Ep 68 - Muscular Therapy: Built from Curiosity with Dr. Ben Benjamin

Dr. Ben Benjamin offers his inspirational path toward massage therapy and beyond—a career driven by his consistent curiosity. From his early dance career, Benjamin became curious about the healing power of touch when working with a local manual therapist. This led to him developing his own techniques and opening practices in New York City and San Francisco. From there, Benjamin opened his own massage therapy school, emphasizing the same one-on-one supervision he was privy to in his training. Today, Benjamin’s work includes communication skills and boundaries, combined in his influential book The Ethics of Touch, and occasionally serving as an expert witness in cases of client and practitioner impropriety. 

 

This episode sponsored by Pain in the App.

 

Ben Benjamin, PhD in sports medicine, has been practicing massage since 1963 and has been nationally recognized for his contributions to massage therapy, receiving an induction into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame in 2010. With his years of experience as a therapist, educator, and author, Dr. Benjamin has been regarded as a voice of authority in the muscular therapy ­field. He was the founder and president of the Muscular Therapy Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which began in 1974. Shortly after the Muscular Therapy Institute opened, Dr. Benjamin enhanced his practice by studying under Dr. James Cyriax, widely known for his pioneering work in orthopedic medicine. He has also integrated Aaron Mattes’ Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) techniques into his therapy. With a passion for helping individuals cope with and overcome pain, Dr. Benjamin has been lecturing internationally for more than four decades and written countless articles in publications such as Massage & Bodywork magazine. Dr. Benjamin is also the author of several works referenced by those educators and students in the field, such as Listen to Your Pain, Are You Tense?, Exercise Without Injury, and co-author of The Ethics of Touch and Conversation Transformation.

 

Resources:

 

“Clients Crossing Boundaries in the Treatment Room,” Massage & Bodywork, March/April 2020, page 54,