer out the moment a patient mentions mental health struggles. But what happens when that referral is the very thing that makes a patient feel dismissed? What if "staying in our lane" actually sabotages their physical recovery? In this episode, Jam...

Send us Fan Mail "But Jamie, I’m not a personal trainer. I don’t even have a gym in my clinic!" If you’ve ever felt like movement-based therapy is "out of scope" or requires fancy equipment, this episode is for you. Many of us were taught that our value lies solely in what we do to a patient on the table. But when we rely only on passive techniques, we miss the most powerful to...

Send us Fan Mail "I did the work, gave them the stretches, and they still came back two weeks later with no improvement." If that sounds familiar, you aren’t alone. Most massage therapists respond to "difficult" cases by chasing more certifications and better manual techniques. But what if the lack of progress has nothing to do with your hands, and everything to do with the gap...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever scrolled through social media, seen a post about "pain science" or "evidence-based practice," and felt an immediate surge of defensiveness? Like everything you spent thousands of dollars and years of school to learn was being called a lie? In this episode, we’re getting vulnerable about the professional "identity crisis" that many therap...

Send us Fan Mail Are you a massage therapist who feels in over your head or finds yourself avoiding crucial conversations about mental health with your patients? You don't have to keep feeling that way. In this powerful episode, we tackle the reality that your patients often carry more than just physical pain. We introduce a systematic and compassionate approach to navigating mental health di...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever frozen mid-massage because a patient opened up about something heavy—trauma, grief, or deep anxiety—and you had no idea how to respond? In this raw and honest episode,I share the story I rarely like to tell: the day I completely failed a patient after he shared a horrifying moment from his past. I unpack a cringeworthy mistake I made—centering myself in his trauma—an...

Send us Fan Mail I think we've all seen changes in the past couple of years with the pandemic and other things going on. For the both of us, we experienced a significant amount of burnout, so we thought we'd share our stories as we're sure we aren't alone in the experience. And as always, check out our websites. www.themtdc.com www.ericpurves.com   and our emails:  jamie@themtd...

Send us Fan Mail Education, education, education. We constantly promote a better education for Massage Therapists and as those who teach continuing education courses we have a lot of responsibility to keep current with new evidence and research. And so do our associations. Our associations wield some great power in what can and is offered to their perspective memberships for continuing education....

Send us Fan Mail As massage therapists, we often rely on learning new modalities or rely on many of the ones we learned in college as a way to help our patients. But does it really matter which modality we use? There are so many other factors that contribute to better outcomes when people come to see us, the modality we use while the person receives treatment matters less than we've been lead...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss some of the advances, changes, and recommendations that have taken place since the biopsychosocial framework was introduced 40 years ago. This is one of the many things we discuss in our upcoming courses along with therapeutic movement and rehab. These courses can be taken in person, or online so please click the link below and join us in October! REGIST...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss the buzzwords circling around our continuing education and how you can interpret and decide whether the course you're taking is evidence based.   And as always, check out our websites. www.themtdc.com www.ericpurves.com   and our emails:  jamie@themtdc.com hello@ericpurves.com Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss the updated education requirements from our college in BC. While some take this update to think they don't have to take continuing education anymore, we argue that it is our responsibility as healthcare professionals to do so.  And as always, check out our websites. www.themtdc.com www.ericpurves.com   and our emails:  jamie@themtdc.com hello@ericpu...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss some papers that challenge some of the available pain models of understanding. While there are some good challenges on language, the overall message remains the same; treat the person in front of you.  And as always, check out our websites. www.themtdc.com www.ericpurves.com   and our emails:  jamie@themtdc.com hello@ericpurves.com Support the show