☑️ NCBTMB-Approved CE hours for massage. Take care of your CE requirements while learning a world-class system for treating pain. Our weekly lessons award 1-2 hours per week, making this aspect alone a great value even without the Muscle Liberator.
☑️ Learn how to resolve pain at the source. Instead of being mislead by the "illusion of injury", you'll be treating the muscles that are ACTUALLY causing the pain. Understand how to address the perpetuating factors, satellite referral chains and other relationships that set it up in the first place.
☑️ Pursue specialist certification in each major pain area – shoulder pain, sciatic pain, knee pain and more. Become part of our CTB Specialist referral network.
☑️ Fix "rounded shoulder posture" and other distortions using the Muscle Liberator™. Our proprietary tool is designed to clear the dysfunction that keeps muscles at abnormal resting length – in record time.
☑️ Use the latest technology to put your treatments into hyper-drive. Learn muscle-specific treatments each week using our amazing Muscle Liberator™ tool -- combining percussion, distraction and corrective patterns of movement.
If purchasing from outside the US, use this link. Standard Muscle Liberator™ does not ship internationally.
Chuck has some excellent trainings for frozen shoulder syndrome – and using his ML/percussion therapy tool makes a HUGE difference in the speed at which you can help coach-the-body back to homeostasis!!! These trainings can help you change your MT/manual therapy practice!!! Check this Out!!! When you can recover 4x faster from frozen shoulder syndrome you don't care about the sound of the tool!!! I do this on my table all the time! Great technique to learn! Will make a difference in your practice!
-- Charlie Peebles, CTB Membership Student, CMT MAT FMT MMS Indiana State University Director of Massage Therapy Minor Degree Program (Interim) / Approved Erik Dalton Myoskeletal Alignment Instructor, NCBTMB / Member, Indiana State Board Of Massage Therapy, 2017-2020
I am learning so much about the importance of the agonist and antagonist muscle relationship in treatment. Great information about serratus. I look forward to getting the new lessons every Friday. I will also be saving up to order Thomas Myer's Anatomy Trains, I am finally understanding that concept since you have explained it. Thanks for the great work.
I have also self-treated with much success. I started out on pec minor then supraspinatus, deltoid, bicep and just finished with my arm draped over the top of my head and got both teres, lats, and the border of subscap. I am so totally amazed at what this tool can do and I believe it will totally transform my practice. I have worked with TPs since I got out of massage school and immediately took one of Claire Davies first classes in Atlanta. I most recently have been taking Doug Nelson's classes and am so glad that I have come across CTBI. I have easily spent this amount of money in one weekend class which includes travel, meals and hotel stay. Many thanks to you, Chuck, and your staff. This is great quality material that is generously priced.
- Linda, CTB Membership Student, LMT
I have had a shoulder issue for 2 1/2 yrs, never went to the doctor. I have just been treating with massage therapy weekly with some relief, & added ROM but never seem to regain all my Rom w/o pain -- OMGoodness I just self treated with liberator & full ROM w/o pain I'm absolutely amazed! I keep checking it and it is gone w/ full ROM! Thank You!
I really like seeing in the lessons how to put the extremities into proper ROM when using the Muscle Liberator.
-- Melissa Smith, CTB Membership Student, LMT
Robert Verdell
Physical Therapist
I've trained in multiple movement systems and martial arts... this has been some of the best teaching I've ever encountered.
John Keith
Student
I picked up the ML yesterday. Awesome little tool. We used it yesterday around my shoulder. Then I had a senior men's baseball game experiencing ROM and pain-free movement I hadn't had in a long while. I was throwing (I'm a pitcher) like a 40 year old!
Nancie Fox
CTB Membership Student, LMT
I LOVE this work! Chuck you are a GREAT teacher! =) I need this work done on me so bad especially after doing deep tissue & trigger point therapy for 30 years! I’m thinking I’m gonna have to come to Chicago for a week and get worked on every day!
