Category Archives: bodywork
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Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Posted on December 15, 2020 by Dawn in Anatomy, Articles, bodywork, Human Body, SMRT.Lately I have seen a rash of clients diagnosed with myofascial pain syndrome for shoulder pain. Myofascial pain syndrome is defined as a disorder in which pressure on sensitive points in the muscles causes pain in seemingly unrelated body parts. Symptoms include persistent pain or a tender muscle knot. Two years ago, I saw the […]
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Working the Head and Face
Posted on February 2, 2020 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Head & Neck, Human Body, massage therapy, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Written by Dawn Lewis I am going to say something radical. The bones in the head and face are not, I repeat, not fused in adult humans. I know that is the common wisdom in western medicine. I believe that this is because medical professionals do not work directly with the head and face. Why […]
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How do you work Psoas Major?
Posted on November 21, 2019 by Dawn in Abdomen, Anatomy, bodywork, Human Body, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, NCBTMB approved continuing education, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.How do you work psoas? Do you work psoas? Maybe better questions are why should we work psoas and what does psoas work do for the client? Psoas major is a muscle that massage therapists are overly focused on. Most learned to work psoas for any lower back pain or hip pain. Some are […]
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Massage Therapy for Sinus Trouble
Posted on April 14, 2019 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Head & Neck, NCBTMB approved continuing education, Sinus Trouble, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Headaches, Watery Eyes, Pressure, Pain One morning recently, I had a massage session at 7 am for an hour and a half. This particular client began to see me for sinus issues. He had 2 sinus surgeries. When I began to see him, he suffered from constant headaches, his left eye watered constantly, he felt […]
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Shoulder Pain & Limited ROM
Posted on March 28, 2019 by Dawn in Anatomy, Back & Spine, bodywork, Human Body, massage therapy, Ribs, Shoulders, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Referral Last week I saw a new client sent to me by a doctor I know. She has shoulder pain and limited ROM. The doctor had sent her to physical therapy because her insurance would pay for physical therapy. The physical therapist could do nothing to her shoulder without her feeling intense pain and making […]
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Bladder Issues
Posted on March 19, 2019 by Dawn in Abdomen, Anatomy, bodywork, Hips & Sacrum, massage therapy, NCBTMB approved continuing education, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Bladder Issues I am teaching SMRT hips, lower back, & abdomen right now. Getting to Fort Worth for this class was an adventure. We had an enormous blizzard in Aurora, they cancelled my flight, closed all major (and most minor) highways in and out of the city, I decided to drive around the highway closure, […]
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Abdomen Work
Posted on February 8, 2019 by Dawn in Abdomen, Anatomy, bodywork, Lower Back, massage therapy, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Abdomen Work One of my long standing lymphedema clients came in the other day and asked me to spend half of the session working on her lower back. She booked an hour and a half, so plenty of time. I have addressed her back pain in the past, but not for several months. She has […]
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Persistent Knee Pain
Posted on January 25, 2019 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Knees, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Persistent Knee Pain Yesterday, I had a client with a persistent right knee issue. She cannot identify anything that happened to cause her knee pain. Each area I worked on led to a feeling of pressure in another area. I began at her right knee, which created pressure in her right ankle, went to her […]
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Psoas Major
Posted on January 11, 2019 by Dawn in Abdomen, Anatomy, bodywork, Hips & Sacrum, massage therapy, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Abdominal Wall Let’s talk about psoas major. In all of our SMRT hip classes, I tell the therapists attending that psoas is a victim of many things and a perpetrator of very little. Yet, massage therapists, when we think of abdominal work are focused mainly on psoas. In part this is because we do not […]
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Shortened Hip Flexors
Posted on December 31, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Lower Extremities, massage therapy, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Shortened Hip Flexors A new client came to me because she had searing, burning pain on the upper lateral right thigh. This was stopping her from moving well. She had been to many people without any relief. Her issue, after assessment, appeared to be coming from shortened hip flexors. As well as a narrowing of […]
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A Mean Headache
