IASTM: A fancy acronym to describe rubbing an object on people’s skin

• Mar 23, 2023 • by Paul Ingraham
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Solid rant from doctor of physical therapy Jarod Hall [Facebook] about instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM):

IASTM = A fancy acronym to describe rubbing an object on people’s skin that isn’t your hands in order to stimulate dermal receptors that may alter afferent information in the short term and generate a meaning response for the patient.

You can do this:

as fast or as slow as the patient likes

as soft or as hard as the patient likes

in whatever direction the patient likes

with whatever edge of the tool that the patient likes

on anyone you would do manual therapy with your hands on

You DO NOT need someone to teach you how to do this. You DO NOT need an expensive class to do this. You DO NOT need a special certification to do this. PLEASE stop paying people to teach you their flavor of tool rubbing. This IS NOT where doctorally educated clinicians should be spending their precious dollars!

Amen. I discuss the concepts that IASTM is based on in the article Tissue Provocation Therapies in Musculoskeletal Medicine: Can healing be forced? The laws of tissue adaptation & therapies like Prolotherapy & Graston Technique.