Water is a vital part of living things, especially the human being. The following facts from my rebounding seminar may be of interest to you.             

             ?Over 70% of total body weight is water.  Most people know that blood, lymph, urine,  sweat, and tears are mostly water.  The lungs are 90% water, the brain is 76% water, and even the bones are 25% water.

             ?67% of the water in the body is inside the cell (i.e. the intracellular fluid).  The other 33% lies outside the cells in the extracellular fluid that flows through the fascia?s extracellular matrix.?

       Scientific research on the fascial system was done on cadavers. As we all know cadavers are brittle, so the only focus was on the three dimensional fibrous network and no attention was paid to the fluidity of the body. The fascial system is the container of the fluid and the transport medium of the fluid and all that lies within.

      I would like to quote from the 40 years of research done in Germany. ?The Extracellular Matrix and the Ground Regulation? by Alfred Pischinger is a fascinating book full of information about the importance and functions of the fascia?s extracellular matrix.  The following quotes are by Dr. James Oschman who wrote the foreword:

           ?The ground substance gel is composed of water, proteoglycans and related molecules with strong collagen fibers embedded within it.?

             ?Recent research also has demonstrated that the matrix components are actually semi- conducting liquid crystals, materials known to have a variety of remarkable properties for  transmissions, storage and processing of  information.?

              ?Simply stated, every function and every process of the human body involves the fascia?s matrix in one way or another. The reason for this is every cell in the body  is nourished by the fascia?s extracellular matrix and all waste products of the cellular metabolism likewise pass through the ground substance which is the actual milieu. The matrix is also the terrain in which all immune responses and tissue repair processes take place.?

    These 40 years of research have helped to explain why Myofascial Release is so extraordinarily effective.  This is an exciting time to be a Myofascial Release therapist.  Join us to be part of this important revolution in healthcare!

John

Starting a business is really challenging for many reasons,. Somethings can be avoidedn but one thing you will always need for any business is customers. Not just any customers, you want to attract the right customers. Some people might confuse massage therapist for (lack of a better word) “prostitutes”". Please keep in mind that you are educated, you spent your hard earned money to get that education, along with your time to become a proffesional, don’t let anyone insult you and your proffesion. One thing that is really important to me in my practice is proper draping. I tell all potential clients that I use proper draping, and some people become clients and others don’t. If they decide not to get a massage from me because I drape, I don’t take it personally, its their loss, and I don’t want them as clinets anyways. For those people that do become clients, I find that they really appreciate the draping. It makes them feel safe that they are in the hands of a proffesional.

Bee Healthy. Bee Happy. Bee Well…

One of my concerns in the massage profession is the way massage therapists are treated by employers and also figuring out what is the appropriate status for a massage employee.  Most massage therapists work as independent or subcontractor status which is basically saying that you are self employed.   It is my personal belief from the research I have done through the years that most are being hired as subcontractors when they should really be full employees with full employee benefits.   I have yet to find a concrete legal reference and there is a lot of conflicting information.  After talking to and reading many questions from massage therapists there is not of course one clear answer.  Figuring it out is actually the responsibility of the employer because they are the ones who will be hit with back taxes and penalties.

There are many different criteria for figuring out your own status and I have a bunch more info on my regular blog citing articles online from many different sources -www.thebodyworker.com

There is the legal aspects of this that are important not only for who pays taxes but the legal aspects also fold into the ethical aspects – do you want to work for someone who may be taking advantage of you?   It will not only come out in how you are paid but also how much you are paid.  It will show up in how you get along with the person who hires you and the company itself.   Ethically speaking you want a nice place to work and one that also respects you and makes you a part of the team.

If anyone has any other legal references let me know and of course all stories you have would help others in trying to figure this all out!

Cerebral lateralization has been a hot topic in neuroscience for centuries. How does it apply to body patterns we see in clinic, i.e., does right motor dominance cause hypertonicity in highly innervated tissues such as iliopsoas, rotatores, multifidi, scalenes, suboccipitals? Recall that the 11th cranial nerve innervates the upper traps and SCM. Do you look for and/or expect to see certain repeated structural patterns possibly due to motor dominance?

Check out this intriguing article in the new Scientific American:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=evolutionary-origi…

Do you know what you are doing wrong?

Today?s massage marketing environment is substantially different than it was even ten years ago. If you?ve been doing the same types of marketing for years and they were once successful but are not as effective now there is a good reason for that.

