11/10/2025
Had an awesome time learning last week!
I have some awesome new techniques for ankles, knees, hips and abdominal muscles! RAPID is all about treating pain with acute inflammation by stimulating nociceptive nerves. You may be thinking "but I thought inflammation is bad?" Chronic inflammation is bad, but acute inflammation is necessary in healing tissue- if the body doesn't effectively go through the inflammatory stage it cannot go through the proliferation and remodeling stages. When acute inflammation happens blood vessels open up to send in immune cells like M1 macrophages and neutriphils to eat up debris and bacteria. When we use ice or NSAIDs during this stage we're shutting down the highways for these immune cells to go to work and then they just add to the debris and overtime start to irritate the nerves causing chronic pain. When left to do their jobs properly M1 Macrophages turn into M2 and their jobs switch to tissue repair and wound healing- if they don't get to switch over they'll just continue to eat away at stuff! Using RAPID we signal to the brain that it needs to reset the healing cycle in one of these unresolved areas by causing a very very brief moment of discomfort via areas with lots of c-fiber (nociceptive) nerve endings like the periosteum of the bone and ligaments! We use active, and sometimes passive, movement of the client to give the brain both motor and sensory information at the same time to really get its attention. The treatment is a little spicy and requires movement from the client so it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is a quick and effective way to treat pain!
On the gentler end of things, yesterday I went to a craniosacral study group where I found a more effective way to use positional tissue release which is great for my clients that require a gentler approach! :)
