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Alternative Health News
The Heart /Kidney Connection
Are you treating health conditions related to or affected by love? This past November I taught at the Pacific Symposium, a large educational conference put on for our industry by the Pacific College in San Diego, Calif.
Public Health & Gerontology Groups Support CAM
Two large professional groups recently held annual meetings that featured a number of presentations about acupuncture and CAM topics.
We Get Letters & E-Mail
Foundation Ad Rejected by Medical Journals: No Surprise; Why Am I Still Struggling? Let's Use Wikipedia to Our Advantage.
How Chinese Medicine Can Save Western Medicine
Our country is struggling to reduce the cost of healthcare while simultaneously improving its quality and accessibility. I see a partial solution: use Chinese medicine in Western healthcare settings.
Speaking in Code
At this point, I am certain everyone is aware of the CPT codes for billing acupuncture. However, there have been some recent cases where it is clear that not everyone is following the clear-cut rules on how to define and use these codes.
Herbs: Revitalizing in Spring to Maintain Youthful Vitality
Spring is the time to revitalize and get moving, but also a time to improve our immune systems so that we can avoid wind-caused health conditions that often proliferate during this season.
CCE Recognition Extended for Only One Year
A storm has been brewing over the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) for more than two years. It began in mid-2009 when the CCE released the first draft of its Accreditation Standards.
The Magic of Microcurrent
In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, I found this definition of the word magic: an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source.
Recent Report Highlights Growing Dangers of Anti-Inflammatory Medications
In the Sept. 27, 2011 posting of the Biomedical Central Journal: Family Practice, R.J. Adams and colleagues commented on concerns raised by the common prescribing of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications.
News in Brief
Protecting Our Nation's Heroes From Back Pain; Texas Chiropractic College Partners With PA University; AECC Student Awarded Scholarship by FICS; Palmer Toys for Tots Drive: Nearly $2,000 in Donations; New Career Path for Foot Levelers' Jamie Greenawalt; ChiroTouch: $25,000 to FCP; New Face at CLA.
The Integrated Components of Stability
Use of the term stability is widespread across the physical and rehabilitative medicine disciplines. Stability is generally referenced as a positive outcome we are looking to achieve in order to help alleviate our patient's presenting complaint.
Some Inflammatory Remarks About Manipulation
There is an anonymous quote which reads, "An archer cannot hit the bullseye if he doesn't know where the target is." In the case of some of chiropractic's detractors, that seems to have been the case when it comes to vertebral arteries.

From a Different Playbook
Just to be clear, the above is not the beginning of my article. On the contrary, it is the beginning of "Seven Ways to Boost Your Income with Medical Activities," an article written for medical doctors that was posted in early December 2011 on Medscape.com.
OIG Reveals Audit Targets for 2012
Each year, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) releases its annual Work Plan for the fiscal year, which details new and ongoing reviews that will be conducted in federal programs such as Medicare.
Helping Pregnant Patients With Their Pain: Using the Fascial System as our Guide
Pregnant women are frequently at a loss for answers with respect to pain associated with their growing abdomen.
Do Dietary Supplements Really Increase Mortality?
In an article scheduled to appear in the Feb. 26 issue of DC, I provide the raw data on cardiovascular protection with statin use in the JUPITER trial.
Professionalism, Education and Turf Wars
Most professions have discourse about the "professional." Professions define themselves in part by excluding others. I would like to briefly explore professionalism in Chinese medicine.
Dr. Shi Xue-Min and the Xing Nao Kai Qiao Legacy
To the acupuncture community, Dr. Shi Xue-Min is known as a distinguished acupuncturist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a supervisor of doctoral candidates in China.
The Problem With Statistics
I'm not sure when I began to mistrust statistics; I think it was in college in the late "'60s."
A Fresh Look at the Meric System and Modern Neuroscience
The use of manipulation in the management of biomechanical disorders of the spine may now be regarded as a mainstream approach across health care.
Understanding the Changes of ICD10
Recently, I have been receiving inquiries about the new codes for ICD10. When do they begin and how much of a change will they be?
The One-Sport Syndrome
I recall that as a kid, I participated in sports based on the season. In spring and summer, it was baseball and basketball; in fall, it was football; and in winter, it was ice hockey.
Managing Sesamoid Injuries
The word sesamoid is Latin for "sesame seed." These small bones are located inside specific tendons, where they improve mechanical efficiency by pulling the tendon farther away from the joint's axis of motion.
Using the Channel Systems of Acupuncture to Unravel the Mysteries of Disease Progression
Wind is a philosophical representation of change in the Chinese classics. It is also acknowledged as the root of all physiological disturbance. It is stated in chapter 3 of the Su Wen that wind is "the cause of hundreds of diseases."
Balance Strategies to Improve Health
You already know how complicated the process of human balance is; but are you aware of the simple tools many providers are using to improve their patients' balance?
AAAOM Postpones Annual Membership Conference, Leadership Meeting To Be Held
The decision by AAAOM to postpone its annual membership conference for one year was a difficult one.
The Big C: What Are You Doing About It?
It is the rare to meet a person these days that doesn't have a concern about cancer. Between the constant headlines, to pink ribbons on everything from planes to phones, to hearing that Aunt Stacy was just diagnosed, it is impossible to not be aware of cancer's presence.
Chiropractors Storm the Capital
On Oct. 29, 2011, a rare early winter snowstorm struck the East Coast of the U.S., blanketing the nation's capital in white. In Washington, D.C., it was the heaviest October snowstorm in history.