A therapeutic vibration tool designed specifically to facilitate trigger point work and Coaching the Body™ techniques. This type of work requires a specific combination of power, specificity and head elasticity, and this tool has it.
There is no better way to quickly and efficiently release taut fibers so you can get to the root of the issue(s) causing pain. We have shown you several examples of how this tool works in conjunction with the proper methodology – and during this time-limited offer, you will get your own Liberator™ at a huge discount with your membership.
Most tools on the market are designed to "do massage better"; at CTBI we jokingly refer to these as "meat tenderizers." We've designed the Liberator with precisely the right specifications to dramatically speed up the therapy process (and save your own body while you're at it). This special reduced pricing costs far less than many of the professional-grade tools being sold today — and none of them can touch the Muscle Liberator™ for this kind of work.
Treya Jaholkowska
CTB Student and Therapist
Donna Ryckaert
CTB Student and Therapist
Will Baird
Clinical Apprentice, Health Coach, Professional CTB Therapist
Focus: Scapular positioning is a term that we use to talk about the normal or at rest position of the scapula. The scapular stabilizer muscles exist in a carefully orchestrated relationship. Ideally, these muscles will each be at a relatively normal resting length, however it is very common for some fibers to become chronically shortened, and their antagonists to defacilitate and exist in some degree of stretch at all times.
This relationship determines our shoulder posture. Many factors can influence this group of muscles and cause distorted posture. Excessive protraction is very common, also called rounded shoulder posture.
At the Coaching the Body Institute, we've developed a scapular positioning treatment approach using the Muscle Liberator™ tool that can be completed typically in 45 minutes or less - sometimes much less. This is an extremely valuable treatment, because improper positioning of the scapula can in turn trigger dysfunction and pain in many other muscles.
Our treatment is easy to understand, because it analyzes fiber directions and classifies the stabilizers into easily remembered groups of agonist and antagonist. We get fantastic results with this treatment, and it represents a core part of any therapist's arsenal in treating shoulder pain.
Focus: In this lesson we go in-depth on the micro and macro physiology of trigger points; how and why they are formed and how they cause neuromuscular dysfunction and pain. Trigger points are a major source of pain in the body, yet they are completely unknown to most conventional medical practitioners. Even when therapists are aware of trigger points, the origins and physiology remain a mystery. In this course we draw back the curtains and delve into the "trigger point mystery". Understanding the physiology of trigger points will enhance your clinical work and help you explain the nature of referral pain to your clients.
Dr. Janet Travell was a cardiologist and avid tennis player. In the 1940's she experienced anterior shoulder pain that disrupted her tennis playing. She discovered that if she put compression on tender points in the infraspinatus muscle (posterior shoulder), she would feel her anterior shoulder pain. She had her father (also a cardiologist) inject the tender points with procaine using a hypodermic syringe. Her anterior shoulder pain disappeared. Thus began her and Dr. David Simons' comprehensive investigation of trigger points and referral pain. Together they authored Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction, The Trigger Point Manual, the two volume "trigger point bible".
A trigger point occurs when the normal sliding filament mechanism of a muscle fiber becomes disrupted due to metabolic stagnation at the motor endplate zone. The individual muscle fiber goes into contracture; the middle part of the fiber is hyper-contracted, irritable to touch and causes pain and many other symptoms, often far removed from the site of the trigger point. In this course, we explore how trigger points form at a micro level and how they cause pain and movement dysfunction.
Focus: The trapezius muscle is a large, superficial muscle on the posterior thorax with fibers fanning out more than 90 degrees. It is a scapular stabilizer and is divided into 3 parts; upper, middle, and lower. Each part has its own function. This week the focus is on the low trapezius.
The low trapezius fibers attach from the spinal segments T5-T12 to the spine of the scapula. It's action is to retract the scapula and it is a key scapular stabilizer during all motions of the arm. If the low trap is not functioning properly there are vast repercussions. Scapular positioning and shoulder posture is disturbed. The ability of the scapula to rotate is inhibited. The function and balance of the rotator cuff muscles is disturbed. The proper functioning of the low trap is central to all scapular and glenohumeral movement.
