| During December 2018, I participated in an awesome IASTM Certification course and learned all about the emerging world of instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization, taught by the makers of RockBlades (the tools seen below). But what is IASTM, and how can it benefit my clients? |
| Using these tools, the principles of IASTM are bound in the skin and fascia. Using different techniques with the tools to feather the skin, scrape the myofascia, and chop densified tissue, we work to manipulate the neuro-sensory systems of the fascia (which has 5-10+ times more nerve receptors than muscle) to change the regulation of neural activity. Basically that means I am working to amplify or pacify the nervous activity to the muscles and reducing chronic tension (down-regulate) or increasing tissue tone (up-regulate) using different strokes on the skin. While the feeling of IASTM varies with the pace and depth of the technique used, you might be surprised that it is not a blatantly painful modality (you might be thinking about Gua Sha, another scraping modality). Quite the opposite actually. The goal is to start lighter and work up gradually to find the right response. If the muscle is approached abruptly and deeply, it’s likely to tense up and efforts to relax it may prove futile. Also, some of the nerves can only be played with using the slightest touch, while others need a fast pace, or a deep scrape. Each technique is specific to the nerves that need to be manipulated, like the Pacinian and Ruffini corpuscles in the skin and fascia. I’ve started incorporating IASTM into my massage work already and am seeing results. It’s not for everyone, but is another tool in my bodywork arsenal for my clients. Looking forward to trying these tools for a test drive? Let’s schedule your next massage soon! |