Haddow Massage Therapy

01/10/2026

I've just started my recovery from the flu, and my ribs are pretty rough.

For today, I'd like to try exploring the most simple part of it. The left lower thoracic region of my back is really sore. The joint has recently been a lot more "clunky" feeling, and there's a lot of associated soft tissue soreness.

I'm also experiencing a major flare up of the costochondritis on my right side, but I'd like to table that for now. It's currently too sensitized to most movements outside of most mid-range positions and that includes almost all of the movements that relieve the costovertebral crankiness.

Sometimes you just have to pick your battles, but it is what it is.

11/01/2025

09/01/2025

Getting work done in the office and it always blows my mind how a few minor changes can feel so big.

04/07/2025

RMTAO Members -In case you missed it, you can still read the winter issue of Massage Therapy Today focused on Local Anatomy.

In his article, Rob Haddow discusses how to determine that treatment for rib pain is safe, tips for palpation and testing, recommendations for remex and more.

The first page of the article is in the image below. To read the whole article and the rest of Massage Therapy Today, members can log in and access it in our Resource Library. https://rmtao.com/massage-therapy-today-winter-2025 .

03/03/2025

To anyone wanting to subscribe


[Image Description: A dark blue background. On the left, a graphic of caduceus, a staff with two snakes coiled around it. This is a symbol of peace and oft associated with military medicine. It is similar to the Rod of Asclepius, a sign of medicine and healing. (With one serpent).

Blue text on the right says:
Just in case you're unaware, the American Medical Association has a YouTube page, where they are doing daily updates on bird flu, TB, measles and other outbreaks, as the CDC is no longer allowed to do this. Below this text is the YouTube link, which we have added to comments. End ID].

01/04/2025

You can certainly work on the transverse abdominus and people will get better. You can also NOT work on the transverse abdominus at all and people will also get better. Research supports this.

You can improve the muscle onset timing and people will get better. You can also NOT improve the muscle onset timing and people will get better. Research supports this.

You can work on core stabilization and people will get better. You can also NOT work on core stabilization and people will get better. Research supports this.

How incredibly naïve as well as self important are we to think that a hyper complex and multifactorial condition such as chronic low back pain has an answer as simple as a single muscle. A muscle that we are “skilled” enough to detect with our hands isn’t functioning correctly….when its hypothetical dysfunction is on the order of milliseconds.

The first step to getting better is to recognize and admit that you’re not as good as you think you are . We could be so much better by first admitting we aren’t as good as we think we are on these things.

12/19/2024

Just finished going over this with my last patient of the night.

11/15/2024

Hi everyone, I've been trying to figure a way to put remex into context for those of us who find it intimidating, or uncomfortable. To that end I grabbed a glass board and I'll be planning to post more of these from patient cases as I go.

This is part of the home care routine for a patient with De Quervains tenosynovitis. My guess is that the rehab will take about 4-8 weeks, depending on exposure to exacerbating factors, and all of the messiness of day to day life and things we can't account for.

That said, these are all movements/exercises that they find helpful, challenging, meaningful, or some combination therein. They're not all-inclusive, or collectively exhaustive, but they're a good place to build from/around to gradually decrease the impact of a painful condition on a person's escapism, and gradually (hopefully) make my services obsolete. Everything here might change based on what the patient feels is meaningful, or based on our testing.
We'll fiddle with dosage as we go to dial things in to what feels ideal, but for now the mobility and general work are done daily, and the resistance is usually 2-3 times per week

I hope this helps, and feel free to reach out!

10/02/2024

Great question.

Thanks for taking my words and making them sexy (7 years ago )

09/19/2024

Do you see a lot of patients with upper limb nerve sign?
This is worth checking.