Date: October 21st – to kick off Massage Therapy Awareness Week!

Time: 9:00am – 3:00pm

Venue: Zoom (watch from wherever you are)

Schedule:

9:00 am

Nick Lambe presents – Sleep: A Missing Link in the Therapeutic & Rehabilitation Process-A Practical Framework for Clinicians

Sleep is an underappreciated and misunderstood element of the rehabilitation process, despite having a direct impact on therapeutic outcomes. In this workshop we’ll explore the ways in which clinicians can more practically integrate sleep (and improvements) into what they do with patients. We will discuss the ways in which sleep influences therapeutic outcomes, notably recovery time, tissue healing and overall performance and review the problems that exist with current practice models in regards to sleep. At the end of the session we’ll provide key actionable sleep optimization strategies for you and your clients.

Nick Lambe is a long time coach & educator in the health and fitness industry. He has spoken at & hosted well over 100 events and is behind Raise the Bar Conference, Recovery & Sleep Summit, Impact Education Week, & Impact Speaker Workshops. Nick created the comprehensive Sleep & Recovery Coaching Certification.

10:00 am

Dr. Peter Stilwell presents – Advancements in Pain Theory and Person-Centered Care
This webinar will discuss advancements in pain theory, including the biopsychosocial model and an enactive approach to pain. Attendees will be prompted to think critically about the implicit or explicit theories that guide their practice, and ways they might move towards a truly person-centered approach to pain care.

Peter Stilwell, BKin, DC, MSc, PhD is a Canadian pain researcher who currently holds a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Southern Denmark. He is also an Affiliate Member at McGill University in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy. Previously, he held fellowships at McGill, including the Ronald Melzack Fellowship in Chronic Pain Research at the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain. You can learn more about Peter and his clinical background here: www.drpeterstilwell.com

11:00 am

Susan Shipton presents – Scar Tissue and Manual Therapy
As massage therapists, we’ve been taught that we can “soften scar tissue” and “release adhesions” with our hands. But how true is this? What does the research say? How do we reconcile current evidence with clinical practice?
In this webinar, we will briefly review what scar tissue is, how it is formed and what role it plays in healing. We will examine recent research around scar tissue and manual therapy and what tissue changes we can and can’t achieve. We will consider how to apply this evidence to our clinical practice and discuss timelines, safety, and efficacy of manual interventions in scar tissue.
Participants will leave with a current understanding of the limits and benefits of massage therapy in scar tissue management and an updated narrative to better serve their clients.

Susan Shipton RMT, MSc has been a massage therapist in Toronto since 2012 with a practice that focuses on supporting people through all stages of cancer. She is a Vodder-certified Combined Decongestive Therapist, trained in managing lymphedema and holds a Master’s degree in Interprofessional Pain Management. In 2024, she launched an 8-hour online continuing education course for RMTs on Oncology Massage. She regularly presents and writes for health professionals on cancer-related topics and aspects of pain.

1:00 pm
Dr. Trisha Scribbans presents – Evidence-informed Shoulder Rehabilitation; Rotator-cuff related shoulder pain

Participants will be provided with an overview of evidence-informed practice, including the importance of health care practitioner experience, and the main physiological changes observed in those with rotator-cuff related shoulder pain. A detailed summary and review of information from several high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses will provide attendees with an update on whether strength training, muscle contraction type and intensity (e.g. isometrics at slow speed), proprioceptive training, scapular taping, stretching, patient education and patient psychological factors are important factors to consider when working with individuals with rotator-cuff related shoulder pain.

Dr. Scribbans’ research focuses on understanding the neuromuscular mechanisms that control of force production and movement of the upper extremity, with a particular emphasis on the role of scapular position and movement in shoulder and scapulothoracic mechanics/pathomechanics. She is also interested in identifying novel treatment/prevention strategies to reduce the incidence and duration chronic shoulder pathologies, individual responses to rehabilitative exercise strategies and skeletal and neurological adaptations to exercise training and other therapies.

2:00 pm

Dr. Katinka Stecina presents – What is the impact of massage therapy on the life of people with spinal cord injury?

In this fast paced webinar we will look at a general overview of spinal cord injury prevalence, causes and trends and then look at some of the specifics of the pathophysiological changes after spinal cord injury. The webinar will conclude by reviewing the quantitative outcomes affected by massage therapy based on current literature.

Dr. Stecina earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, followed by a PhD in Physiology from the University of Manitoba in 2006. She pursued postdoctoral training at Gothenburg University in Sweden and later at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark until 2014, when she established her independent lab at the University of Manitoba. With expertise in systems physiology, she focuses on sensory-motor integration and spinal neural networks, employing various rodent models. Collaborating with colleagues at the Spinal Cord Research Centre, she established a human spinal cord injury research facility aiming to enhance health, balance, and motor control, translating basic science into new rehabilitation strategies.