Posted on December 26, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Elbow, Head & Neck, Human Body, massage therapy, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, NCBTMB approved continuing education, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique, Tennis Elbow.A Mean Headache A client this week presented with “a mean headache”. She said that it began in the suboccipital area, and traveled up the back of her head. It landed at her right temple. Her right eye hurt, and she said, “her jaw felt weak” and she had an uncontrollable urge to swallow. Palpation […]
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SMRT Basic Series
Posted on November 12, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, Articles, bodywork, Hips & Sacrum, massage therapy, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.SMRT Basic Series After the class I just taught, one of the students wanted to take her practical test for her full body SMRT basic series certification. The way this practical works is that I give the therapist a real issue with my body (in this case, right hip pain) and they use SMRT in […]
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Back Pain
Posted on October 19, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, Back & Spine, bodywork, massage therapy, Ribs, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Weird Feeling Tuesday, one of our clients came in for a yoga class. As I walked into our classroom she was telling the yoga teacher about her back. She mentioned how she often had pain and “a weird feeling” in the middle of her back. Without thinking I reached out and touched her back. I […]
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Gluteal Amnesia
Posted on September 28, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Feet, Lower Back, massage therapy, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique, Testimonials and Reviews.Gluteal Amnesia Yesterday I had a new client complaining of lower back pain. “It just hurts right here!” She said, grinding her fist into her right SI joint area. She asked questions throughout the session. I began by working on her abdomen but quickly recognized that her left gluteus maximus muscle had decreased tone. Something […]
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Chronic Headaches
Posted on September 21, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Head & Neck, massage therapy, Ribs, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Chronic Headaches Okay, I am going to tell you a funny and mildly graphic and useful story. One of my clients has chronic, intense headaches. She messaged me last week begging for an appointment. She had gone to the doctor, gotten pills, taken them, and felt the headache was worse instead of better. I am […]
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Pectoralis Major
Posted on September 14, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, Articles, bodywork, massage therapy, Shoulders, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Pectoralis Major Let’s talk about pectoralis major. Recently I taught an SMRT lower extremities course. During classes therapists/students finish their trades at slightly different times. There was a table in the room that finished with about 5 minutes left before I called time. The person working began to work on a tender spot their partner […]
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Erythema Nodosum
Posted on September 7, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, Articles, bodywork, Legs, Lower Leg, massage therapy, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Erythema Nodosum One of my newer clients has erythema nodosum, a condition in which any pressure through touch on the lower leg causes tender nodules in the subcutaneous fat that can take weeks to resolve. Typically this condition resolves itself in a few weeks. This client has had it for years. Her pain complaints are […]
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Thyroidectomy & Vertigo
Posted on August 31, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, Articles, Back & Spine, bodywork, Head & Neck, Hips & Sacrum, massage therapy, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, Ribs, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Thyroidectomy What happened in SMRT class in Pittsburgh? So much!! First, we had a therapist in class who had a thyroidectomy. The scar tissue in the front of her neck was pulling her chin and trachea inferior and posterior. On Saturday, we did SMRT for the anterior neck and I did some extra work on […]
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Relief without Pain
Posted on August 24, 2018 by Dawn in Abdomen, Anatomy, bodywork, massage therapy, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Relief Without Pain Imagine a world in which you, as a massage therapist, could change the tone of piriformis or psoas without using pressure or causing pain to the client, in a way that creates tonal balance from right to left and lasts. That is world of SMRT. A couple of years ago I met […]
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Scar Treatment
Posted on August 19, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, massage therapy, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique.Scar Treatment Last weekend I taught an advanced SMRT shoulder class in Raleigh, NC. In the advanced SMRT classes we have people come in to get worked on at the end of class. One of the women who came in for a keloid scar treatment. It ran down the center of her chest from open […]
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