Not only does it have "mechanical" influence throughout the shoulder and arm, trigger points in the low trap have a wide distribution of referral pain and can be the key to many satellite referral situations. Low trap trigger points commonly refer strongly into the high trapezius, posterior neck and base of the cranium. From there the referral chains upward into the head and jaw. The low trap also refers over the middle trapezius and supraspinatus near the acromion process. Additionally, the low trap is the satellite of other key trigger points in the serratus anterior and lat. So, long chains of referral are possible all around the shoulder and to the head/neck with the low trap functioning as the central hub.
In terms of agonist/antagonist relationships, low trap is antagonist to the pec minor and high serratus anterior fibers. These muscles protract the scapula while the low trap retracts the scapula. In rounded shoulder and upper crossed syndrome, low trap is pulled into a chronically lengthened position and defacilitates. It becomes unable to retract the scapula.
Focus: In week 4, we focus on the pec minor muscle. It is an important scapular stabilizer and is the antagonist to the low trapezius, which we covered in week 3. When normalizing scapular positioning, this is the first pair of muscles treated.
Pec minor is a strong protractor of the scapula. It attaches above to the coracoid process of the scapula, below to ribs 3-5. It is an accessory breathing muscle, and normally assists the upper chest muscles in lifting the rib cage during forced inhalation. It can become troubled if it is chronically overloaded by dysfunctional breathing. It is also capable of entrapping the thoracic outlet if it becomes adaptively shortened and tight. This can happen when a client has chronically protracted shoulders.
Some muscles in the body tend to lengthen and defacilitate (e.g. low trapezius), others tend to shorten and tighten (e.g. pec minor). In anterior shoulder posture (rounded shoulders, upper crossed syndrome), pec minor shortens and protracts the scapula while its antagonist, low trapezius, lengthens and defaciliates. To be energy efficient in stabilizing this posture, the body purposefully converts normal muscle fibers into contracture fibers. These contracture fibers act as straps that do not require energy input to maintain. However, this distorted posture causes dysfunction of the shoulder and glenohumeral muscles, and produces pain. The anterior shoulder posture is rampant in our culture of constant shoulder, thoracic and head flexion during computer and mobile device use.
In a scapular positioning treatment, low trapezius is treated first. Most therapists will relentlessly hammer away at the low trap and are not able to soften the hard fibers very much. It is important to monitor tissue change. When the limit of hard fiber softening is reached with low trap, switch to treating the pec minor. After pec minor is softened the low trapezius will be able to soften more. It is very productive to flip back and forth between agonist/antagonist pairs to normalize their length/tension relationships.
The pectoralis major group of muscles is both a direct and indirect cause of shoulder pain. While this muscle group is implicated as a key component of Upper Crossed Syndrome, we find that the serratus anterior muscle is a more significant contributor to shoulder protraction.
The clavicular branch of the pec major is the most significant contributor to disturbed shoulder posture, and is a direct cause of anterior shoulder pain. We find this branch to be the most commonly involved in shoulder issues. The sternal and costal branches are far less common, and you would only expect involvement of these muscles when there is a lifestyle perpetuator of some kind.
Our scapular positioning treatment visits the clavicular branch because it tends to elevate and protract the scapula via the humerus. These fibers are effectively opposed to the low mid trap fibers.
We will continue to delve deeply into shoulder pain for several more weeks, culminating in coverage of the full CTB™ Shoulder Protocol and Scapular Positioning Protocol. After that, we turn our attention to other important and common areas of pain complaints: knee pain, sciatica, low back, mid back, hip pain and much more. Given that this is a two-year program - when pursued in full - we have time to explore deeply each pain complaint. Students have opportunities to interact with instructors via a private Facebook group, course comments and live events.
Get my most important shoulder material in the FIRST FEW WEEKS so you can start treating pain in the shoulders and upper back. After we cover the shoulder in depth, we will move on to other pain areas -- such as sciatic and hip pain.
