RICH MOORE – SPORTS MASSAGE THERAPIST

Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Practitioner’s Guide to Treatment (3rd Ed)
by Leon Chaitow
Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier 2009

An extremely thorough investiagtion into a potentially baffling condition.

As a third year student at Oxford Brookes University on the five year ‘part time’ pathway, I’m beginning to treat patients regularly in clinic and learn about specific pathologies and conditions and their associated treatment modalities. One condition that I have come across a number of times already is Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia or Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is said to affect up to 2% of the adult population so is something that every healthcare practitioner should be aware of.

Chaitow has done a fantastic job of bringing together a wealth of information about the subject to provide as comprehensive a text as you could imagine regarding this condition. Wonderfully presented and clearly broken into relevant sections, this book deserves to be read by everyone dealing with patients suffering from this condition.

Scope of the book

Quite rightly beginning with the history of fibromyalgia and how perceptions and views have changed since it was first recognised in the late 16th Century as ‘rheumatism’ it looks at the changes that have reflected upon the condition and then comes bang up to date with research published in 2008 demonstrating the latest thinking. This superbly sets up following chapters on recognising and differentiating the condition, essential for any practitioner.

The book really comes into its own from this point onwards as it looks at conditions associated with FMS and also potential treatment modalities.

As the condition is so complex, there are many other related illnesses that will often be seen in clinic from IBS to TMJ dysfunction to depression/anxiety and many more. The book does an excellent job of covering as many of these conditions as you’d hope for, offering an insight into how they are related and how they can be treated as a whole.

Accompanying DVD

The book is accompanied by a DVD-ROM that features the entire book in digital format as well as around 20 videos covering various aspects of diagnosis and treatment, ably demonstrated by Mr Chaitow himself. This really helps to bring the subject to life and helps with the detailed treatment options and modalities described in the text.

My only criticism here is that the content is presented as a DVD-ROM rather than DVD meaning that it must be watched on a computer rather than television. I also had some difficulties using the disc on an Apple Mac. It was possible to access the content by this needed to be done by finding individual files, not ideal.

Conclusion

This really is a comprehensive text. It covers everything from the diagnosis to the treatment of the condition which is exactly what a healthcare practitioner, be it osteopath, massage therapist, whichever, is looking for. However, it goes far beyond this to look at the history and conflicting theories about the condition, giving a valuable insight into all elements of the condition.

I feel that the DVD is a bit of a missed opportunity but the supplied videos provide some extra insight.

As a whole, highly recommended.

I’ve finished all my appointments for 2009 and am very happy to report a 46% increase in patients compared to 2008, which is amazing.

We’ve now added a range of osteopathy study aids to the site, which is going to be added to as time permits. These have been designed especially for students of osteopathy to help with learning some of the more fundamental topics.

Big big congratulations to Dan Hardy, one of my long term clients, on his latest UFC win over Mike Swick yesterday. Not only a great win, it opens up a title shot with Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship in 2010.

I’ve worked with Dan for a few years now and he’s always impressed me with his drive, professionalism and self belief. Great fighter that GSP is, I wouldn’t bet against Dan in their fight if I was you!!

Here’s Dan’s testimonial for my work: http://www.nottingham-massage.com/testimonials.htm and here’s the fight report on the official UFC site: http://uk.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=26152

One of the things that concerns me as a trainee osteopath is that I’ll not only need to sell myself as a practitioner but also to sell osteopathy as a profession, so it’s really good to see the BOA being proactive and getting on the TV.

this is a test message to see if I can update the blog from my phone…

So, another year down! Only 3 more to go!

In many ways, Year 2 was a much harder year for me. Outside of the course, there’s been a lot going on which has made it hard to focus on study at the level it deserves. The course content was a lot tougher at times too. I’ve always found neuroanatomy quite challenging and this was a large part of the content for this year. It was only towards the end of the year that it really clicked for me, especially as we looked into pain perception and management.

On a more positive note, this year felt far more involved than the first year which was very much a foundation year. Although the practical element seemed to make up a fairly small part of this year’s modules, it seemed far more aimed at offering a better quality of treatment than just a mechanical method of learning.

Perhaps most pleasingly, I’ve noticed that my massage treatments have become much more confident as the year has progressed. I’m incorporating many of the techniques that we’ve learnt into my treatments and am also taking the case histories in as osteopathic a way as possible! Of course, this is great practice for me too.

So, 3 years to go and I’m really looking forward to Year 3. Finally get a chance to actually treat some clients!!

Rich

P.S. 8 As and 2 B+s across the first 2 years isn’t bad is it?

Much has been made of the latest NICE Guidelines for Treatment of Low Back Pain, particularly in the massage and osteopathy fields. The full guidelines can be found here but to summarise:

The 4 Principles of Management for all Patients are described as:

1. Keep diagnosis under review at all times
2. Promote self-management/advice
3. Offer drug treatments as appropriate
4. Offer a range of alternative treatments including exercise, acupuncture and manual therapy.

Manual therapy is then further identified:

The manual therapies reviewed were spinal manipulation, spinal mobilisation and massage. Collectively these are all manual therapy. Mobilisation and massage are performed by a wide variety of practitioners. Manipulation can be performed by chiropractors and osteopaths, as well as by doctors and physiotherapists who have undergone specialist postgraduate training in manipulation.

So that’s pretty conclusive, patients suffering from low back pain can and should be referred for massage and osteopathy, amongst other treatments. The guidleines recommend up to 9 treatments over up to 12 weeks.

This has got to be good news for both fields of treatment, hasn’t it? The question is, how are we practitioners going to make our presence felt? Should the GPs be actively looking for us or should we target them? And how responsive will GPs be to sending patients off for manual therapy as opposed to physiotherapy or drug treatment?

What do you all think?

The second year exams are but a few weeks away and we’re all getting into the tough revision that we’re got to endure, so it was good to see that no matter how poorly prepared I feel, there are others out there who know even less!

A team at King’s College London found public understanding of basic anatomy has not improved since a similar survey was conducted 40 years ago. Less than 50% of the more than 700 people surveyed could correctly place the heart, BMC Family Practice says.Under one-third could place the lungs in their correct location, but more than 85% got the intestines right.

There are concerns that a poor grasp of anatomy could potentially compromise patient care.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8092930.stm