Victoria L Magown, CMTPT, LMT, RMTI

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My path to Myofascial Therapy was personal. My mother had a spinal fusion, L4-L5-S1, when I was thirteen years old. I would watch her every morning, on her back, doing double legged straight-leg raises, which she had been told to do. Her low back pain continued long after the surgery, and she lived on pain medication. Even at that young age, I thought there had to be other ways to manage pain.

At thirty-one years old, living in Boston, I saw Bonnie Prudden leaning her elbow into someone’s buttocks, saying you can get rid of back pain. I was intrigued. I went to her five-day workshop which included learning about Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy and exercising to music (way before the days of aerobics to music.) It was like “coming home.” There was something I could personally do with my hands to help people decrease or eliminate their pain. And to this day, I still enjoy giving people their lives back.

I graduated as a Myotherapist and Fitness Instructor from the Bonnie Prudden School of Physical Fitness and Myotherapy in 1983. In January 1984, I opened the NM Myotherapy and Exercise Clinic in Albuquerque, NM. Today, MyoRehab enjoys having multiple Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists on staff and has been going strong since 1994.

I became a Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapist in 1990, the first year the exam was given. Later, in 1996, I became a Licensed Massage Therapist (#4498) and a Registered Massage Therapy Instructor (#I-0373) shortly thereafter.

In 1984, I helped establish the National Association of Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists and held almost every position on the board during the ensuing years.

During this same time, I went to every lecture or seminar I could given by Janet G. Travell, MD, and David G. Simons, MD, who wrote our “Red Bible,” Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual.

I had the privilege of enjoying a personal relationship with Dr. Travell when she was in her early nineties. She stayed in my guest room, swam in my pool, and sat in my Jacuzzi. I have wonderful “gems” from personal conversations with her that I include in the seminars.

As one of the early members of the American Academy of Pain Management (1989 to present), a multidisciplinary organization, I have presented lectures on Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction; and continue my membership to the present. I held a seat on the Board of Advisors for several years, representing Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction, the same seat Dr. Travell held.

I also belong to the MYOPain Society whose members present the latest scientific research on Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction and Fibromyalgia.

In October 2007, George S. Pellegrino, LMT, CMTPT and I attended the First International Fascia Research Congress when scientists from all over the world presented the then new and exciting information about Fascia at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. In March 2012 I attended the Third International Fascia Research Congress in Vancouver, Canada, and participated in a two-day cadaver lab, as well as attending lectures and workshops for the remaining four days about the latest research on fascia. Fascinating.