​History of Graston Technique… David Graston was competitive water skier; sustained injury but frustrated with poor results from other treatments; went and used jar top as a self massage tool and improved; used his engineering knowledge to create specialized instruments, hence the birth of Graston Technique
 
More than just scraping and making the skin red (people often associate Graston with these giant bruises, but contemporary thinking has evolved quite significantly)..
 
Many variables to consider for best possible treatment…size of instrument, which treatment edge, shape of body part being treated, speed of stroke, length of stroke, type of stroke, target tissue length, angle of instrument edge, treatment duration…
 
I did go in without an intention of purchasing the instruments….but I ended up getting them anyway (in full disclosure, the military and student discounts did play a role in my decision to ultimately purchase)

What is the Endurance Exchange conference?..."USA Triathlon and TBI are introducing the Endurance Exchange conference in an effort to grow, inspire and support the triathlon community by collaboratively hosting the nation’s largest experiential triathlon summit where everyone within the multisport community can learn; share best practices, trends and innovations; network; and celebrate. Endurance Exchange replaces the TBI Annual Conference, which was initially scheduled in Tempe for the same dates. It also comprises two former USA Triathlon-hosted industry events, the USA Triathlon Race Director Summit and the Art and Science of Triathlon International Coaching Symposium."

Some notes from the lectures that I attended (there were 2-4 different lectures simultaneously in different rooms at the magnificent Sun Devil Stadium at Arizona State University) 

Mental Health & Performance

• How often to talk about mental health? Much as physical health
• Mental health is important for how you coach someone
• Issues typically start age 18-25 but they are also lowest treated
• Sleep is the greatest indicator of mental health
• Sleep is a precursor...not a symptom
• You can't get better at handling poor sleep..you actually get WORSE at judging how sleep deprived you are
• If you wouldn't say it to someone else then don't say it to yourself
• Trauma = anything that you consider traumatic
• You can't train out of trauma
• Chronic injuries count as trauma
• Compassion is the single greatest interruptor of suicide
• Despite all the technology available, there is still value in subjective assessment
• You don't need to be mentally ill to see a mental health professional: its about making you a better you
• Biggest competition for his practice is new technology
• Don't pathologize condition - Recalls coach saying to athlete "You're kinda f-ed up..you should go see someone"
• Assume that every athlete is gonna lie
• Include mental health into intake: "of the last 7 nights, how many times have you woken up well rested"
• Single greatest predictor of success in sport is relationship to coach
• Debriefs with professional athletes can be several pages long
• Helplessness is the single greatest predictor of suicide 
• Common barriers to getting help: cost, availability
• Can't train out of trauma

Stuff I liked…

• Integration of eastern thinking and acupuncture, if not explicitly, then certainly implicitly (notably, the idea that overcleaning the sites can kill “good” bacteria and “adverse” reactions to needling such as nausea/disorientation/vomiting may actually be a good thing as a sign of the body trying to recalibrate itself.)
• No resheathing of the needles..needles are cheap, no need to risk an accidental stick
• It was a good anatomy review in general…and a good reminder how much there still is to learn!
• Needle technique isn’t that difficult. Knowing where to stick and needle and where/when to NOT stick a needle is more important
• Helped me think deeper about the SMFA…for example, treating one of Stecco’s fascial points, if you follow the SFMA breakouts from multisegmental rotation, there’s a good chance you’ll wind up in one of these places….then you recheck your work. Good to have a movement baseline
• Did not insist on bottoming out (through feel not end feel)
• Brings the perspective of downregulating/upregulating the nervous system in context of athlete’s competitive schedule (broader perspective than just hunting down trigger points, which has been an unfortunately narrow misinterpretation of DN)
• Deemphasis on trigger point hunting and bottoming out seems to result in less residual soreness