Pull vs Push your messages to others

Society has changed and the way people expect to hear from you has changed. Where marketing and communications used to be your practice sending information ?out? or pushing information to patients and prospects, it is now about you brining them in or ?pulling? them to you. Communicating in our society has changed and your marketing communications should reflect that change from a push to a pull strategy. Pushing your information out to anyone that would listen in order to initiate a conversation worked in the past, but no more. Now there is a need to pull prospects and clients into your sphere ? this is today?s communication. This is how to connect with people today.

How Obama changed the face of social media

A great example of this was Obama?s presidential campaign. I did a ton of research on this for the healthcare conference I did a workshop in January. Obama did an awesome job ?marketing? his campaign and run for presidency. His messaging played an important role (for change) as well as the WAYS he connected with people.

Obama was able to raise over 200 million dollars through a pull marketing strategy. He did this by pulling people in one small step at a time. He received absolutely none of that money from businesses. He built an email list of 3.5 million people in a very short time span. In a very easy and nonintrusive way he simply asked people to join his list to keep up to date on what was going on. He would then ask them to donate small amounts, $10, $15, $20 increments (this is just like asking people to take small steps to improve their health). He spoke to them through short text messages through twitter and YouTube. All with their permission. All through short, concise marketing communications.

How do we know this? Simply take a look at what?s going on with new communication trends. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all about sending short, concise messages to people that asked to or agreed to hear from you.

Why the change?

There is so much ?noise? going on around us and we are all so bombarded with advertisements that we simply can?t process it all.

So healthcare consumers are electing who and what they want to hear about, just like consumers in any other industry.

Bringing this back to you and your practice, look at what types of marketing you are doing. Are you sending things out, out, out and not asking for a commitment or an action from your community? Are you doing the same old post cards, the same old grocery cart brand awareness?

If you are not asking prospects to say ?yes? to hear from you they are probably not listening. You don?t have their buy-in. You are pushing.

What are some pull strategies that work well?

Anything where you are getting your client or prospect to say ?yes I want to hear from you?. An ezine or this blog is a perfect example. You agreed to receive it. You learned a little bit about it, obviously are interested in healthcare marketing, and gave us your name and email address to learn more.

Blogs, podcasts, newsletters and ezines where the reader has asked to receive the information (rather than just sending it to them), are just a few examples of ways to incorporate a pull strategy into your marketing rather than the current push strategy you may be using.

If you are seeing your marketing is not as effective as it once was understand there is a reason. Look at how you are connecting with both your clients and your prospects.

Contact us at Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com or call 303-460-0285 for more information.

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is an award winning author, copywriter and healthcare marketing coach/consultant. Kelly is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit.

Kelly Robbins also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, ?5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits? at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

Colorado has just passed a regulatory bill (SB-219) for massage therapists that is awaiting the Governor’s signature. Although it started out as a bill for state licensing, it ended up being state registration, with all of the components of licensing, just by a different name. Such is the nature of legislative compromise. Passage of the bill is the result of several years of work by a coalition of AMTA and ABMP. As always when state regulation is on the table, there is a wide variety of opinion about the need or desirability for regulation.

I personally believe that regulation will be good for Colorado. We have many resort towns that have had no regulation at all, and anyone could show up for the ski season and proclaim themselves a “massage therapist”, whether or not they had any training or experience. In my mind, this put vacationing skiers at more risk for receiving substandard, possibly injurious, massage.

I welcome your thoughts on Colorado regulation, or on how things work where you live.

Network Marketing is the way that many excellent health food and drink products not sold in stores are distributed in the modern marketplace.  Unfortunately, people often confuse network marketing with ?pyramid schemes? or scams, without fully understanding the concept.  If a network marketing company does not produce a product, or products of value, then it probably is a scam, or worthless scheme.  However, when anyone buys from a store, be it health food, drinks or diapers then they have participated in a network marketing pyramid ?scheme? of some type.

For typical corporations, including some big health food companies, the manufacturer is at the top of the pyramid, the CEO is next, followed by shareholders, employees, advertising agencies and the actors or celebrities promoting the products.  Shipping companies, store owners, managers and employees are also part of this ?network marketing scheme? while the customer is down at the bottom of the pyramid.

In a good network marketing company, the health food consumer is the distributor, the marketing agent, the advertising agency, and the store.  In fact, it?s much more of a cooperative relationship between the manufacturer, the sales rep and the consumer.  Often, the top distributors are real business partners with the health food manufacturer and understand all the processes and ingredients used.

