INTEGRATIVE MANUAL THERAPY

Integrative manual therapy (IMT) is a form of physical assessment and massage developed and trademarked by Sharon Weiselfish Giammatteo, PhD for human patients. IMT has spread to animal practitioners and is often compared to myofascial release and rolfing.

Doctors usually use the acronym IMT when referring to a condition called immune-mediated thrombocytopenia, a specific form of thrombocytopenia (low platelets), so it is important to be clear when using the acronym.

Some practitioners refer to their work as integrative manual therapies when they offer numerous, overlapping services, such as chiropractic, ultrasound, massage, herbs, homeopathy, et cetera.

LOMILOMI

A Hawaiian massage technique, lomilomi has also been adapted to animal treatment although there are relatively few practitioners available. Some therapists invoke a mystical component into the treatment while other lomilomi practitioners do not. While early lomilomi givers may well have prayed while massaging, it was common in the old culture to combine praying with most activities, thus modern lomilomi can simply be a deep massage, sometimes performed by more than one practitioner at a time on the same patient.

MANUAL LYMPH DRAIN

Manual lymph draining (MLD) is intended to assist the body’s lymphatic system in draining. Proponents suggest that physical stimulation of massage increases lymph flow, thus aiding the body in self-cleansing. While there is no doubt that the massage can be enjoyable and relaxing, it cannot be demonstrated to detoxify the patient. MLD may be beneficial, but maybe not for the reasons believed by its adherents.

MASSAGE

The mainstay of touch therapies, massage has been practiced essentially throughout the world. It is more than petting the animal when done for specific therapeutic intent, and it is an accepted tool to induce trust and bonding. One theory suggests that animals who are massaged frequently when they are young will produce fewer stress hormones as they age, which will in turn help the animal’s health.

Massage therapists identify different applications, such as deep connective tissue massage or deep muscle therapy, to indicate a specialty they provide or a recommendation for an animal. Effleurage is a massaging stroke done with the hand flat, initially in slow passes. It is often used in the beginning of a massage session. Pétrissage is a deeper massage, characterized by kneading and rolling the skin and, indirectly, the muscles. Therapists may also use tools, such as chilled stones (cryotherapy) or heated rocks, towels, or other items to impart a different feel to the massage.

Regulations governing animal massage therapists vary greatly from one region to another. Some American states require therapists to first be certified as human massage therapists with several hundred hours or training, some require therapists to work under a veterinarian’s direction, and some are unregulated. Practitioners may skirt legal requirements by promoting their service as bodywork other than massage.

MYOFASCIAL RELEASE

Taking trigger points a step farther, myofascial release is a massage that involves physical stretching and manipulation combined with cross-friction work in an attempt to alleviate adhesions and inelasticity in the tough connective tissue (fascia) around muscles. It can be uncomfortable but is often recommended for animals who have developed excessive stiffness, especially with old injuries.

Myofascial Release, Trigger Points, and Dead Tissue

The older, gaited mare had been lacking in impulsion, reluctant to move forward off the leg, and generally recalcitrant. An equine massage practitioner worked for two hours on the old mare’s neck. After just one session, the horse’s attitude improved remarkably, and she moved out. She went back to work at her job as a lesson and trail horse for very young children.

The owner was certain the massage had improved the horse. This is a subjective assessment, but one we trust when we trust the general competence of the speaker. If animals could talk with human language, we could ask clearly how they felt before and after the treatment, indeed how it felt while the treatment occurred.

I asked the happy owner exactly what kind of massage the equine massage therapist had administered to the old gaited mare.

“Myofascial release.”

I’ve had myofascial release, so an additional animal case study is a homo sapien, the author, a middle-aged recreational runner who limped into a physical therapist’s office, legs sparking with pain. The therapist reefed on my calves.

“Ow! What is that all about?”

“Myofascial release. You need it.”

She did cross-friction around my knees. Again, ow.

Next she pushed one fingertip into my thigh. It felt as though she bore in with all her power, though my skin was merely dented around her fingertip. Soon, it felt like she backed off, and I thanked her.

Smiling, she told me she’d kept the same pressure, but that she was touching a trigger point. The point had turned off and that’s why I felt relief, as though she’d finally eased her pressure. She touched again and again, switching off hyperreactive muscles.

Later, I received more trigger point therapy from a massage practitioner. I asked how she knew where to touch to find these trigger points.

She grimaced. “It feels like dead tissue.”

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