HEMME APPROACH TO SOFT-TISSUE THERAPY

Most medical schools do not teach manipulation and most medical doctors do
not have the time or patience to practice manual medicine. Most chiropractors
are more interested in spinal adjustments than soft-tissue therapy, and most
physical therapists use modalities and exercise more than manipulation.
Despite their long tradition of physical medicine, even some osteopaths are
moving away from manual medicine in favor of medication and surgery. This
trend is perhaps the greatest loss of all. More than any other group, osteopaths
have pioneered the study of soft-tissue manipulation. Founded by Dr. A. T.
Still (1828-1917), osteopathy is the largest single source of most knowledge
relating to soft-tissue therapy, followed by massage therapy, chiropractic, and
physical therapy.
The group most likely to dominate the field of soft-tissue therapy appears
to be massage therapy. As a rapidly growing health care profession, massage
therapy is the only group practicing soft-tissue therapy that focuses on lowvelocity
manipulations more than surgery, medication, modalities, exercise, or
high-velocity manipulations. Even though chiropractors are expanding their
use of low-velocity techniques, it appears likely that soft-tissue therapy will
always be secondary to spinal adjustments. While it may be true that
osteopaths are moving away from high-velocity techniques in favor of lowvelocity
techniques, osteopathy as a profession is also moving away from
manual medicine in favor of surgery and medication.
If massage therapy comes to dominate the field of soft-tissue therapy, as
appears likely, it must pick up the torch and carry on the research started by
other health care professions. This means using a language common to other
health care professions, following the scientific method, publishing
information, and making its principles and techniques openly available for
scrutiny by any member of the medical or scientific community.
As a growing and responsible health profession, massage therapy can no
longer be satisfied with knowing that something works without making a
conscientious effort to understand why. In other words, massage therapy must
try to prove what most people who practice soft-tissue therapy already know:
soft-tissue therapy is a safe, simple, economical, and effective way to make a
difference by correcting soft-tissue impairments and helping improve the
quality of a patient's life.
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HEMME Approach to Soft-Tissue Therapy