Thoughts on Cupping

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Thoughts on Cupping

In the Rio Olympics, American athletes were sporting cupping marks and this sparked a media frenzy. Some of the articles had a positive spin and some of the articles had a negative spin. One of the main arguments against cupping was that cupping lacks scientific evidence. Here is a suggestion for the pragmatic clinician, rather than writing it off completely, a more rational response would be to put treatments in perspective without actually dismissing them, and discuss a hypothesis that is inline with the current scientific understanding of how the body works.  

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What’s happening when our joints crack and is it bad?

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What’s happening when our joints crack and is it bad?

We’ve all had the experience of standing up and hearing a loud pop in our back or hip, or trying to tiptoe through the house only to have our foot make a cracking sound each time we take a step. So what’s happening in our joints when this happens, and is it a bad sign?

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Massage Therapy and Concussions

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Massage Therapy and Concussions

This year has been my third year attending the annual See The Line Concussion Research Symposium. Every year there is something new that I learn and someone brings up old information that I have forgotten, so here I put together some of my notes so massage therapists can have a reference page if they are looking to get into working with a patient population who have suffered a concussion or is suffering from post-concussion syndrome.

Image Credit: Andreas Vesalius' Fabrica, published in 1543, showing the base of the human brain, including optic chiasma, cerebellum, olfactory bulbs, etc.

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Acupuncture for neck pain

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Acupuncture for neck pain

Last week I provided some studies that look at the effect of acupuncture on patients with knee osteoarthritis.  It is clear that the placebo response is a big part of why patients feel better, but it is also a within the realm of reasons that patients have a complex biopsychosocial response to acupuncture that INCLUDES but is not LIMITED to placebo. 

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