The ABMP Podcast | Speaking With the Massage & Bodywork Profession

Ep 539 – Thinking In Systems Not Symptoms with Doug Nelson

Nov 11, 2025

Doug Nelson explores the power of systems thinking in bodywork, challenging the focus on isolated symptoms. He connects insights from family systems to anatomical relationships, showing how small changes can lead to significant effects over time. Using examples like golf swings, he illustrates how restrictions can lead to broader issues. Nelson emphasizes the importance of relationships in client care and gradual assessment, advocating for preventative approaches. He concludes with a hopeful message about the cumulative benefits of consistent bodywork.

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ANECDOTE

Family Systems Sparked A Body Systems Insight

Doug Nelson read a book on family systems brought in by a client and substituted muscles for family members to understand systems thinking.

INSIGHT

Compounding Happens In Systems

Compounding describes how small effects in interrelated systems cascade into much larger forces over time.

ANECDOTE

Golf Revealed Hidden Movement Limits

Doug describes Gary, a retiree who returns to golf with hidden hip and thoracic rotation limits that hinder his swing.

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In integrated and interrelated systems, small effects cascade to become much larger forces over time. In this episode of The ABMP Podcast, Doug Nelson asks if there is more of an integrated and interrelated system than the human body?

Host:

Douglas Nelson is Board Certified in Massage Therapy and Therapeutic Bodywork, beginning his career in massage therapy in 1977. Seeing over 1,200 client visits annually for decades, he is also the owner of BodyWork Associates, a massage therapy clinic in Champaign, IL. with 21 therapists that was established in 1982.

He is the founder of NMT MidWest, Inc., providing training in Precision Neuromuscular Therapy™ across the USA. He has personally taught more than 13,000 hours of continuing education and is the author of three books. Doug is a past president of the Massage Therapy Foundation.

Sponsors:

Anatomy Trains: www.anatomytrains.com

PMNT: www.pmnt.org

Anatomy Trains is a global leader in online anatomy education and also provides in-classroom certification programs for structural integration in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, and China, as well as fresh-tissue cadaver dissection labs and weekend courses. The work of Anatomy Trains originated with founder Tom Myers, who mapped the human body into 13 myofascial meridians in his original book, currently in its fourth edition and translated into 12 languages. The principles of Anatomy Trains are used by osteopaths, physical therapists, bodyworkers, massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonics, and other body-minded manual therapists and movement professionals. Anatomy Trains inspires these practitioners to work with holistic anatomy in treating system-wide patterns to provide improved client outcomes in terms of structure and function.

Website: anatomytrains.com

Email: info@anatomytrains.com

Facebook: facebook.com/AnatomyTrains

Instagram: www.instagram.com/anatomytrainsofficial

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2g6TOEFrX4b-CigknssKHA

Precision Neuromuscular Therapy seminars (www.pnmt.org) have been teaching high-quality seminars for more than 20 years. Doug Nelson and the PNMT teaching staff help you to practice with the confidence and creativity that comes from deep understanding, rather than the adherence to one treatment approach or technique.

Find our seminar schedule at pnmt.org/seminar-schedule with over 60 weekends of seminars across the country.

Or meet us online in the PNMT Portal, our online gateway with access to over 500 videos, 37 NCBTMB CEs, our Discovery Series webinars, one-on-one mentoring, and much, much more! All for the low yearly cost of $167.50. Learn more at pnmt.thinkific.com/courses/pnmtportal!