Dear Friends and Colleagues,  

Welcome to issue #1 of JMS, 2024. We appreciate the support of our readers worldwide and hope you enjoy this issue’s featured content.

In JMS News, we introduce a new therapist who successfully completed SOMI’s Medical Massage Certification program and now helps patients in complex clinical situations: Heather Selby, LMT, CMMP.

In Person of the Month, we publish an interview with Kritsi Tidwell, LMT, CMMP, the Winner of JMS‘s International Case of the Month Contest.

In Personal Opinion, we present an article titled Medical Billing – Simplifying A Complex Issue: Part I, written by Laura C. Newton, BS, ED, LMT, NMT. In the previous issue of JMS, we published an article written by SOMI’s former student Steve Smith, LMT, CMMP, about his experience working with Veterans Administration Medical Services.

Steve’s article generated so much interest among readers that we decided to dig deeper into medical billing for massage therapy. We were lucky to get in touch with Laura Newton, who has significant personal experience in practicing clinical aspects of massage therapy and doing all of her medical billing with the help of her husband. Her priceless personal expertise will guide therapists in getting compensated from both the VA and commercial insurance. There will be a Part II on this very important topic.

In Science of Medical Massage, we feature Part II of Dr. Ross Turchaninov’s article, Why Therapists Need to Know About Hyaluronic Acid, dedicated to an excellent piece of science directly associated with the formation of Myofascial Pain Syndrome and the correct application of Medical Massage Therapy.

In Case of the Month, we publish the clinical case Medical Massage Vs. Multi-Layered Somatic Pathology, submitted by Jacki Stephens, LMT from North Carolina. The uniqueness of her submission is that Jacki successfully solved this complex clinical case while still in massage therapy school!

The Institute of Massage and Bodywork Therapy in Fayetteville, NC, was founded by former SOMI student, exceptional therapist, and educator Brenda Howell, LMT, CMMP. The school’s curriculum is based on scientific and clinical data to train a new generation of massage therapists facing complex clinical challenges. Jacki’s article is an excellent example of detailed clinical evaluation, which allowed her to design a Medical Massage protocol that delivered stable clinical results in four sessions.

Dr. Ross Turchaninov, Editor in Chief 


Category: Letter From The Editor

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