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2012 World Fascia Research Congress in Vancouver.

Fascia Research Congress 2012

October 28, 2009

For Immediate Release

BC’s Registered Massage Therapists
Welcome the World Fascia Research Congress To Vancouver in 2012

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Massage Therapists’ Association of British Columbia (MTABC), we are pleased to welcome the 2012 World Fascia Research Congress to Vancouver.

“This announcement in Amsterdam, Netherlands today is a recognition of the excellence, quality and commitment of BC’s Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs). Over 700 BC RMTs participated in the 2007 Congress replays, reflecting the impact that this research has on massage therapy” said Damon Marchand, MTABC President.

Our 2012 event will be the third Fascia Congress. The first congress took place in Boston, Massachusetts at Harvard Medical School in 2007. The second Fascia Congress is occurring this week at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. The Vancouver Congress will be the largest, with a delegate registration expected to be over 1,000.

The theme for the 2012 Fascia Congress will be the practical application of research to practice.

“We know that the profession of massage therapy is excited about this research and about this Congress. We look forward to welcoming leading researchers, clinicians and educators from around the world to Vancouver” said Marchand.

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For further information:
Brenda Locke, Executive Director
604-873-4467
locke@massagetherapy.bc.ca

Backgrounder

Fascia Background:

Fascia has both general and special functions in the human organism. As such, it is the subject of a wide range of scientific research. Similarly, fascia and its properties are of central importance to clinicians practicing in various conventional therapies and in the wide range of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities.

Recent scientific research in the field of the human fasciae has resulted in several significant findings. Combined, the results from the worldwide research activities constitute a body of significant and important data. It is our shared vision that it is time to gather together all the latest and best scientific information about the body’s connective tissue matrix.

Future conferences will continue to provide collegial settings for the mutual benefit and collaboration of basic scientists, academics, and professionals engaged in the many clinical practices where fascia is an important consideration.

About Fascia:

Fascia is the soft tissue component of the connective tissue system that permeates the human body. It forms a whole-body continuous three-dimensional matrix of structural support. Fascia interpenetrates and surrounds all organs, muscles, bones and nerve fibers, creating a unique environment for body systems functioning. The scope of our definition of an interest in fascia extends to all fibrous connective tissues, including aponeuroses, ligaments, tendons, retinaculae, joint capsules, organ and vessel tunics, the epineurium, the meninges, the periostea, and all the endomysial and intermuscular fibers of the myofasciae.

There is a substantial body of research on connective tissue generally focused on specialized genetic and molecular aspects of the extracellular matrix. However, the study of fascia and its function as an organ of support has been largely neglected and overlooked for many years. Since fascia serves both global, generalized functions and local, specialized functions, it is a substrate that crosses several scientific, medical, and therapeutic disciplines, both in conventional and complementary/alternative modalities.

Among the different kinds of tissues that are involved in musculoskeletal dynamics, fascia has received comparatively little scientific attention. Fascia, or dense fibrous connective tissues, nevertheless potentially plays a major and still poorly understood role in joint stability, in general movement coordination, as well as in back pain and many other pathologies. One reason why fascia has not received adequate scientific attention in the past decades is that this tissue is so pervasive and interconnected that it easily frustrates the common ambition of researchers to divide it into a discrete number of subunits, which can be classified and separately described. In anatomic displays the fascia is generally removed, so the viewer can see the organs nerves and vessels but fails to appreciate the fascia, which connects, and separates, these structures.

Clinician Perspective on Fascia:

There is increasing interest in certain therapeutic communities in the role that fascia plays in musculoskeletal strain disorders such as low-back instability and postural strain patterns of all types, fibromyalgia, pelvic pain, and respiratory dysfunction, chronic stress injures, as well as in wound healing, trauma recovery and repair. The Fascia Research Congress seeks to present recent findings that advance knowledge of biomechanical and adaptive properties of fascia that may account for clinical observations in health and dysfunction.

The expanding worldwide scientific research on the human fascial tissues forms a body of knowledge pertinent to a wide range of professionals engaged in conventional and CAM modalities, who serve individuals afflicted with specific pathologies or injuries of fascial tissue. The latest research will further the mechanistic understanding of many manual therapies and CAM modalities which contact, mechanically manipulate, penetrate, or otherwise involve fascial tissues.

Filed under: Announcements, Conferences, Research news , , ,

News from the MTABC sponsored Second International Fascia Research Congress October 27-30, 2009

News from the MTABC sponsored Second International Fascia Research Congress October 27-30, 2009 at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ACCEPTED ABSTRACTS AVAILABLE FOR READING

The abstracts selected for presentation at FRC 2009 are now on the website for reading at http://www.fasciacongress.org/2009/abstracts.htm.
The abstracts are organized into categories and whether for oral presentation or poster presentation within each category. A glossary of terms is also provided.

PROGRAM
An updated program has just been published to the FRC 2009 website at http://www.fasciacongress.org/2009/program.htm. It now shows abstracts scheduled for 1) author paper/oral presentation in concurrent/parallel sessions and 2) author presentation in some plenary session topics.

REGISTRATION
Anyone planning to attend but hasn’t already registered, please do so soon. Space is limited. To register for the conference and/or post congress workshops go to http://www.fasciacongress.org/2009/register.htm and follow the procedure indicated.

POST CONGRESS WORKSHOPS
When registering for the conference, please also consider staying on for a post congress workshop. Based on the number of registrations already received for the post congress workshops, it is feasible to schedule all workshops listed for the day following the main proceedings, Saturday October 31. These special sessions focus on clinical methodologies and topics in fields where the human fascia is a primary focus of practice and/or theory. In all there are 5 full day workshops and 6 half day. The registration fee is 75 Euros / 100 US Dollars for either a full day workshop or two half day. You may also choose to only attend a workshop without having to register for the main conference.

Filed under: Announcements, Conferences, Research education, Research news ,

7th Interdisciplinary World Congress on Low Back & Pelvic Pain

http://www.worldcongresslbp.com/

Join the 7th Interdisciplinary World Congress on Low Back & Pelvic Pain, to be held in November 2010 in Los Angeles, U.S.A. This program is held every three years. All the disciplines involved in the treatment and research of musculoskeletal disorders around the globe come together in a stimulating meeting related to musculoskeletal disorders. Those of you who attended the last meeting in Barcelona will need no further encouragement to attend what promises to be another great congress. This is a great opportunity to meet and talk with members of diverse disciplines from all around the world.

Filed under: Announcements, Conferences, Research news

Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public

Watch the Video Webcast of the Summit

On February 25-27, 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened the “Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public,” in Washington, DC to advance the science, understanding and progress of integrative medicine. The Summit brought together distinguished researchers, practitioners, and leaders from multiple sectors to present the vision, challenges, evidence base, and opportunities for integrative medicine to improve health care in the United States.

Integrative medicine is described as orienting the health care process to create a seamless engagement by patients and caregivers of the full range of physical, psychological, social, preventive and therapeutic factors known to be effective and necessary for the achievement of optimal health.

Filed under: Conferences, Integrative medicine

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