Neuromuscular Therapy for the Cranium and Cervical Region
I spent this weekend at a workshop put on by the NMT Center. It was Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) for the cranium and cervical region. It was awesome! Our teacher was Judith Delany, the head of the NMT Center and the co-author, along with Leon Chaitow, of Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques vol. 1 and vol. 2. It was a real treat. The first day she lectured about not only neuromuscular therapy, but also about inflammation and chronic illness and how leptin potentially plays into all of that. She really made it a point to drive home the fact that massage therapists (and therapists of all kinds really) need to think global about their clients/patients problems and not just think local and be so myopic. The following two days were a combination of anatomy lecture and hands on work for the cranium and cervical region. It was the first time I have ever worked on the muscles inside of the mouth and it was also the first time I have ever worked directly on the anterior portion of the cervical spine, done so by taking one hand and CAREFULLY displacing the esophagus, hyoid and thyroid cartilage towards the mid line of the body so that you can access the logus coli and longus capitis (intense stuff!). The work was challenging but something that I am really going to strive to be good at because (a) this work is extremely important and a lot of people NEED it and (b) not very many people are doing this work at all.
Overall, I would recommend this course to anyone in the field of massage therapy, chiropractic, physical therapy, osteopathy, medical doctors and dentists. Judith is an incredible teacher with a wealth of knowledge (on far more topics than just massage therapy) and a ton of experience. So far, I have take 2 out of the 4 NMT courses that the NMT center conducts (the other two being lower and upper extremity and then you can sit for the test to be certified) and I must say I am very impressed. These are some of the best workshops I have attended (and I have attended tons). If you are working in a clinical environment, do yourself a favor and check these workshops out. They are more than worth it.
Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com
what did you think about the whole leptin portion of the lecture? Truth be told, I am nonplussed. While leptin may be the key to every illness known to man, in my state it has nothing to do with massage therapy, - it's out of scope for us. I've taken 2 of Judy's workshops, and I would've appreciated more palpation/assessment stuff, and less leptin.
Posted by
joe positive |
November 29, 2008 at 3:44 PM