Scraping therapy update

I just did a little bit more work reporting on Graston Technique®, in response to some comments and ideas from a reader (hat tip to Jay). Here’s a bit of what I’ve learned:

Curiously, in a strange case of licensing backfire, David Graston himself is no longer in control of the Graston Technique® brand; he markets a new system called Sound Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (SASTM®), distinguished primarily by the use of tools made from ceramic instead of steel. There's also a third fairly-well known example, ASTYM® (stands for “a stimulation”). I was not previously aware of these competing modalities.

They are all rather similar, of course — virtually indistinguishable from a patient’s point of view, certainly. Graston publishes a chart showing the differences between the systems, but virtually all the differences are system-marketing benefits.

One of the most noteworthy things about the Graston website is the lack of meaningful references to relevant science. When I learned of these other systems, I went to see if by any chance they offered any meatier scientific support for their sales pitches.

ASTYM publishes an impressive-looking research page with dozens of references. However, the references are all just basic science articles about the physiology of healing, stuff that’s tangentially relevant to ASTYM at best. This is somewhat like responding to the question “Does it work?” by saying, “I am smart. I can cite science papers about physiology.” That’s terrific, but … does it work?

The ASTYM folks prominently cite the same trivial Davidson et al article that the Graston website leans on.

They list only a single study that directly involved ASTYM in any way. However, despite being rather experienced at tracking down scientific papers, I was unable to find what they were citing — either it doesn’t exist, or isn’t correctly cited. And it’s a study of only 20 subjects in any case (smaller than small) — barely worth mentioning even if it is real.

So much for the impressive-seeming presentation.

Graston’s SASTM website does not present any scientific information whatsoever, but “To request a research packet, please fill out the contact us form.” Why not just publish it? Perhaps because there’s really nothing to publish?

The Graston Technique review is now updated with this information: