Category Archives: Human Body
Blog on bones and muscles in the Human Body
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Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Posted on December 15, 2020 by Dawn in Anatomy, Articles, bodywork, Human Body, SMRTLately 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 TechniqueWritten 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 TechniqueHow 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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Vagus Nerves and Inflammation
Posted on September 18, 2019 by Dawn in Articles, Human Body, Physiology, Questions and Answers, SMRTAlthough chronic inflammation progresses silently, it is the cause of most chronic diseases and presents a major threat to the health and longevity of individuals. Inflammation is considered a major contributor to several diseases, such as: Cardiovascular diseases Diabetes Rheumatoid Arthritis Cancer Allergic Asthma Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Alzheimers Chronic Kidney Disease Inflammatory Bowel […]
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Floating Pain
Posted on April 26, 2019 by Dawn in Anatomy, Articles, Back & Spine, Hips & Sacrum, Human Body, Lower Back, Lower Extremities, Lower Leg, massage therapy, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueFloating Pain I want to describe a session I recently had with you. Client’s complaint was hip and pelvic pain that “floated” into the lower back once in awhile. I started at the feet. I checked the plantar flexion and dorsiflexion in each ankle. The right ankle moved easier into plantar flexion with limited dorsiflexion. […]
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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 TechniqueReferral 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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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 ElbowA 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 Changes
Posted on August 10, 2018 by Dawn in Articles, bodywork, Human Body, massage therapy, NCBTMB approved continuing education, Self Responsibilty, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique, Testimonials and ReviewsStudent Interaction Recently I had the an interaction with a student/therapist in one of my SMRT classes about “new” bodywork. He came into class assuming that this SMRT class would be a breeze for him because he had 30 years experience and had been made to take CE classes every 2 years for license renewal. […]
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Urination Complications
Posted on May 25, 2018 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Human Body, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueUrination Complications Recently, I saw a client I had never seen before. He contacted me because of an article I wrote 4 or 5 years ago about working with clients who cannot urinate after surgery. My success (and now my students), intrigued him. Typically I cannot get someone booked in a short time period. I […]
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Let’s Talk About SMRT
Posted on December 1, 2017 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Feet, Human Body, Knees, massage therapy, Questions and Answers, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueLet’s Talk About SMRT Let’s talk about SMRT (Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique). We call it a bodywork modality and we teach it with a specific set of positions. But, we then tell you to modify every position for the person on the table. So, why do we use a set of positions if you are […]
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SMRT Works on Lower Extremities
Posted on September 8, 2017 by Dawn in bodywork, Human Body, Legs, Lower Back, Lower Extremities, massage therapy, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, NCBTMB approved continuing education, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueI met a therapist in a class last year who, at only 26 years old, was bent at the hip. I attempted to help her with body mechanics, and she explained that it had been 2 years since she had stood up straight. She had given up on getting rid of the lower back pain […]
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Working on the Abdominal Muscles
Posted on July 7, 2017 by Dawn in Abdomen, Human Body, massage therapy, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, NCBTMB approved continuing education, Physiology, Ribs, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueHow often do you work on the abdominal muscles? What do you do? When using SMRT, we teach therapists to balance left and right abdominal muscle tone by working directly with each of the abdominal muscles. The Respiratory Diaphragm We begin with releases for the respiratory diaphragm. The respiratory diaphragm is of major importance to […]
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Using SMRT on the Rib Cage
Posted on June 30, 2017 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, Human Body, Ribs, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueThe 2017 student experience was a few weeks ago and the learning was intense. The work we gave and received was amazing. A good time was had by all! During our Saturday discussion, one of the students asked me how to assess the rib cage as a whole. In our basic series we typically work […]
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SMRT as Continuing Education for Personal Trainers
Posted on June 16, 2017 by Dawn in Anatomy, Feet, Human Body, Knees, Legs, Lower Extremities, Physiology, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueIn May, I became a certified personal trainer. I did this mainly to add value to my teaching and the SMRT video streaming service. I also did this because several states have prohibited bodyworkers from giving clients stretches or exercises and I think more will follow suit. I feel like the exercise piece is the […]
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Manual Therapy for the Anterior Neck
Posted on May 26, 2016 by Dawn in Anatomy, Articles, Head & Neck, Human Body, Physiology, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueRecently I read an article about a woman suing a massage therapist and Massage Envy. The woman believes that the massage therapist was aggressive enough on her anterior neck that it lead to a stroke. I do not know if this is possible, but I do not know that it is impossible. Since that article […]
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Nociceptors, Proprioceptors and SMRT
Posted on October 7, 2015 by Dawn in bodywork, Human Body, NCBTMB approved continuing education, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueThe most difficult thing for me to do with Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique (SMRT) is describe it verbally. I have said many times that the principles of SMRT are the same as those for Strain/Counterstrain. With SMRT we create a specific conversation with the proprioceptors, as well as the nociceptors, mechanoreceptors, and baroreceptors. We […]
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SMRT Massage-a-thon
Posted on March 14, 2015 by Dawn in Abdomen, Anatomy, Back & Spine, bodywork, Head & Neck, Hips & Sacrum, Human Body, SMRTPatti, Rhonda, and I just got back from our yearly SMRT massage-a-thon, which is a once a year trip for only the 3 of us to work on each other. We do hour and a half tandems on each other each day for 4 days straight. It was fabulous!! Here are some of the wonderful […]
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Scar Tissue from C-sections and Abdominal Surgery
Posted on September 18, 2014 by Dawn in Anatomy, Human Body, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, NCBTMB approved continuing education, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueI have a new client. She was referred to me by one of my chiropractors for lymphedema in her left arm. A year and a half ago she had 28 lymph nodes removed from her left axilla. This has left her with lymphedema for which she had had no treatments. From the first session, she […]
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Iliotibial Band (ITB)
Posted on September 3, 2014 by Dawn in Human Body, massage therapy, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, Muscle Pain, NCBTMB approved continuing education, Physiology, Questions and Answers, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueThe iliotibial band (ITB) or tract (ITT) is for some of us impenetrable. I have clients who use foam rollers, percussers, heavy stretching with bands, etc. and still cannot effectively soften the ITT. I have students who use t-bars, elbows, stretches, deep pressure, etc. and, after all that work, simply do not get the […]
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The thigh bone’s connected to the…..
Posted on December 19, 2013 by Dawn in Anatomy, bodywork, CE's on DVD, Human Body, Massage CE's on DVD, massage therapy, Massage Therapy Continuing Education, Muscle Pain, NCBTMB approved continuing education, SMRT, Spontaneous Muscle Release TechniqueWritten by Dawn Lewis I was working on a client this week and was reminded of how insidious compensation patterns can be. This client, we will call her Zelda, severely broke her left tibia about a year and a half ago. Surgery to put plates, screws, and pins in her left tibia was successful, but […]
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