From an aching neck and head to troublesome shoulder and arm pain, any dysfunction within the anterior scalene muscles can have unwanted repercussions that may reach far and wide. However, many massage therapists and bodyworkers may back away from addressing these small and somewhat tricky muscles simply due to the potential for greater sensitivity in this nerve-rich region. An avoidance of anterior scalene massage is unfortunate, and the lack of practitioner knowledge as far as proper therapeutic massage techniques for these muscles means too many clients may continue to suffer from pain that stems from unaddressed dysfunction within the anterior scalene muscles.

Erik Dalton, the creator of Myoskeletal Alignment Technique (MAT), aims to teach manual therapists how to alleviate and eradicate pain — including pain associated with the anterior scalene muscles. For more than three decades, Dalton has been practicing MAT with his own private clients and educating professional manual therapists in training courses that have taken place from coast to coast and around the globe. With an early foundation as a Certified Rolfer and years spent steeped in the lessons of legendary osteopaths and neurologists, Dalton became a pioneer in the realm of noninvasive pain management with the development of MAT. Today, Dalton’s signature modality remains one of the most popular and effective forms of manual therapy for overall pain management.

Learn anterior scalene therapeutic massage

Erik Dalton’s Therapeutic Massage for Anterior Scalene Technique offers up a clear method of therapeutic massage to address the anterior scalene muscles in a way that feels good for the client.

Fortunately, a well-seasoned practitioner and educator such as Dalton has had a chance to develop detailed methods of addressing a long list of specific muscle groups, including the anterior scalene muscles. In certain MAT training courses, students have the opportunity to learn Dalton’s Anterior Scalene Technique, which can help clients who are experiencing pain in the arm, neck, shoulder and other related areas. A quick view of the video clip for Dalton’s Anterior Scalene Technique makes it easy to see why MAT is such an in-demand modality for pain management, as well as what makes Dalton such an in-demand educator. He has developed a system of thorough assessments and hands-on techniques that are fairly easy to learn and understand, thereby giving practitioners the confidence to provide more clinical forms of massage therapy to the large number clients who present with pain.

For example, Dalton’s Anterior Scalene Technique offers up a clear method of therapeutic massage to address the anterior scalene muscles in a way that feels good for the client. In addition, Dalton gives his students an easy visual marker that will serve as a road map for proper finger placement throughout this technique. In this way, manual therapists can avoid sensitive nearby areas, such as the nerve ridge and carotid artery. Within this anterior scalene lesson, Dalton also teaches practitioners about the quality and direction of their touch during this particular technique, along with the placement of the other hand in order to create just the right amount of head and neck extension. As they learn to properly push the anterior scalene muscles down and away, manual therapists can begin to feel for dysfunction, which usually occurs at C2, C6 or at both these sites at the same time.

Provide your clients with effective therapeutic massage

Although a quick video clip can give you a sense of the high quality of Dalton’s teaching methods, as well as the power of MAT, such glimpses into this pain-management modality do not deliver the education necessary to bring safe and lasting results to your client. To learn the full MAT protocol, practitioners should consider enrolling in Dalton’s continuing education training courses. For the complete lesson on Dalton’s Anterior Scalene Technique, manual therapists can sign up for the new 16-CE Technique Tour e-Learning, a fully accredited online course in which Dalton demonstrates not only the correct approach to therapeutic massage for the anterior scalene muscles, but also an array of his favorite head-to-toe Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques.

Dalton’s “Technique Tour” is an e-learning course, which means it takes place totally online. In other words, you can start learning these techniques as soon as you enroll. With high-quality footage and accompanying hands-on descriptions, Dalton takes students on a seven-lesson MAT “tour,” complete with 31 assessment and treatment videos. To sign up for “Technique Tour” or find out more about this online CE course, visit Dalton e-Learning Technique Tour.

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