Granted, only the idea of getting rich is what a few network companies offer, without any solid products to back up the sales force.  If the company doesn?t manufacture anything or they produce only one health food or drink product, and they don?t manufacture it themselves, then be suspicious. Unfortunately, many network marketing companies do not make their own health food products.  Instead, they use a third party manufacturer, and who really knows what?s going into those products or how they are processed?

Some health food and drink companies that use network marketing for distribution do offer real value and real business opportunities.  However, if the sales pitch is all about making millions of dollars without hard work or solid product focus, then run the other way.  Really, though, in a tough economy, network marketing can be a great way to create income without having to find a job.  Also, helping others find the best health food and drinks available today is a rewarding way to make a living.

Now is an excellent time to look ahead for marketing and networking opportunities related to National Stress Awareness Month.  The Health Resource Network recently disseminated this press release:

For the 17th consecutive year, April 2009 has been designated “Stress Awareness Month.” During this thirty day period, health care professionals and health promotion experts across the country will join forces to increase public awareness about both the causes and cures for our modern stress epidemic.

Sponsored by The Health Resource Network (HRN), a non-profit health education organization, Stress Awareness Month is a national, cooperative effort to inform people about the dangers of stress, successful coping strategies, and harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in our society.

“Even though we’ve learned a lot about stress in the past twenty years,”says Dr. Morton C. Orman, M.D., Founder and Director of HRN, “we’ve got a long way to go. New information is now available that could help millions of Americans eliminate their suffering.”

Dr. Orman has invited leading health care organizations across the country to develop and disseminate helpful educational materials and other information about stress during the month of April. He is also promoting public forums, discussion groups,and other informative community events.

The Health Resource Network is a non-profit health education organization established in 1982. It consists of health professionals, health promotion experts, and educators committed to developing more effective programs for improving health and preventing disease. In addition to sponsoring Stress Awareness Month, the organization also sponsors National Stress Awareness Day, held every April 16–or the day after income taxes are due!

##

www.stresscure.com/hrn

Now that you know, what will you do to promote your massage practice as an antidote to stress?  I look forward to your creative ideas.

1. Life and success are all about how you are BEING, not what you are DOING

2. Know in the depth of your soul you are here to serve others

3. Selling is about something you do FOR someone, not TO someone

4. Quiet your mind enough to listen to your intuition

5. There is no competition. Your success or failure is all about you and only you

6. Always BE 100% your true self. Not how you think you should act or how you perceive everyone else to be

7. When you are serving others act as a channel for spirit. Forget about your needs for the moment and focus solely on theirs

8. Be vigilant in controlling your thoughts

9. Set your intention, then see and feeeel yourself achieving it

10. Look for opportunities in unexpected places. Always

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is an award winning author, copywriter and healthcare marketing coach/consultant. Kelly is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit.

Kelly Robbins also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, ?5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits? at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

Hi Susan,

You recently asked the following question regarding thwarted inflammatory processes.

?Hi John,
Just finished Myofascial Release Women?s Health (http://www.myofascialrelease.com/seminars/sem_women.asp), and STILL processing! All good! Could you further explain ?thwarted inflammatory response?? In the Kinestheology world the psoas muscle is most affected by lack of hydration.

Thanks! Blessings,
Susan Simmons RN, LMT?

            I am glad that you enjoyed my Myofascial Release Women’s Health Seminar.  As you know, inflammation is an important part of the healing process.  The inflammatory response can be stopped or thwarted by physical and/or emotional trauma or anti-inflammatory drugs (iatrogenic or physician induced). This can stop complete healing.  Myofascial Release stimulates the completion of the inflammatory stage and allows for complete healing. 

            I am sure that most therapists realize that the psoas complex is in a chronically contracted and dehydrated state in too many people.  From a Myofascial perspective, the fascia, our body?s only whole body system, can become fibrous and dehydrated anywhere it has been traumatized.  The routines or protocols that we were taught are too generalized (one size fits all) to be meaningful.  Myofascial Release therapy is individualized to each patient, thereby allowing one to find the exact areas that are restricted in that person for maximal effectiveness.   

            For more information on thwarted inflammatory responses, you can go to John?s new Therapeutic Insight article on the Massage Magazine website.  Just click on the following link:

http://www.massagemag.com/News/massage-news.php?id=7057&catid=62&title=therapeutic-insight-the-myofascial-release-perspectivewhat-do-you-believe

In addition, if you have any questions, insights or comments, feel free to add them at the end of John?s ?Therapeutic Insight? column.  Just scroll down below the article and click on the ?post your comment? tab.  It is always interesting to hear others responses and experiences on this topic

Sincerely,

John F. Barnes, P.T., L.M.T., N.C.T.M.B.