{"id":3325,"date":"2021-07-07T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/?p=3325"},"modified":"2021-07-11T09:05:31","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T23:05:31","slug":"the-road-to-the-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2021\/07\/07\/the-road-to-the-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to the Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Rajam Roose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, it\u2019s hard to believe that it\u2019s been five and a half years since I closed my massage practice and left the profession to work full time on the San Diego Pain Summit. Back in 1999 when I graduated massage school and started in this profession, I had no idea that it was going to lead me to where I am today \u2013 the founder and organiser of this annual event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my years as a massage therapist, I became curious about this idea: What is really happening under my hands when I give a massage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, there was the explanation about directly changing musculature but I was skeptical of that explanation. Obviously, something was happening \u2013 who hasn\u2019t had first time clients who came into the office full of tension and, after so many sessions, their tissues and expressions on their faces became softer and more relaxed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My curiosity was sparked and I didn\u2019t feel that my massage education gave me all the answers, so I studied under all the most well-known massage educators (in the U.S.) and learned a variety of modalities. Learning all these techniques helped me enjoy being a massage therapist even more \u2013 I didn\u2019t have to stop learning and there was always going to be more information to be had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I kept learning. What money I didn\u2019t spend on continuing education courses, I spent on textbooks about anatomy and physiology, and kinesiology. Many of these were textbooks used by physical therapy students. I wanted to learn more about the human body and what causes pain in hope that it would help me understand more about how massage and other manual therapies help people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, I wondered, what was it about massage that could be helping my clients? What is it that really helps people learn to either recover from or accept their pain? It wasn\u2019t any one technique \u2013 by this point I had learned so many techniques that I was mixing and mashing them up based on what the client seemed to enjoy or felt helped them most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I came across The Sensitive Nervous System<\/a> by David Butler and WHOA! A whole new world opened up. All I had learned in massage school and in these continuing education classes and books was more about posture, biomechanics, muscle tissue, and nothing about the nervous system! Then I read books such as The Body Has A Mind Of Its Own<\/a> by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee, The Patient\u2019s Brain<\/a> by Fabrizio Benedetti, The Tell-Tale Brain<\/a> by V.S. Ramachandran, and many more that highlighted the brain, mind, and nervous system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After reading so many of these books, it seemed what was really helping my clients had little to do with the massage work itself but more about how I communicated with them, consistency in the experience they had visiting my office, and listening. And the more I learn pain science, the more I recognise that to be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Place For Massage Therapists At The Table<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Bronnie Lennox Thompson speaking at San Diego Pain Summit<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I started organising the San Diego Pain Summit, I really wanted to create a space where anyone of any profession could come to talk freely about \u201cnot knowing\u201d and be accepted for it. The truth is, we still don\u2019t know a lot about pain yet we\u2019re surrounded by educators and clinicians who claim to understand pain and have the one technique\/modality to resolve it in all people. As a friend once told me, \u201cit\u2019s not sexy not having the answer\u201d. People want answers, not questions. However, at San Diego Pain Summit conferences, there are a LOT of questions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 25%-30% of attendees are massage therapists, many who come from Canada and a few who have come from New Zealand. The main reason that the San Diego Pain Summit is multi-disciplinary is because evidence shows us that the more variety of health professionals on a patient care team, the better that patient does. Many of the attendees who represent other specialties understand that massage therapists can be a part of a healthcare team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massage therapists are in an interesting position when it comes to healthcare. At least in the U.S., our profession isn\u2019t strictly bound to the U.S. healthcare system. In our work environment, we are expected to spend time speaking with each client and our clients come to us usually looking for advice on lifestyle changes, and this makes it easier for massage professionals to create and foster therapeutic relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes the San Diego Pain Summit so accessible to all healthcare professionals is that the talks don\u2019t typically cover specific techniques. Each year, I bring in a few research scientists to share their current research on pain and the rest of the presenters are clinicians from a variety of disciplines who talk about how they\u2019ve created treatment frameworks based on pain research. When presenters come to the stage to speak, they understand that they are speaking to a multi-disciplinary audience and include them in their talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Instead of coming to learn about a specific treatment, attendees report learning how to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n