March 27, 2016

The House of Cards characters have terrible sleep habits

March 27, 2016/ Richard Lebert

"Rarely does an episode go by that we don’t see Claire lounging in bed, papers strewn across the blanket and MacBook screen glowing in the reflection of her wayfarers. Frank is guilty in a different way, suited up and typing away at his computer in the Oval Office in the middle of the night or playing games on his tablet. Reading and working late are one thing, but the blue light from their screens is probably destroying their bodies’ natural circadian rhythms."

March 21, 2016

Those Sore Spots in Your Muscles!

March 21, 2016/ Richard Lebert

Some call them 'knots', some call them 'myofascial trigger-points', they have even been referred to as 'soft tissue sore spots of an unknown origin'. One of the things that is confusing about those sore spots in your body is the plurality of definitions. Just to break it down to general terms knots are often used as a layman's term to describe myofascial trigger-points, but depending on who you are talking to knots and myofascial trigger-points may not be synonymous. Some call them muscles knots, some call them trigger points, they have even been referred to as soft tissue sore spots of an unknown origin. What are those sore spots in your muscles that massage therapists work on?

March 21, 2016

Three reasons why sleep is important for your health

March 21, 2016/ Richard Lebert

"Many of us don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis. It might be due to a sleep disorder, busy social life, new baby, long working hours, shift work or just staying up too late binge-watching Netflix. But not getting enough quality sleep can have significant implications for health."

March 16, 2016

Brain Stimulation in Sport: is it fair?

March 16, 2016/ Richard Lebert

Will we see neuropriming at this summer’s Olympic games?

"New advances in neuroscience have pointed the way to performance enhancement by stimulating the activity of the brain. Mild electrical stimulation using electrodes placed on the head – called transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, makes the brain more or less active, and may lead to long-lasting changes in brain processing."

March 13, 2016

A Guide to Reading Massage Therapy Research

March 13, 2016/ Bryan Quesnelle

As massage therapists, we’re often told we need to keep up with the latest research to make sure our practice is as evidence-based as possible. Unfortunately, many of us have very little experience in reading and evaluating research, so keeping up with the newest evidence can be intimidating. How do we know if a particular piece of research is good, and should be considered when we create our treatment plans?

March 13, 2016

5 Systematic Reviews That Lend Credibility To Massage Therapy

March 13, 2016/ Richard Lebert

Massage Therapy Literature Countdown - Systematic Reviews
Here we break down a list of five systematic review that lend credibility to massage therapy as a conservative approach for management of aches an pains. There are a number of systematic reviews that could have been included, the idea of a list was to impose constraints that forced me be decisive and include what I felt to be the strongest reviews. The RMT Education Project is an initiative that is working to promote the benefits of massage therapy to an international audience. If you would like to learn more about massage therapy, check out 'The Massage Therapy Literature Countdown'.

The RMT Education Project Blog