On the Cover
Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques:
Part One: Mobilizing Joints Through Muscle Manipulation
by Erik Dalton
Neck and low-back  pain deserve their onerous reputation as the most common complain of humans living in a modern, technologically advanced society. Medical researchers agree that chronic pain is the most disabling condition, as increasing evidence ties acute and chronic back pain to dysfunction of the body's motor system, particularly neuromuscular and skeletal structures. With backache second only to the common headache as America's most painful problem, common sense dictates that manual and medical therapists join forces to find new ways to resolve acute pain episodes before the onset of more complex conditions.

The Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques (MAT) program was developed as a tool to help relieve our nation's neck/back epidemic. By incorporating MAT's muscle-balancing techniques with join-mobilization maneuvers, manual therapists learn to quickly identify and correct dysfunctional strain patterns before they become pain patterns.

In This Issue

From the Ashes: Massage Therapists Share Personal Accounts
of Touch, Tears and Triumph
In the days following Sept. 11, massage and touch therapists from around the country made a sad pilgrimage, one that took them where healing touch was needed most: The world Trade Centers site and other locations in New York City; the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; the airplane crash site near Somerset, Pennsylvania. The therapists volunteered massage, kindness and human connection to help keep the legions of personnel - FBI agents, search-and-rescue teams, firefighters and police officers among them - on the job.

Each therapist's story is unique, colored by the people, circumstances and feelings particular to each situation; yet each account paints a story of compassion, connection and hope for the future.

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Add a Theme to Create Your Dream:
Theatrical Techniques to Rejuvenate Your Practice
by Moryt Milo
Paul Herb was worried. His massage sessions had become too mechanical, and his professional enthusiasm had waned. More and more, he came to realize that his path had veered completely off-course. His seven-day workweek, although a financial and professional success, had left him feeling shallow inside. So after more than a decade - during which he saw the growth of eight locations, a personal product line and massage-training videos - he walked away.

"As a dancer and choreographer I had always been interested in bodies, dance, yoga and health. Massage was a natural extension for me," Paul, 44, recalls. "In the early '70's massage was considered quite alternative. This is what worked for me. It was so open-minded and experimental. I was initially very committed to preserving those very qualities."

Research Matters
by Janet Kahn, Ph.D.

In this column, researcher Janet Kahn, Ph.D., shares what's happening in the area of massage research and what the massage field can do for its advancement. In this issue, Janet discusses the research-related lessons that the massage field can learn form the nursing, chiropractic and acupuncture fields.

R E S E A R C H
Multi-Sensory Stimulation Helps Infants with Brain Injuries

Anorexia Nervosa Symptoms Reduced by Massage

Body & Spa: Mud: Dig it!
by Melinda Minton
As you may know, the word spa is the acronym for "salus per aqua," Latin meaning "good health through water." But did you know that all of that good water also produces great mud?

Mud is one of the healthiest components of spa therapies, when it comes from the correct source and is used appropriately. In fact, mud is the cornerstone of many spa therapies. What's more, there are a variety of types of mud, each notable for its own specific qualities.
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E X P E R T  A D V I C E
by Charlotte Michael Versagi

The pros and cons of selling products, and how to avoid burnout.

Body Language
by Thomas Myers

This column explores the alphabet in somatic terms. In this issue, H: Joseph Heller, and what the hologram can tell us about holistic therapies.
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