03/02/2026
Rethinking "Holistic" in Sports Massage
The term "holistic" has baggage in manual therapy, often linked to pseudoscience rather than evidence-based practice. It's time to reframe it.
True holistic care isn't about energy fields or mysticism. It's the biopsychosocial model in action:
Biological - tissue pathology, recovery capacity, training load
Psychological - pain perception, fear-avoidance, motivation
Social - coaching pressure, support systems, return-to-sport environment
When I assess an athlete's pain from a chronic, overuse, or recent injury, I'm not just treating tight muscles. I'm asking:
How's your sleep and nutrition? (Biological)
What's your stress level and confidence in recovery? (Psychological)
What pressures are you facing from coaches or competition schedules? (Social)
This isn't fluff; it's what current research shows drives outcomes in injury management and performance optimization.
As an ACSM-EP and LMT specializing in sports massage, I integrate orthopedic assessment, manual therapy, and client education within a BPS framework. Not because it's trendy, but because the evidence demands it.
The shift: From "fix the body part" → Understanding the whole athlete's experience.
That's evidence-based holistic care.
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