Conference Canberra May 2019
Last weekend I attended the Massage & Myotherapy Conference in our Nations Capital. Massage & Myotherapy Australia is the largest Association of Qualified Remedial Massage Therapists in Australia - boasting over 8,000 members. I have been a member for over 10 years now and attended 5 conferences.
The conference is a chance to Connect with other like minded therapists, learn new techniques and keep up to date with the latest trends and advancements in Remedial Massage.
So how is this relevant to you?
This blog is just a way to let our clients and people interested in Massage become aware of the amazing developments happening in our industry. This in turn gives you access to the most up to date techniques now being offered.
Inspirational Key Note Speaker - Nadine Champion
We were very privileged to have Nadine Champion as the key note speaker of the conference. Nadine is a World Champion Gold Medal winning Karate and Kick boxer. She is also a World Class Public Speaker and received a standing ovation at her first ever TEDx Talk at the Sydney Opera House in 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Zfscuv_YE
Her book 10 Seconds of Courage is written plainly and resonates with everyone, not just martial arts enthusiasts. I highly recommend it :)
Latest in Remedial Massage
New techniques in Manual Lymphatic Drainage - Lymphodema Specialists - a BIG break through in the way we do manual lymph drainage that will be filtering through to TAFE and Private RTOS, with the invent of Indocyanine -green (ICG) imaging, we can now see that the lymph vessels are not as 'delicate' as first thought. With cutting edge technology, the ALA were able to change the pressure of the technique to be more 'heavy handed' and as a result the effectiveness of reducing oedema in the interstitial tissue was quicker and more comprehensive (Leonie Norman and Susan Butcher)
Massage Devices - whole host of varying types of balls with different soft/hardness in the compound. We know that balls and rollers work on the fascia but emerging evidence is showing how they effect the nervous system. So it is OK to roll but NOT to 9/10 pain more like 5/10, and use a softer ball for across the fibres and a firmer ball/roller with the fibres.Also spiky or rumble rollers create more information for the nervous system. (Carrie Newbold Recharge - engineer and massage therapist
Touch - understanding that Touch is the first sense to develop at 6 weeks in Utero and the last sense we loose - after our hearing and vision diminish - so important for the elderly (Susan Davis - 40 years experience in Chronic pain as a Massage Therapist)
Stretching
I did a break-out workshop and learnt so much from the very talented Rob Orr -Clinical Myotherapist and Accredited McKenzie Therapist.
We looked at how stretching the spine using dynamic forms of extension stretching benefited the whole of the body. For years we have been taught static or stationary stretching and told to hold it for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Latest research shows it is not as effective, that we should actually be doing it for 3 minutes AND most importantly we should NOT be doing static stretching before sport. It actually reduces the force/power of our muscles. Instead we should be doing movement based Dynamic stretching,.https://www.roborr.rehab/
I was so interested in this that I will be organising a stretching workshop hopefully in July. So please check Facebook for announcements.
So all in all a great conference, and looking forward to continually improving our services at Hills Massage by integrating what I have learnt.