You'll have an opportunity to complete an optional certification workshop in each pain area if you wish, and join our directory of certified practitioners. We get many client requests for specific pain conditions and we'll be able to refer them to you.
I'll be hosting LIVE workshops that will allow you to ask questions, get our latest ideas, and learn ground breaking techniques that I'm constantly fine tuning. Even if you aren't close to our school, we'll be able to interact with you.
We'll be guiding you each week through all the information related to a specific muscle group, with secret, members-only resources to improve the depth and speed of your learning, including weekly Muscle Liberator™ videos.
I was frustrated at the total ineffectiveness of conventional ideas about pain... So frustrated that I was willing to throw out all the assumptions and start again from the ground up. I developed my own totally unique blending of ideas from trigger point therapy, osteopathy, martial arts, yoga and bodywork.
There's a lot to cover here, and we take the time to go through every single facet to make sure that you fully understand, why the pain is occurring and exactly how to prevent it from coming back.
By spreading out the content throughout the year, we're able to carefully sequence and focus the material. This is much more effective than just diving in and getting overwhelmed. You'll be learning concepts in the best order, one muscle at a time. Ask questions about anything you need clarification on. Our private Facebook groups allow you to interact with faculty and other members of our engaged, excited community.
If in the first 30 days, "Coaching the Body" isn't working for you, or if you aren't happy with the content or product, I will refund you 100% of your payment. I am so confident that my techniques work, that this is an easy guarantee to make.
We've tested these methods out with many clients and students, and they're constantly blown away at the results we're able to provide.This is a revolutionary way to eliminate pain from the body.
Yes! Once you become a member, the videos you receive access to each week will always be yours to watch.
The membership is a guided series of lessons, one per week, on how to treat the significant pain symptoms of the body. Think of it as an ongoing course that guides you step by step through our amazing Coaching the Body approach, with muscles and topics covered in the most logical order - starting with shoulder pain, the most common complaint that we see. You will get slides, videos, downloadable materials and more! Much of this material is only available via the membership. JOIN US!
We are an NCBTMB-approved CE provider. We are approved for 28 CEUs just for the Shoulder Module (first 20 weeks) alone. The entire year provides over 60 CEUs.
While we love the Muscle Liberator and all it can do, it wouldn’t be the tool we know it to be without the knowledge and understanding we have of not only Trigger Point Therapy and pain referral in the body, but also the use of reintegrative movement, post-isometric relaxation (PIR) and breathing techniques, and our extensive body area protocols. In other words, we cannot guarantee success with the Muscle Liberator without the Membership. Using a tool like this to simply "iron muscles" loses 90% of the benefit.
People are often surprised to find out that the Muscle Liberator can even be used in delicated areas of the body. It can be used on even sensitive muscles like the serratus anterior - the issue is more about technique than the tool itself. The beauty of this tool is that it can be used solely for distraction and without any weight behind it, so the effect on the muscle is more like rapid vibration. Muscles like the serratus anterior respond remarkably well to this type of distraction.
Areas that we don't recommend include areas with delicate neurological or vascular structures like the anterior neck or brachial plexus, where there is little or no protective muscle layer. We also advise care around delicate bony structures in the cervical spine and the skull.
The Muscle Liberator provides simple percussion, with no rotation or lateral motion on the skin. This makes it usable in all areas of the body, and allows for precision use with smaller head sizes. Pressure and speed can be varied through a wide range by the operator.
The Muscle Liberator is a professional, high build quality, variable-speed percussion tool that administers percussion and vibration at a rate of up to 2800 percussions/minute or 46 per second. Pressure can be varied from very minimal, providing only vibratory distraction, to more percussive for larger clients and muscles.
When we have Muscle Liberators in stock we are able to ship within 2-3 business days. When we have back-orders, the shipment can take up to 10 days. Once you’ve ordered, if your shipment will be delayed past 3 days, we will email you.
