TEAM
Empowering Our Students
If you want to learn a craft, study with someone who is successfully doing it every day. Simple, but profoundly important. Each of the PNMT teaching staff is not only an excellent instructor, they are also seasoned and very successful clinicians who have been doing Precision Neuromuscular Therapy for many years. That matters to you as a a participant in the seminars. Theories are easy, results are often much more difficult. The staff can answer questions about clinical practice because they are in the clinic every day, and for many years. That gives substance and credence to what they have to share.
DOUG NELSON
Founder and President
Douglas Nelson is a Licensed and Board Certified Massage Therapist. The founder of Precision NMT seminars, Doug has taught hundreds of seminars to various populations from physician's conferences to educational seminars for lay people. Practicing massage therapy since 1977, he has studied with a host of great educators and worked in several clinical environments. He is the president of BodyWork Associates, a twenty-therapist massage therapy clinic in Champaign, IL which has been in operation since 1982.
Doug still maintains a very active practice; he doesn't just teach, he has a busy personal practice (seeing over 1,100 client visits annually); the clinic is the laboratory for the development of PNMT. Doug has treated thousands of clients over the years, from the NBA to the NFL, factory workers, and high-level musicians who suffer musculoskeletal pain.
Doug is passionate about the efficacy of the work and has conducted many clinical research studies to investigate PNMT. He is a member of the International Myopain Association and the International Association for the Study of Pain and is also a regular columnist for Massage and Bodywork magazine. He is the author of Table Lessons: Insights in the Practice of Massage Therapy and The Mystery of Pain. He also contributed the chapter on fibromyalgia to the book Massage Therapy: Integrating Research and Practice.
Doug was awarded the 2013 Massage Therapy Educator of the Year, the 2015 Pioneer Award from the Illinois Chapter of the AMTA, and elected to the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame in 2018. Doug received the AMTA President's Award in 2020. He has spoken to numerous state and national conferences, both giving workshops and keynote addresses. Doug is also a past president of the Massage Therapy Foundation.
JAMES IVASKA
Instructor
James Ivaska has been practicing therapeutic massage for 19 years. Originally from Evanston, IL he received his training with the Chicago School of Massage Therapy in 2003. He has also received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois which has given him a love for all things anatomy. James has been a T.A. for multiple kinesiology courses at the University level and has been teaching with PNMT since 2011. Since his training he has treated thousands of people for chronic pain or injuries. James now has a private practice in Little Rock Arkansas. James is always looking to learn about the human body and loves to teach about it.
SARAH LASHLEY
Instructor
Sarah teaches the TMJ Intensive and has always been a natural educator. She first taught English as a second language, then worked as a school administrator in the inner-city of Chicago, before she discovered her passion and gift for healing through massage and PNMT. Sarah began studying PNMT 6 months after receiving her IL massage license in July 2008. Treating her husband's TMJD was the driving force behind her PNMT education and has become her specialty. Nearly 40% of her practice is working with clients that have TMJD. Since 2010, Sarah has had a successful practice, which has recently grown into Somavida Pain Relief Center, where she now hires and trains passionate LMTs to become World Class Precision Neuromuscular Therapists.
Beth Maddox
Instructor
Beth Maddox began her professional career with Bachelors' of Science degrees in Physical Therapy and in Health Facilities Management from Maryville University, St. Louis, in 1989. She gained diverse orthopedic, medical and neurological experience at St. John's Mercy Medical Center. Then, specializing in manual spinal and soft tissue therapies, Beth worked under Drs. Barry and Rachel Feinberg at Injury Specialists, chronic pain clinic, St. Louis.
Venturing out on her own in private practice, after gaining certification as an LMT, Precision Neuromuscular Therapy quickly appeared on her radar screen. After the first course, Spine and Thorax I, she saw the solid anatomy and science credibility that was behind PNMT and pursued becoming PNMT certified, which she completed in August, 2010. With her passion for PNMT and teaching combined, Beth immediately jumped into the instructor role full force.
Beth maintains her State Licensure in Physical Therapy as well as her National Certification in Therapeutic Massage, and she is a member of ABMP. She finds that the blend of Physical Therapy and PNMT-based Therapeutic Massage offers extremely effective outcomes for her clients. Beth is currently busy with her private practice, Selah Massage Therapies, as well as with her hours at various out-patient orthopedic clinics in the St. Louis area. While Beth values and employs PNMT for the whole body, Head and Neck is her highest passion!
Beth lives with her husband and 3 children in St. Louis. She has been a lifelong runner, though is trying to embrace cycling and swimming. Vocal performance also remains one of her joys, in her "spare" time!!
JULIE NICHOLS
Instructor
A native of Cincinnati, Julie received a B.A. in Anthropology from U.C., where her senior research was a cross-cultural comparison of how women view and manage pain during pregnancy and childbirth. While attending U.C., Julie received massage therapy for injuries sustained in a car accident, and was amazed at the results. This experience led her to attend the Ohio College of Massotherapy, where she was first introduced to Douglas Nelson and PNMT seminars. Licensed by the State Medical Board since 2002, Julie enjoys private practice in Cincinnati, OH
Julie's areas of interest include lower extremity and pelvic dysfunction, and she is currently conducting research on the role of myofascial trigger points in pelvic pain. Her teaching style has been described as energetic and interactive. She finds PNMT both intellectually stimulating and emotionally rewarding, and enjoys sharing the experience with others.
SETH WILL
Instructor
The developer of the Precision Mobilization Program and longtime PNMT instructor is Seth Will. Seth has dedicated over a decade of both formal and informal training and education in massage, acupuncture (intra-muscular stimulation), manual therapies, neuroscience, theology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology and human dissection. During this time he has honed and refined his craft for manual/movement therapies and presenting his knowledge with eager pupils. Seth practices in Manitowoc, Wisconsin where he is a manual clinician at Bay Bodyworks with two other PNMT therapists. He is a member of over a dozen organizations in fields of pain and movement impairments to diverse groups with a focus on literature, sustainable gardening and the culinary arts. Seth is currently active in the Russian Kettlebell program of training as well as the practice of Indian Clubs. He lives in Milwaukee, WI with his wife, Rebecca and their two dogs: Pigwidgeon and Tonks.