Simplifying MFR: A Proposed Feedback Loop for Myofascial Release/Manual Therapy
Over the course of the past few month I've done some of the most time-intensive work I've done since my college days. I was approached early in 2014 by Medbridge Education, a leading online resource for Continuing Education Trainings for physical therapists. They were in the process of expanding their offerings to include massage therapists and wished me to be a part of that process. Since that time they have expanded my offerings to be available for CE credits for PTs and MTs. Both the PT and MT CEU classes will be available in early 2015. A result of this process was the need to rethink my approach to not only teaching, but how to best represent my thoughts and beliefs to an expanding online/indirect market.
For years I have been refining/redefining the mental and physical process for I use for evaluation and treatment. I long ago discarded my reliance on a bio-mechanical/postural-based model of evaluation and treatment, in no small part due to published papers such as this one. As a part of my Medbridge preparations, I came up with a Feedback Loop that expresses my evaluative journey quite well. (The image of the Feedback Loop is a bit blurred, but left click on the image below to see it more clearly.)
What signals do we seek which tells us we have encountered an area in our patient that would benefit from treatment? Please notice I have avoided labeling the "problem tissue", as I do believe there is too much guesswork when we do so and that any claims we make are more a result of our education/training/belief than it is from actual fact. (I speak frequently about avoiding "palpatory pareidolia", as so well explained by Paul Ingraham.) This Feedback Loop is what I use every time I touch a patient and which helps me to not only locate areas of concern, but also gives a chance for validation from my patient and easily tells me not only where to treat, but even which direction to treat.
Thoughts?
For Now,
Walt Fritz, PT