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F r e e m u s i c d o w n l o a d s f o r C e r t i f i e d m e m b e r s : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 25 TEN FOR TODAY 6. EXTEND YOUR WORK WITH KINESIOLOGY TAPING Drew Freedman, owner and founder of The Boston Bodyworker, says using tape is like "allowing the therapist's hands to leave with the patient." Specialty training is crucial for those interested in using this product. Whenever using the tape, the key is to avoid the temptation to pull it taut, Freedman says. Rather, there should be no tension on the tape at all. "It should just lift the skin where there's infl ammation, to allow the lymphatic fl uid to clear," he says. "Lifting the skin just 10 microns is enough to allow fl uid to fl ow in the direction it needs to." There are a number of different brands of kinesiology tape on the market, but Freedman sees little difference in them. "It's really the application of the tape that's important," he says. 7. CHECK YOUR STATE REGULATIONS The tools and techniques you can use for sports massage—or any type of massage—vary from state to state. For example, kinesiology taping is not permitted in some states. Whenever you decide to add something new to your practice, fi rst confi rm it's within your state's scope of practice regulations. 8. ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS "When people are struggling, it may mean you're doing great work, but in the wrong place," says Douglas Nelson, founder of Precision Neuromuscular Therapy in Illinois. Evaluation and assessment are just as important as great therapy, he says. "Strength of muscle is one thing to consider. So is postural evaluation. But it's never all about any one of those things. All these evaluations are helpful, but none are to be trusted completely. Structure is important, but if you think every issue has a structural underpinning, you're wrong." 9. CONSIDER TAKE-HOME TOOLS "By the time an athlete gets up from a massage, drives away, and carries on with the rest of their day, their problem muscles are tight again," says Tom Turner, developer of Massage Blocks, a popular trigger-point self-therapy tool. When used for support, these rubber blocks are soft enough for comfort, but hard enough to dig into knotted muscles. "In addition to prescribed stretching and mobility work, we fi nd hitting trouble spots fi rst thing in the morning and two to three times throughout the day is invaluable. Then, just before bed, taking time for a long, targeted session allows trigger points to remain loose and circulate metabolic by-products all night. This overnight effect is surprisingly powerful," Turner says. 10. LOCATE IT, THEN TREAT IT That's where something like Books of Discovery's Trail Guide to the Body can prove invaluable. "In the therapeutic massage world, sometimes therapists can get away with not being specifi c with their palpation skills because they're not dealing with people who know their body very well. But in the athletic training world, you're dealing with people who know exactly what their quadriceps is and where it attaches," says Rhoni Hirst, director of sales for Books of Discovery. If a client comes in with a sports-related injury you don't see very often, it's crucial to be able to access a resource like this to see exactly where a given muscle attaches. Rebecca Jones is a tenured Massage & Bodywork freelance writer. She lives and writes in Denver, Colorado. Contact her at killarneyrose@comcast.net. TEN FOR TODAY EXTEND YOUR WORK Drew Freedman, owner and founder of The Boston Bodyworker, says using tape is like "allowing the therapist's hands to leave with the patient." Specialty training is crucial for those interested in using this product. Whenever 9. CONSIDER TAKE-HOME TOOLS Using kinesiology tape is like "allowing the therapist's hands to leave with the patient."