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Massage Today
January, 2001, Vol. 01, Issue 01

Moving Forward

By Cliff Korn, BS, LMT, NCTMB

Welcome to the premier issue of Massage Today! I couldn't be more excited at being selected as editor! I naturally love new things, but the opportunity to be part of a new publication destined to have a profound impact on our profession is heady stuff indeed! As you will see in the coming years, Massage Today is really your publication.

You'll find it addresses the diverse needs of the eclectic mix of issues that impact massage therapists.

You will find an impressive list of contributing columnists in Massage Today. We have tried to introduce as many as possible to you in this first issue. Any who do not make this issue will be featured in next month's edition. Several of the columnists will appear in each monthly issue of Massage Today, while others will appear bimonthly or quarterly. You will also have the benefit of many individuals who will be contributing single articles on diverse topics of interest.

From May 1998 to May 2000, I had the privilege and pleasure to serve the massage field as chairman of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. In that capacity I traveled fairly extensively to many venues involving the greater massage and bodywork community. I found out just how diverse a universe we who practice skilled touch really are! We are concerned simultaneously with issues that are both synergistic and contradictory! We are about:

  • Quality of touch vs. quality of care;
  • Full-time career opportunities vs. part-time income opportunities;
  • Care for others vs. self-improvement;
  • The independence to "do our own thing" vs. concern for others who perform less-than-savory activities under the guise of massage;
  • Orthopedic medical massage vs. Esalen-style relaxation massage;
  • High standards of entry-level practice vs. the ability to "earn while you learn";
  • Government regulated massage therapy vs. free-market regulated massage therapy;
  • High income generation vs. universal availability of our services;
  • Desire for third-party reimbursement vs. the desire for a cash-based business;
  • Accredited schooling vs. apprenticeship/mentoring;
  • National (big C) certification vs. modality/school (little C) certification;
  • The sensual massage outlined in the books of Gordon Inkeles vs. the osteopathic-based soft tissue techniques outlined in the books of Leon Chaitow;
  • The intent to treat vs. the intent to honor and serve;
  • Striving to fix vs. striving to facilitate; and
  • Undertaking depth in a particular technique vs. undertaking breadth collecting varied tools from many techniques.

The dichotomy goes on and on. We are not a single voice, but a Venn diagram of endlessly overlapping circles.

Our diversity is a wonderful thing for the populations we serve. They benefit greatly from our varied thought processes, techniques and backgrounds. The inverse of that "coin," though, is that diversity can also take the form of factions. Factions may imply an "us vs. them" philosophy where one faction attempts to impose its will on another. My life experiences have taught me that compromise and coalition usually accomplish more than the imposition of will.

Massage Today will evolve into a resource enabling us to metamorphose our factions into diverse elements through education and knowledge. To that end, we have brought together a collection of leaders (and aspiring leaders!) in our field to report to us their unique perspectives and points of view. These columnists (and provocateurs!) represent some of the best and brightest in the massage and bodywork community. It is my sincere hope that the facts we garner from our contributors will overcome public misinformation and the mistrust that stems from lack of knowledge. I'm hoping to enable Massage Today to become a bridge empowering all our perspectives and a tool we can all use to meet our personal, professional and business goals.

My own vision of the massage therapy field is that it will continue to expand in breadth and depth. Massage therapy will become not only more firmly entrenched in clinical and hospital-based health care, but also more skilled in the special techniques and concerns of the spa industry. I see a need for only a few small steps before the public at large sees massage therapists as worthy somatic problem-solvers. I see Massage Today as aiding this vision by making us more informed with timely news on important issues. It will allow us to become politically aware without necessarily becoming politically active. I will strive to enable it to transcend the animosities sometimes seen between various schools, associations, modalities and experience levels, and will invite and encourage the sharing of divergent perspectives.

Whether we are practicing with a doctorate degree, thousands of hours of education and more credentials than can easily fit on several lines of text, or practicing with a high-school diploma and several weekends of hands-on mentoring, we all need and have a professional obligation to improve our skills and capabilities. Massage Today is a publication designed to help us all do just that. Thank you for reading, and I anxiously await your feedback!

Massage Today encourages letters to the editor to discuss matters relating to the publication's content. Letters may be published in a future issue of Massage Today. Please send all correspondence by e-mail to , or by regular mail to the address listed below:

Massage Today
P.O. Box 6070
Huntington Beach, CA 92615-6070

Former editor of Massage Today, Cliff is owner of Windham Health Center Neuromuscular Therapy LLC. He is nationally certified in therapeutic massage & bodywork and is licensed as a massage therapist by the states of New Hampshire and Florida. Cliff is a member of the International Association of Healthcare Practitioners; a professional member and past president of the New Hampshire chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association; a certified member of the Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals, Inc.; and a past chairman of the board of directors of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork.

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