What is a Certified Functional Manual Therapist (CFMT)?

A Certified Functional Manual Therapist (CFMT) is a physical therapist who has truly gone above and beyond the average peer.  Many years of studying, attending courses, traveling, sacrificing the attendance of family anniversaries and birthdays, time away from work, and money were all invested to prepare to qualify to sit for an arduous 1-week examination to demonstrate excellence.  This examination occurs only once a year, which includes extensive and thorough written and oral exams in up to 10 subjects.  Aside from gaining validation for their technical application and understanding of the Functional Manual Therapy® (FMT) approach in front of the directors and founders of the Institute of Physical Art, a CFMT also made a commitment to serving their patients through the of the "Art of the Hand" and the gift of touch.  They are humbly "one of the few" that make amazing and positive changes in the lives of their patients with their hands.

When it comes to physical therapists using their hands to evaluate and treat one's functional capacity, CFMT'rs are the best in the physical therapy industry.  We at Total Potential want you to know that you were totally worth the journey.  And we hope that you can experience the change that you deserve to have in your body with us.  All the time training, time away from family, etc. you were worth the sacrifice.  At Total Potential, the heart of servitude and gratitude is the type of clinical office that we want to provide to you and our patients.


What is a Functional Manual Therapy® (FMT)?

Functional Manual Therapy® (FMT) is manual therapy that looks at the human body in a 3-dimensional manner.  It is a constant evaluation and treatment of the 3-pillars of the FMT paradigm: mechanical capacity, neuromuscular function, and motor control.  It looks beyond normative values but the innate human potential instead.  Breakthroughs in the development of FMT were made working with professional dancers, runners, and complex cases.  Because of this "out of the box" thinking, problems were solved brilliantly and in curious ways.  FMT is a full body approach to treating the body's tissues and neuromuscular system to promote functional efficiency.

Its mechanical treatment is end-feel directed rather than soley on position, motion, and symmetry.  FMT was developed under the principles of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF).  So the treatment sessions literally feel like dancing and flowing to help make our patients better.

Mechanical capacity is evaluated and treated  with our trained hands that make mobilizations laser-specific, rather than passive mobilizations of laying supine on the treatment table.  This is why we say that we're doing something WITH you rather than something happening TO you.  FMPs reveal the exact motion and position that was directly affecting the specific region in question.  Physical therapy diagnosis and treatment becomes fast, seamless, and creates immediate results.

The second pillar, neuromuscular function, uses our hands to activate very specific fibers of the core rather than requiring multiple physical therapy visits and 1-hour long home program with multiple repetitions and conscious mental effort to isolate specific fibers with weights and bands for weeks on end.  Because PNF is like dancing and integrating with the innate human system, its effectiveness is exceptional--thus faster--at diagnosing and treating initiation, strength, endurance, and elongation of the deep core, getting results quicker and safer.

Motor control is the final pillar of the FMT approach.  Our hands and observation skills continuously uses PNF principles to treat the movements that you care about.  We take specific movements that do not look and feel right, treat out the mechanical dysfunctions, restore the neuromuscular function with PNF and FMPs, and apply it back to the motor control system revealing effortless movement that just seems to magically flow with the rest of the human system.  This final pillar is where prescriptive exercise can become highly beneficial to help you get the results you need.

Total Potential serves the City of San Marino.

What is a CranioSacral Therapy (CST)?

CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the function of your craniosacral system--i.e., the membranes and the cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord.

CST enhances the body's natural healing processes to help regulate the central nervous system, dissipate negative effects of stress, enhance health and well-being, and strengthen resistance to disease.

Sometimes, the body finds creative ways to store significants events in our lives in and around the body in creative ways.  CST can also offer a somatic exit for finally allow resolution as an adjunct to therapy.

The work can be profoundly relaxing, exhilarating, deeply moving, or involve resolution of old "issues."  Our training of CST is via the Upledger approach through the Upledger Institute.  CST can affect not only profound structural change within the body, but also mental and emotional change.

What is a Visceral Manipulation (VM)?

"Viscera" relates to the internal organs of the body, such as the liver, kidneys and intestines.  Visceral Manipulation (VM), is a gentle manual therapy that aids your body's ability to release restrictions and unhealthy compensations that cause pain and dysfunction.

Most of our VM training is via The Barral Institute.  We also use Visceral Functional Mobilization (VFM) from the Institute of Physical Art (IPA).  Visceral Manipulation does not focus solely on the site of pain or dysfunction, but evaluates the entire body to find the source of the problem.

Sometimes the emotions that get stored in the visceral orange in the body.  These stored emotions cannot resolve no matter how long we have been getting therapy until the body gets permission to let the significant event in our lives let go.  At which time, the resolution can finally take place.

The VM therapist feels for the altered or decreased motion within the viscera, as well as restrictive patterns throughout the body and the applies VM techniques.  Visceral Manipulation therapy re-establishes the body's ability to adapt and restore itself to health.  90% of musculoskeletal problems tend to be due to mechanical dysfunctions of the viscera.