Richard Lebert - Registered Massage Therapy

11/28/2025

Complexity science is reshaping how we understand musculoskeletal health. Instead of treating pain, stiffness, poor sleep, or reduced activity as separate issues, imagine them as interconnected nodes in a network. Each one influences the others.

A shift toward Whole-Person Health recognizes that well-being isn’t just what’s happening in the body—it’s shaped by our environment, social context, habits, and lived experiences. Health is an ecosystem, not a single symptom.

Image from - Cholewicki et al., (2025). A meta-model of low back pain to examine collective expert knowledge of the effects of treatments and their mechanisms. Research square, rs.3.rs-7844247. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7844247/v1

08/29/2025

🔥🔥New Research Study looking at Massage Therapy for People with Chronic Neck Pain 🔥🔥

The study is significant because of the large sample size (290 people with chronic neck pain). The study found that those who received massage therapy experienced reductions in pain-related disability and pain severity compared to a waitlist control group.

Specifically, the results showed:

- Reduced Disability: Participants in the massage therapy group had significant reductions in neck disability at both 1 and 3 months. They were also more likely to experience a clinically meaningful improvement in disability at 3 months.

- Reduced Pain: Pain severity was significantly reduced at 1, 3, and 6 months in the massage therapy group. A clinically meaningful decrease in pain severity was also more likely for those who received massage at 1, 3, and 6 months.

The study concluded that therapist-delivered massage therapy is an effective treatment for veterans suffering from chronic neck pain.

Munk, N., Daggy, J. K., Slaven, J. E., Foote, T., Garner, M., Evans, E., Laws, B. V., Matthias, M. S., & Bair, M. J. (2025). Therapist Delivered Massage for Veterans with Chronic Neck Pain: A Randomized Control Trial. Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), pnaf118. Advance online publication.

AbstractPurpose. Chronic neck pain is challenging to treat in Veterans. Massage therapy benefit evidence for musculoskeletal pain is building and massage i

06/09/2025

Ever heard of a "red herring"? It's a literary device and logical fallacy used to distract an audience from the main topic or argument.

In storytelling, it's a misleading clue. In debates, it's irrelevant information meant to sidetrack. The goal? To divert attention and mislead!

06/06/2025

An interesting new article on creating life long habits for exercise and physical activity 🏃‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏋️‍♂️⛹️‍♂️

Just as the Food Pyramid was redesigned to reflect advances in nutrition science, the Activity Pyramid should be updated to incorporate the latest in exercise science. Recognizing the value of unstructured physical activity and emphasizing the interrelated benefits of strength, aerobic, stability, and mobility activities. The concept of a 'Physical Activity Plate' could help people build lasting habits, overcome barriers, and foster the self-confidence needed for lifelong engagement in meaningful exercise and physical activity.

Faigenbaum, A. D., MacDonald, J. P., Stracciolini, A., & Rebullido, T. R. (2025). From Hierarchy to Harmony: Transforming the Activity Pyramid into My Physical Activity Plate. Current sports medicine reports, 24(6), 137–139. https://doi.org/10.1249/JSR.0000000000001252

06/02/2025

A short review of recent research on ice❄️ vs. heat🔥 for musculoskeletal pain. Most current guidelines recommend heat over ice, but as always there are some nuances. What is your preference?

"While cold therapy might offer temporary pain relief for chronic pain and delayed-onset muscle soreness, there's limited evidence from strong clinical trials supporting its widespread use for acute musculoskeletal injuries. In fact, a growing body of research suggests that ice can actually delay healing, increase swelling, and potentially cause further damage to injured tissues."

For anyone experiencing musculoskeletal pain, thermal applications offer a safe, non-pharmacological, and economical therapeutic intervention. They're simple to implement and have relatively minor side effects. By understanding the nuances of hot and cold therapy, and embracing the PEACE & L

05/06/2025

In Person Event with me (Richard Lebert) Hosted in Saskatoon (Saturday, June 7, 2025 at the head office of The Massage Therapist Association of Saskatchewan).

This one-day workshop empowers massage therapists to deliver individualized care through a whole-person health approach. By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

✅Understand and apply the principles of whole-person health in the context of sport-related injury and pain.

✅Develop skills in adaptive manual therapy, combining various techniques (e.g., massage, neural mobilization, instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization) to enhance nervous system and soft tissue adaptability.