This is a comprehensive training in which we cover the use of both bodywork techniques and the Muscle Liberator in each area of the body, including working muscles short, long and finding trigger point areas. The material is presented without expectation of prerequisites, and we build from the ground up, so anyone can absorb it.
No, however, our Muscle Liberator™ Lite is much more suitable for the international customer. Go here to learn more.
Each week you will receive 1-2 hours of video content along with downloadable materials including slides and other references. Some of this content may exist in some form within other courses in our online library, some of it is unique to the membership.
Absolutely! Consider this program an easily accessible, topically oriented tour through the body, starting with the most common pain complaints you are likely to see. The membership will always include our most up to date and current techniques. Much of the material will ONLY be available through the membership, such as the Muscle Liberator-focused material. Existing students in our certification programs are eligible for discounts on the membership, please contact admin@thaibodywork.com for details.
With the CTB Membership, we will show and teach you what you need to know about body mechanics/techniques and Trigger Point Therapy to get significant benefit for your clients and your own body. While our program uses techniques from Thai bodywork, these are taught as needed, and you will not need a prior background in any type of bodywork to benefit. Most techniques are easily adaptable to the table.
A portion of the material will be entirely unique to the membership. While some material from the online library may be reused in the membership content, the sequencing, presentation and curation alone are worth the cost. We present the material in an order that makes sense within the larger topics that we'll be covering, one muscle or grouping at a time. In addition, we have ongoing opportunities for members to interact with teachers, including a private Facebook group and regular live webinar events.
If purchasing from outside the US, use this link. Standard Muscle Liberator™ does not ship internationally.
I am a chiropractor and I have been getting through the modules as fast as I can. I have gotten the best results with shoulders I've ever gotten. I just need to continue learning and getting that protocol down. Would love to get hands on and direct instruction and keep learning.
Josh S.
Chiropractor
Hello every one, I just wanted to say thank you to the CTB Team. This has been the all time best teaching I had received in my 35 years of Massage Therapy. Now I have to take the new knowledge and practice..... a lot... again, thank you all!
Vera Z.
Massage Therapist
The CTB Membership has been very impactful. I've had several clients with amazing transformations. from Frozen Shoulder to sciatica and even heel spurs.
Chris E.
Massage Therapist
I am a D.C. and am loving your approach to help working with upper/lower cross syndrome patterns. Since we're on quarantine, my office is closed and I've only been able to get my hands on family members, but its already been amazing. This is totally a piece of the puzzle I needed and didn't know it.
Ted M.
Chiropractor
It's a great program. You can take your time and revisit the information over and over again until you get it and understand it and can apply it.
Na'ima
CTB Member
I've been going through the one year online program and I've learned so much from it. Thank you- your work has been a game changer for my practice.
Bethany C.
Massage Therapist
Greetings to all from the Sunny land down under! Based in Point Cook, Victoria, Australia. I stumbled across Chuck and his message through a facebook feed and right away things started resonating with my mindset about treatment with movement to to release compromised muscle spindles. As a recent grad of diploma of Remedial massage the price of the CTB course weighed heavily on my mind. However I am thrilled to have taken the punt as the liberator coupled with the knowledge contained within the course has expanded my scope of how I treat. The in depth knowledge outlined in the slides and presented video have made me confident in tackling some fairly decent shoulder issues over the last couple of weeks, and the results have been truly amazing once I started thinking in agonist/antagonist relationships over any given joint or structure and using the contract relax method rather than just treating isolated static tissue (like that was ever going to work!). Look forward to more learning and gaining better, faster, and longer lasting results for my clients. My only regret is that I wish I could find a CTB practitioner here in Melbourne so I can get a full workup. Being a Nidan in Jiujitsu at 50 is ..... challenging 🙂
Anthony M.
Remedial Massage Therapist
Great stuff. I recently completed the 52 wk. course and have had wonderful results using CTB methods. Especially the shoulder protocol.
Ed K.
