The Next UK course will be held over the weekend of the 7th & 8th May 2011 at the Fieldways Hotel & health club in trowbridge, Wiltshire. For more information or to book your spot, simply email donnastrachan@googlemail.com.

The courses usually include an overview of IASTM including the opportunity to utilize a number of different IASTM tools including i-assist, Narson and Graston tools. The workshop leaders also present clinical protocols within which to utilize IASTM, not only over areas of local pain, but also at other related soft tissue locations within the kinetic chain. Functional and Kinetic Treatment with Rehab (FAKTR) is a concept created by 2 clincians (Dr Thomas Hyde DC & Dr Greg Doerr DC) trained in IASTM who discovered that it is more effective when the patient is treated dynamically during the functional movements and positions that reproduce or provoke their pain. This may be combined with resistance and perturbation in addressing the entire kinetic chain.

There are a number of relative and absolute contraindications to the use of IASTM which will be discussed, as well as the appropriate indications for their clinical use. Early animal studies have indicated that by using IASTM over an area of suspected adhesions within the soft tissue, that there is evidence to support breaking down those adhesions and influencing new fibroblastic activity. The amount of pressure exerted by the instruments also appears to be proportional to the increase of infiltration of plasma cells, phagocytes and mast cells. There remain many unanswered questions about how IASTM actually works indicating a need for further research. During this workshop, the clinical application and use of IASTM and FAKTR methods will be demonstrated.