My Massage Therapy Journey
My journey in the world of massage therapy began while I was still in middle and high school, well before any formal training in bodywork. I was just always comfortable using my hands to give family and friends massage. For this reason, when I entered chiropractic school in 1981, I was naturally drawn to soft tissue work as the emphasis of my practice instead of joint manipulation/adjustment. And it just made sense too. After all, bones are passive elements that only move or don’t move based on forces placed upon them. And these forces are usually myofascial forces, so naturally, to me emphasizing treatment of soft tissue felt comfortable and made sense!
My official entry into the world of massage therapy began in 1986, the year after I graduated from Western States Chiropractic College when I began teaching anatomy and physiology at the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy (CCMT). I have been teaching and loving it ever since! I taught at CCMT for 24 years, gradually evolving into teaching most all forms of COMT hands-on assessment and treatment techniques along with the foundational anatomy/physiology/kinesiology. My passion has always been to marry the worlds of foundational anatomy with hands-on skills so that the therapist is empowered to critically think and creatively apply their skillsets!
After teaching at CCMT, I began teaching anatomy and physiology at a local university (Purchase College, SUNY), but after five years missed teaching hands-on, so I gave up University teaching and instead increased my continuing education (CE) teaching, teaching COMT techniques, travelling all around the United States and overseas. I believe that while all forms of massage are therapeutic and amazing, COMT has so much power that is so often untapped by most massage therapists out in the world. It is my mission to empower these therapists to rise to a new level of client care that places them on par with physical therapists and chiropractors. It might sound cliché, but I truly believe that MTs can effectively become “muscle/myofascial doctors.”
And back in 2000, I also began writing for manual therapists and now have five major textbooks published with Elsevier and two major texts published with LWW. I have also written over 70 articles that have been published in massage/manual therapy magazines and journals in the US and around the world.
My Life’s Passion is Teaching
My life’s passion is teaching, but I combine teaching in-person workshops with teaching by writing books and articles, as well as teaching my patients how to be healthy. I find that the synergy of each of these three professions reinforces the others. But after traveling through five continents teaching COMT workshops, as wonderful as it is, I realized that there are SO many people that I would never be able to reach. So I created my newest work of passion: Digital COMT, which is a digital video streaming subscription service that is oriented primarily at manual (massage) therapists, but is also oriented at movement therapists, trainers, and instructors. Beyond over 30 hours of video content from my 13 DVDs, I update Digital COMTeach week, adding at least five new video clips, mostly by me but also supplemented with excellent guest presenters. With Digital COMT, I can potentially educate and affect the lives and practices of most everyone in the world. Having this new focus has re-invigorated me with even greater passion than before!
Why is your NCBTMB Approved Provider status important to you?
I am a strong believer in the Approved Provider program through the NCBTMB because it is incredibly important for therapists to trust that their CE providers are evaluated for quality CE courses.
I highly recommend fellow educators to become an Approved Provider. Beyond the benefit to the therapists in knowing they can trust their NCBTMB AP for quality CE, the provider has the business advantage of increased participation in their workshops because therapists are looking for them!
Where can the profession view/purchase your available instructional DVDs and textbooks?
I am a proud NCBTMB Resource Center Vendor. NCBTMB Board Certified MTs and Approved Providers save 20% every day, 365 days per year on my textbooks, DVD sets, and Digital COMT subscriptions. Check out our full line-up of products here: https://shop.ncbtmb.org/shop/category/education-materials/instructional-booksdvds/
Between April 3rd and May 3rd, 2017, you may also sign up here for your chance to win a Joe Muscolino Instructional 5-DVD Set (sponsored by The Art & Science of Kinesiology, a $250 value!). No purchase necessary.