Ruth Duncan has been in practice for over 20 years and specialises in teaching myofascial release (MFR), while also continuing with clinical practice. MFR includes many remedial manual therapy approaches including working with scar tissue, rehabilitation, MET, deep tissue, structural work, assessment, postural evaluation as well as dialoguing, communication, goal setting and reframing of pain, making her perfectly placed to write on this topic. Ruth is a consultant for the General Massage Therapy (and soft tissue) Council (GCMT) which is the UKs only self-regulated voluntary body for the massage and complementary therapy professions in the UK. She is also the Vice Chair of the SMTO.
Description
As a witness to Ruths professional journey, from being ensconced in tissue-driven narratives to one embracing the multifactorial nature of touch-based interventions, I have found her perspectives to create a wonderfully balanced view on how manual therapies impact the patient. -- Walt Fritz, PT, Foundations in Manual Therapy Seminars
Duncan connects contemporary pain science with compassionate practice in a way that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply human. This insightful and accessible book challenges conventional thinking while empowering therapists to support people in pain with greater confidence, scientific understanding, and care. -- Professor Earle Abrahamson: Head of Anatomy, Hertfordshire Medical School, UK
This book bridges what therapists feel in their hands with what science now understands about pain, perception, and human meaning.
Ruth Duncan gives practitioners a modern framework that elevates touch beyond technique and into true therapeutic communication.
-- Sue Hitzmann, Founder of The MELT Method (R)
Ruth Duncan offers a timely, much needed, and very welcome contribution to the world of soft tissue therapy. This is just the sort of information needed by therapist who wish to advance their practice in-line with modern thought and evidence. The focus here is on a contemporary understanding of health and of people with musculoskeletal pain and disability. Ruth provides an accessible summary of the latest information around pain science and the biopsychosocial model of health as applied to massage therapy. Revisiting Louis Giffords Mature Organism Model provides a platform for therapists to venture into a world of reconceptualizing their own practice. This book with help with therapists journeys in moving away from a find it, fix it model of soft tissue therapy, to a much more person-centred, holistic, and evidence-based understating of movement facilitation. A must for all therapists. -- Roger Kerry PhD, FMACP, FHEA, MCSP, Professor of Physiotherapy Education University of Nottingham