David Lauterstein
Massage Continuing Education: The World Needs a WIFE
By David Lauterstein In marketing everyone just thinks “What’s In it For Me?” and accordingly that all promotion needs to assume “W.I.F.M.” is primary. WIFM is true in many ways. I am always struck how most health magazines are mostly sales tools for WIFM – filled with ads for herbal remedies, health foods, and cosmetics.…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Rhomboids
Origin: Minor: Medial border of scapula above spine, Major: Medial border of scapula below spine Insertion: Minor: C7 & T1, Major: T2 –T5 Action: Retraction of scapula (Excessive: pain between scapula) Antagonist: Serratus Anterior and Pectoralis Major The usual mechanistic approach to rounded shoulders is to strengthen the rhomboids thus theoretically “squaring” the shoulders. This…
Read MoreBeyond the Immune System: Making History with Massage Part 2
Let’s take a moment for reverie. For a minute just imagine that you are receiving an incredible massage. Not just a good massage – an incredible massage, anywhere in or out of this universe, from anyone or anything. Enjoy imagining receiving your most ideal, incredible massage. (Please breathe and pause). My guess, from having talked…
Read MoreEzekiel on Bodywork!
Below I’ve printed a famous passage from the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. It is the one that gave rise to the gospel song, “Dem Bones”, which goes through the body, ending with “neck bone connected to the head bone; Now hear the words of the Lord!” To me it evokes the deepening experience of…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Introduction to the Torso
The word “torso” comes from the Latin word “thysus” meaning stalk or stem. The spine within the torso forms a kind of fifth limb within us. The vertebral column runs through the center of the body, up through the neck and becomes the cranium. The muscles, the organs, the bones and other tissues of the torso surround…
Read More7 Reasons: Deep Massage vs. Deep Tissue
What Is the Difference Between Deep Massage and Deep Tissue? By David Lauterstein Massage therapists performing Deep Massage generally work without lubricant (unless there is a painful feeling of stretching the skin). Using lubricant causes the therapist to slip over the tension and, to compensate, they have to use tremendous pressure not to slip. This often causes…
Read MoreBeyond the Immune System: Making History with Massage Part 1
A Talk Presented by David Lauterstein at the first National Conference for Teachers of Massage and Bodywork, July 1993 To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it “the way it really was”. It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger. Walter Benjamin…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Levator Scapula, The Saga
Origin: C3-5 Insertion: Superior angle of the scapula Action: Lifts scapula and/or extends the neck (Excessive:“Knot” or upper scapula) Antagonist: Inferior fibers of trapezius The levator scapula is a cable-like muscle that is usually overworked by our tendency to hunch our shoulders up. In the life of the levator scapula, this means it’s constantly tugging on the superior angle…
Read MoreDavid Lauterstein: Massage Therapy Hall of Fame 2011
By David Lauterstein, as published the World Massage Festival, which David has been nominated as a 2011 Hall of Fame inductee. I am David Lauterstein, Co-founder of The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School in Austin. I have been a massage therapy teacher since 1982 and therapist since 1977. Here’s my story! I was raised in Chicago by…
Read MoreAnatomy Review: Latissimus Dorsi
by David Lauterstein Origin: sacrum, iliac crest, L5-T7, R 10-12, inferior angle of scapula, Insertion: Intertubercular grove of humerus, Action: Extension,medial rotation of humerus, adduction of humerus, depression of shoulder girdle, lower fibers depress ribcage, especially in coughing. Just as it may be said that we reach out from our guts –insofar as pectoralis major…
Read More