Dalton/Travell/Hot Stone Ed Classes

[Balu]

Ok, I have a dilemma for my cont. ed. this year. I am trying to decide between three classes/courses and I want some input from some of the people on this board.

Here are the three with a little bit of a description:
1) Dalton’s class on structural integration. I do almost exclusively treatment and have heard great things from others I have spoken to about this class.
2) Travell’s trigger point course. I have more and more clients with referral pain, and I feel that if I deepened my knowledge of TP then I would be a better therapist for my clients.
3) Hot stone. I know two LMP here is town that use hot stone for spot work on their treatment clients and swear by it. I have read a great deal about it on this board also, and all it does is get me excited to run out and get some stones and get to work.

I am really excited about hot stone. The problem is I have seen several people express that you really need to experience the work you will be learning and I want to take a good hands-on class to learn this. I am in the northwest and the only class I have seen that received great reviews is only in the NE, and I am not really willing to travel all the way across the country for this. If I could find a good hands-on class I would be doing that. I will be doing all these at one point or another in the next couple of years. I was just wondering what people’s opinion was on these, and if anyone feels that any one class/course would be better than the others.

Thanks for all the help you all have offered in the past, and I am expecting in the future!

 

[BETTY- Doing The Do]

Oly_LMP

My personal opinion is to take Dalton's class. I haven't taken the full workshop yet but took his class at the FSMTA convention here in FL.
I also have two of his advanced dvds and book. I am very impressed with his level of knowledge and his MAT technique and plan to become certified. Along the same lines, you might be interested in James Waslaski's orthopedic work, which is similar to Dalton's (I took two of JW"s classes at the same convention and have one of his dvds). The two methods compliment each other perfectly.

I've been a therapist for over 16 years and I have to admit that as good as I thought I was, studying Dalton's and Waslaski's work has brought my massage ability up a level. I got interested in Dalton because of a client of mine suffering with back pain for over ten years. MD's, chiropractors and PT's gave him no relief (he even believed they made him worse). I was always able to help take the pain away - temporarily. He'd come back 3-6 weeks later when the pain got bad again. I found an article in a massage newsletter that Eric Dalton wrote about SI joint pain and followed the protocol it mentioned. My client's back pain has been completely gone now for over 6 months, he tells everyone and comes to me just for maintenence - we were both blown away!

I've been hooked ever since. As a matter of fact, I'm opening my own place soon and focusing on pain management. I feel like I found the missing piece to my work. I know I'm sounding like a commercial now so I'll just say - Good Luck!

 

[gutter_fly]

Hot stones, I highly recommend LaStone, Original Body is the basic course for massage therapists http://www.lastonetherapy.com/courses_view_type.asp?Search=Country&Event_Title=Original%20Body&Country=224 for timetable, nothing in WA, but not sure how northwest you are.....
LaStone also offer more advanced classes with more in depth techniques, not many of the other stone ones do, most only have one class, a few have a second level, but that is pretty much it, LaStone have lots more, including treatment type work with cold stones.

What order to do things in is up to you. None of those classes would be a waste (if you did a decent hot stone class, and LaStone is a VERY good one)

With stones you can offer a bit more of a spa experience, and they do save your hands, but they require cleaning up and preparation heating them up at the start of the day. Having something that people think is a spa fluff treatment could bring you more clients (LaStone isn't a spa fluff routine, BUT most people think stones ARE a spa fluff routine) Most other techniques you learn can be adapted to be done with stones one way or another, so it's not like stones OR something else in a treatment, you'll be able to do stones AND something else.

 

[Pat A]

From your post, it sounds as though the trigger therapy class or the Dalton class will be the best choice for now. Although you want to use the hot stone for point work, it would be easier to use it if you had already taken the TrP therapy class first. After reviewing the location and class fees, if they are comprable, maybe you could flip a coin between the two?

I'm with Melb on the LaStone class. I took the class because it was offered in my state last year and really enjoyed it. However, I mostly do injury and pain relief massage and don't use the hot stone as often as the other work.