Scottish Manual Therapists Organisation

22/11/2025

20/11/2025

https://smto.co.uk/join/ ⭐👀⭐

19/11/2025

Cortisol - The 31 per cent myth 🧪❌

🧠 For years we have been told that ‘massage reduces cortisol by 31%’. It sounds impressive, but it came from small, messy studies and a very narrow focus on one hormone.

💆‍♀️ Cortisol naturally rises and falls through the day and is different for every person. A single pre and post test can easily mistake normal fluctuation for a “treatment effect”.

If we keep selling massage as a cortisol hack, we set ourselves up to be challenged. Massage is not a cortisol treatment. It is a stress buffer.

👉👉 Read the full blog here: https://smto.co.uk/massage-cortisol-and-stress/

19/11/2025

What is Deep Tissue Massage - and does it matter.
Master session recording now available to members and is worth 1 hour of CPD.

Login to your membership account on the website and navigate to the online CPD page. Slide handout and CC are available.

Trouble signing in? - it's usually just a tick box against your membership account. If you are an active member, email Ruth (my email address is in the membership FB group) with your name, membership number and date of renewal and I can check it.

16/11/2025

Why skilled touch matters ….

👉Massage is back in the headlines with The Guardian asking how healthy massage really is and spotlighting its role in supporting people living with pain, cancer, long term conditions, anxiety and sleep problems. It is a rare piece of mainstream coverage that actually acknowledges touch as part of healthcare, not just a spa extra. 

For GCMT council members who support you, the therapist, this is a reminder that what you do is skilled work. A well trained, thoughtful, evidence informed therapist can offer so much more than ‘just a massage’, helping clients feel safer in their bodies, less overwhelmed and better supported alongside wider medical care. Let us keep showing the public what safe, compassionate, professional touch really looks like.

👀Read The Guardian article here - https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2025/nov/13/massage-health-benefits

Scottish Manual Therapists Organisation The Sports Massage Association Massage Training Institute - MTI LCSP Register of Remedial Masseurs & Manipulative Therapists Complementary Health Professionals

15/11/2025

https://smto.co.uk/join/ ⭐👀⭐ GCMT The General Council for Manual Therapies

12/11/2025

💻 Making Tax Digital for the Self-Employed
🧾📅 Monday 2 February 2026
⏰ 7:30pm – 8:30pm (Zoom)
Starting April 2026, HMRC will begin rolling out Making Tax Digital (MTD) for the self-employed, a new system that changes how you record and submit your income. It will be introduced gradually over three years, so now’s the time to get prepared.
📚 SMTO is delighted to welcome back Gail Selbie for an exclusive Master Session designed to help members understand and navigate the new digital tax requirements with confidence.
✅ What you’ll learn:
💡 What MTD means for therapists
📱 How to keep compliant digital records
🧾 Tools and systems to make it simple
💬 Q&A to support your own practice setup
This practical session will help you stay ahead, stay compliant, and stay stress-free.💷 Free for SMTO members.

12/11/2025

🤲 ‘Massage helps flush toxins’? ❌ Not true.

What it really does is support the body’s self-regulation.
When we explain this clearly, we replace myths with understanding — and clients trust our profession even more.

Evidence, education and honest communication keep our field credible and strong.

Read the 👉NEW👈 full blog here - https://smto.co.uk/urination-massage-and-the-autonomic-nervous-system/

GCMT The General Council for Manual Therapies

11/11/2025

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10/11/2025