CTB Member
I am honestly so excited to get stuck into my modules. I’ve done the intro and watched a few videos but the shoulder is a great place for me to start as I see so many of them. I got my muscle liberator last week and tried it for the first time today. I achieved more in 20 seconds than I did in the last 4 weeks of therapy-my patient was stunned and I was so excited! That was a Facebook webinar I’m glad I checked out over Christmas! So great to be coached by you Chuck, thank you!
Kate Y.
Massage Therapist
Thanks so much for the program, it’s truly making a difference in my practice and I look forward to my future lessons!
Brittany K.
Massage Therapist
I just wanted to express my excitement for the opportunity to learn this detailed material. A friend introduced me to the program yesterday and worked on my left shoulder with the Liberator. This shoulder had a supraspinatus repair 11 years ago. The Liberator reached old stiff areas that only the best therapists could occasionally get to. I'm so happy to know that real relief is now available and I look forward to doing the same for my clients.
Kathy Z.
Massage Therapist
Thank you so much! . . . I have to tell you guys that I tell everyone about this training. I can’t wait till classes resume! The education that you have provided me, even in the one year membership alone, has changed my life and really upped my game. I just wanted to send you a little note to tell you how much I appreciate what you do and all the extra help that you provide to help me grow and succeed. Just wanted to say, Thank you!! 🙏
Jen M.
CTB Specialist Certification Student
Thank you so much. I’m so glad I’m taking this course. Life changing for me and my clients.
Beth N.
Massage Therapist
I have finished the 20 weeks of SHD tx. and successfully passed the part 1 and part 2. I had shd. surgery in Nov. and did my own therapy. Much to my dismay I progressed well for the first 6 weeks and was beyond what the Dr. thought I would be. But then I noticed that the other shoulder was giving me the same pain pattern that my operated shoulder pain was. I realized by watching all of the SHD treatment that something else was wrong. Sleep patterns had changed and I was doing a lot more on the computer. I have watched the previous self care Webinars and have been using these techniques. I am back to golfing, bowling without pain. My lifting weight is close to what it was years ago. I have used a golf ball wrapped in a dishtowel for compression. Thank you so much!
Linda H.
CTB Member
Chuck is a God send. He has helped me to sharpen up my manual therapy strategies and helped me to fill in the blanks so expertly. Its like all my years of education prior were preparing me to study with him. When he speaks everything is so clear!!! Anyway... please let him know how much I appreciate him. Hes the icing on my cake!
Blaise
Massage Therapist
Hey Chuck, I'm not only excited to do the second year, but after practicing for 14 yrs and doing 3 levels of table Thai yoga training, this is the most effective modality that I've come across! And I'm planning on doing both yrs of training and then coming out to IL to get certified to teach CTB as part of my career! I've been getting such amazing results adding the CTB approach to Thai that I'm 110% convinced that teaching along with practicing CTB is how I'm going to be able to help the most amount of people, not only while I'm alive, but also into the future. You have created a legacy that will go on for years if not centuries if this world lasts that long!
Charles R.
Thai Massage Therapist
Thank you so much! I am loving everything about this program so far! I am a clinical massage therapist that received an in-depth education (over 1,000 program hours) about Trigger Point Therapy and other approaches, but this information has already taken my practice to an even higher level! Looking forward to the information ahead.
Amanda P.
Medical Massage Therapist
I'm sure you've heard how medical students develop hypochondriasis when they are studying. Well, luckily, I've managed to avoid that 😂, but there seems to be a synchronicity with the material I happen to be learning at the time and the problems clients are presenting. I just finished week 26 on Adductor Magnus, and sure enough I have a Magnus situation with a client! Thankfully, I am able to help her ~ all because of CTB! This is corny, but it's like a vista of wonder opening up before my eyes . . . truly a marvel, and humbling, the complexity, the knowledge to be mastered ~ and how seriously useful it is in the real world!
Gina C.
CTB Practitioner Certification Student
This course has greatly improved my yoga therapy training.
Dayna C.
Yoga Therapist