✅Integrate effective self-management strategies, grounded in evidence, to promote resilience and optimize treatment results.

✅Design multidimensional treatment plans that foster adaptability and resilience for ten prevalent sport-related injury and pain conditions, including: low back pain, headache disorders, temporomandibular disorders, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, lateral elbow pain, groin and adductor injuries, knee pain, plantar heel pain, and chronic ankle instability.

For more information reach out on here or visit my website

​​This one day workshop is designed for massage therapists with an interest in whole person health. Embracing a whole person approach is an opportunity to provide people with individualized care which may include a variety of techniques (e.g. massage, neural mobilization, instrument assisted sof...

05/03/2025

Roughly every six months, I share an updated list of systematic reviews supporting the use of massage therapy. Already in 2025 more than🔥ten new systematic reviews🔥have been published examining the effect of massage therapy for a range of musculoskeletal conditions, including:

✅Back Pain
✅Neck Pain
✅Shoulder Pain
✅Headache Disorders
✅Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
✅Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
✅Ankle Injuries
✅Groin and Adductor Injuries

Full List Here 👇

Massage therapy is a clinically-oriented healthcare option that is used alongside standard medical care to help manage a number of symptoms. This post highlights systematic reviews and meta-analyses that support the use of massage therapy. Based on these systematic reviews massage therapy has a grow

04/28/2025

New infographic and blog post featuring several clinical practice guidelines and systematic reviews that support the use of massage therapy as part of a multidimensional approach for people suffering from 10 common musculoskeletal conditions.

https://www.rmtedu.com/blog/exploring-the-science-behind-massage-therapy-for-10-common-musculoskeletal-conditions

12/13/2024

Canadian military Veterans with low back pain seek out massage therapy. The results of this research highlight the importance of aligning care with patient values for improved outcomes.

"Canadian military Veterans use several approaches to manage chronic low back pain, and most reported that their back pain began while serving in the military and was not optimally managed. Respondents indicated a preference for seeing massage therapists, physiotherapists, family physicians, and chiropractors but advised that massage therapists and chiropractors were not available on base. Preferences were associated with perceived treatment effectiveness, practitioner trust, and accessibility of care. These findings suggest there may be an opportunity to better align on-base health care with evidence-based treatment preferences of Canadian military personnel."

Emary, P. C., Ciraco, C., DiDonato, J., Deschambault, B., Garas, A., Sprague, S., & Busse, J. W. (2024). Treatment preferences among Canadian military Veterans with chronic low back pain: Mixed-methods cross-sectional survey. Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, (aop), e20230101.
https://utppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3138/jmvfh-2023-0101

09/08/2024

A big shoutout to the Registered Massage Therapists Association of British Columbia (RMTBC) for hosting such an inspiring conference this weekend!

One concept that emerged for me was that there is no one singular fix for complex problems (professional growth, healthcare, social change, etc.). However through a process of continuous improvement big changes are possible.

My phone ran out of batteries the first day so I was unable to take many pictures, but here are a couple pictures from the conference.

I was honored to be part of such a talented and inspiring lineup (Dr. Paul Zehr Ph.D, Dr. Amanda Baskwill Ph.D., Dr. JoEllen Sefton Ph.D., ATC, LAT, Susan Dupuis RMT, Marcus Blumensaat BSc., RMT, Dr. Paul Hodges DSc, MedDr, PhD, BPhty(Hons), FAA, FACP, APAM(Hon), Dr. Tracy Gaudet MD.)

Full lineup -
https://crmta.ca/conference2024/

03/14/2024

Looking forward to traveling to Vancouver for this conference in September.

03/06/2024

Research supports the use of massage therapy as a treatment option for people with jaw pain and temporomandibular disorders. Recently a network meta-analysis of 153 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) found that manual trigger point therapy is effective in reducing pain for those with jaw pain and temporomandibular disorders.

Busse, J. W., Casassus, R., Carrasco-Labra, A., Durham, J., Mock, D., Zakrzewska, J. M., Palmer, C., Samer, C. F., Coen, M., Guevremont, B., Hoppe, T., Guyatt, G. H., Crandon, H. N., Yao, L., Sadeghirad, B., Vandvik, P. O., Siemieniuk, R. A. C., Lytvyn, L., Hunskaar, B. S., & Agoritsas, T. (2023). Management of chronic pain associated with temporomandibular disorders: a clinical practice guideline. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 383, e076227. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-076227