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Council Communicator Review
July 2001, Vol. 4, Issue 2
Review by Lynn Zimmerman, Owner/Director, A SpiriTouch Institute

I have a personal passion for reading and am committed to reading several books every month to make decisions about using them in our classroom, adding them to our library, and putting them on our shelves in our retail store. A couple of months ago I received a copy of Clinical Massage Therapy: Understanding, Assessing and Treating Over 70 Conditions. It took me several weeks to read through the 1178 pages presented. Perhaps the following information will help you decide if this book is worth investigating for use in your school.

I am always eager to learn more about our profession through the eyes of our Canadian neighbors. Authors Fiona Rattray and Linda Ludwig both have practices in Toronto. They have very respectable years of clinical experience in the field (over 25 years combined) and are both teachers. This background has proven an asset in authoring their project.

At first glance I though this was going to simply be a reference book. The title and size even implied such. I was quite delighted to find much more than the title suggested. The book begins with a brief history of massage therapy. My favorite approach to the history of massage is in Susan Salvo's Massage Therapy Principles and Practice published by W. B. Saunders Company. However, like many of you we are piecing together things from many sources to meet our needs and would like to have a textbook with 'everything' to be our main teaching textbook for the theory portion of our program. It is worth considering using Clinical Massage Therapy: Understanding, Assessing and Treating Over 70 Conditions as your main theory textbook for your schools. What it has to offer stands strong against other textbooks that have been around for years.

I especially appreciate how the information in this book is organized. The authors briefly describe and explain each condition, followed by a discussion on the effects of massage. That type of information is common in massage therapy books, but this text takes it further by diving into treatment considerations. This textbook is formatted perfectly for SOAP charting instruction and easily adapted to other methods of charting. There are even suggestions throughout the book for self-care techniques.

I believe students reading this textbook would view their chosen profession with pride and a sense that they are embarking on a career that is not only scientific, but also has heart. The effects of massage therapy are clearly outlined for the body systems and for individual conditions. Techniques are clearly explained and illustrated in both Swedish and non-Swedish traditions. Chapter 6, though only 6 pages long, is quite thorough in its instruction on hydrotherapy techniques. The assessment techniques are high quality and simple to understand. I would suggest advising your students to utilize the appendices. Appendix B, for example had information on postural and gait assessment that includes exceptionally helpful visuals. I was sold on the textbook when I read the sections devoted to establishing guidelines treatment. The authors discuss boundaries in a straightforward and honest manner.

The authors sent me a letter telling me they are currently working on a teacher's copy of "CMT". I am hoping they include chapter objectives and provide a test bank so that it will be even more useful to schools. This book is clearly a college level text, but it is exceptionally easy to access its information. I, like may other people, am a visual person and there are more than 80 illustrations. I do wish, however, that actual photographs were added to the work.

The bottom line is that I am extremely impressed with what is offered in this new book. The price is only $70.75 US and bulk discounts are available for schools. It is very reasonable for such a large reference. This text is well worth the money and I recommend you consider incorporating it into your curriculum.