The Graston Technique®: Magic steel massage tools that supposedly scrape the pain away, and “resonate” in the therapist’s hands

Dr. Harriet Hall, the SkepDoc, recently criticized The Graston Technique® in some detail. At the same time, I was responding to a reader request for more information about Graston for plantar fasciitis (“tendinitis” of the arch of the foot), a common treatment offering for that condition. It’s also commonly prescribed for iliotibial band syndrome (runner’s knee), another condition I have written a great deal about. I started to delve.

Graston Technique is an expensive and painful massage technique that uses savage-looking steel tools to apply achieve intense, scraping pressures that supposedly cure by breaking up scar tissue and fascial restrictions. The official website makes the claim that the expensive tools “resonate like a tuning fork,” guiding practitioners like dowsing rods. Really? Wow. How could I not write about this? As good as Dr. Hall’s analysis is, I just had to have one of my own. Read all about it: