Administrivia and Acknowledgements

Where can I get a recent copy of this document?

The most recent version of this multi-part frequently asked questions list (FAQL) is posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.backrubs every 14 days. Every 28 days it is also posted to alt.answers and news.answers. The alt.backrubs version is guaranteed to be the most current but there probably won't be any differences between versions that were posted only 14 days apart.

Copies of major releases of this FAQL are kept in the alt.backrubs archive (see question 5.1.2). The news.answers version of this FAQL can be obtained via anonymous FTP from the rtfm.mit.edu site in directory `/pub/usenet-by-group/alt.backrubs/' or `/pub/usenet/alt.answers/backrubs/faq'. Only if you do cannot use anonymous FTP should you retrieve it by sending email to <mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu> with the command

send usenet/alt.answers/backrubs/faq/*

in the message. See question 5.2.2 for more details.

Please note that this document has been produced for free distribution. You should not have to pay anyone to obtain a copy.

Whom should I flame for anything I don't like about this FAQL?

nobody (sic), of course! Any additions or suggestions or discussion can be posted to the newsgroup, or mailed to the FAQL maintainer <jamie@uwo.ca>. The maintainer is not a massage professional. All mail about the FAQL will be acknowledged within five days of receipt (usually on the day of receipt). If you haven't received a notice of receipt within a week then something is wrong.

To Do

This FAQL is mostly finished but additions are welcome. There are still some things I'd like to have added or changed:

I think the part about massaging towards the heart needs to be rewritten, but I'm not qualified to do it
some paragraphs that summarize all the advice about oils in all the various files about massage oil in the archive
A definition of Rolfing will be a welcome addition to question 2.2.
Lorre Smith <ls973@cnsvax.albany.edu>, a senior professional librarian, is preparing a proper index of the archive.
Kjartan Clausen <kjartan@ii.uib.no> is preparing a HTML document about massage which will include a version of the FAQL.

If you would like to volunteer :) to write some or all of the answers please contact the FAQL maintainer <jamie@uwo.ca>.

The file `faql.to-add' in the archive (see question 5.1.2) contains postings that I would like to have incorporated into the FAQL.

Recent changes to this FAQL

Since 26 September 1995

Updated John Cole's address. By the way, he can't read alt.backrubs (or any other Usenet newsgroup) from his current account.
Included Massage Magazine's e-mail address in Q4.1. Included the -4444 part of the AMTA's address (from message <46gtrk$1ku@newsbf02.news.aol.com> by ElGreene <elgreene@aol.com>).
Moved question 4.5 (about symptoms) to 4.6 and made 4.5 about how much to pay for pro massage, etc. Added stuff about summaries to question 1.2 (should I post my question?). Added questions about net-abuse and tipping.
Rearranged questions in parts 1 and 2. Added Kjartan Clausen to the list of people who advise me on changes to the FAQL. Many minor changes. Rearranged the questions in part 1 again. They now fall into two groups: about alt.backrubs and about Usenet.
Added a note about the list of questions to 1.2 (What if my question isn't answered here?). Added a note about the search service to the list of mailing-lists (5.2.7 c)). Added a large chunk to the section about Reiki (2.2 k)). Reordered the WWW sites list (5.2.3), added a reference to the w3.sites file to that list, and added references to that question from some parts of 2.2 (list of types of therapies).
Added an explicit notice of copyright (question 0.7) and a header to every section referring to it. This might not be necessary but I think it is worth the trouble.

Acknowledgements

Many parts of this FAQL are almost identical to those posted by <amw@math.columbia.edu> (Winkler) on 3 Dec 1992 (see the `faql.all' file in the archive). Andrew Winkler <amw@ckp.com> deserves a lot of credit for the work he did. Specifically, questions 0.2, 1.1, 2.1-2.5, 3.1-3.5 and 4.1 began as questions in the original FAQL. Some of them have changed very little from the originals (e.g., 3.3), some have undergone major stylistic changes but are essentially the same (e.g., 2.5). Question 1.1 is completely changed.

The introductory portion of this article have been adapted from the same section in the comp.lang.c FAQL (message-ID <1994Jan01.0300.scs.0001@eskimo.com>, posted on 1 Jan 1994) which is copyright 1988, 1990-1993 by Steve Summit. Many of the additions to question 2.2 (types of bodywork) have been adapted from a post by MayaWay <mayaway@aol.com> for the Maine Massage Guild (message-ID <3kuukf$ppt@newsbf02.news.aol.com>). Yonina Chernick, RMT and Keith Grant provided extensive help in adapting the definition of craniosacral therapy in that question. Part of the answer to question 4.6 has been adapted from postings by Richard Karasik (Message-ID <36a84q$8o6@warthog.eng.octel.com>), Terry Norman (Message-ID <tnt-1112942356590001@ftw04.onramp.net>) and the answer to a similar question (#41) in the 13 Mar 1995 version of the Usenet FAQL (message-ID <D657pw.CpE@deshaw.com>, posted to news.announce.newusers and news.answers on 28 Mar 1995 by Mark Moraes <netannounce@deshaw.com>).

The definition of fascia in question 2.6 is adapted from p.1045 of volume II of International Dictionary of Medicine and Biology: in three volumes, (c)1986 by John Wiley & Sons. The Editor-in-Chief is Sidney I. Landau and the ISBN is 0-471-01849. The title of 1.3 d) (`"Please, sir, I want some more."') is a quotation from chapter 2 of Charles Dickens's second novel Oliver Twist. Margaret Ann LaChance <mlachanc@frog.thpl.lib.fl.us> provided a guaranteed correct expansion for the ABMP acronym.

The FAQL is posted by J. Blustein <jamie@uwo.ca>. The following (in alphabetical order by surname) are collaborating to edit and amend the FAQL: Bill Arnett <Bill_Arnett@mindlink.bc.ca>, Kjartan Clausen <kjartan@ii.uib.no>, Corrina Perrone <corrina@cs.colorado.edu>, John Cole <jcole@mts.mhs.compuserve.com>, julian collier <jcollier@nyx.cs.du.edu>, Keith Grant <keg@strathspey.llnl.gov> and Lawrence Warnock <Massage@ix.netcom.com>. Please send mail about this FAQL to <jamie@uwo.ca>, not to the other members of the `alt.backrubs team'.

A A Adams <aaa@scs.leeds.ac.uk>, Axel Boldt <axel@uni-paderborn.de>, Brian Carter <Brian_Carter@pop.com>, Kjartan Clausen, John Cole, Keith Grant, ElGreene <elgreene@aol.com>, Caroline Knight <cdfk@hplb.hpl.hp.com>, Kevin Kunz <FootC@aol.com>, Margaret Ann LaChance <mlachanc@frog.thpl.lib.fl.us>, Lawrence F. London, Jr. <london@sunSITE.unc.edu>, MayaWay <mayaway@aol.com>, Lee Murray <bh295@freenet.carleton.ca>, Terry Norman <tnt@onramp.net>, Brother Bernard Seif <monk@epix.net>, Stormwind <amazon@kisio.engr.sgi.com> and Sam Waring <waring@ima.infomail.com> made suggestions that are incorporated into this FAQL.

Where is that pesky Disclaimer?

Right here: All the answers in these postings have been included with good intentions but none of them are guaranteed to be completely accurate. The `alt.backrubs team' have endeavoured to ensure that the information in these postings is correct and reasonably complete but cannot warrant their suitability for any purpose. None of them acknowledge any liability resulting from any mistakes contained in these postings or from the application of anything contained in these postings. If you have a health problem you should consult a health care professional (and we hope you get better soon).

Notice of copyright

All six parts of the alt.backrubs frequently asked questions list (hereafter called `the document') are copyright by J. Blustein. This is also true of all versions that did not have this explicit notice but were posted by J. Blustein, i.e. all but the two that Winkler posted. Andrew Winkler holds the copyright on the two versions that he posted.

You are free to use the document for your own personal use. You are free to distribute the document so long as all six parts are present and none of them have been modified.

If you wish to distribute an incomplete or modified version of the document you must obtain permission from J. Blustein <jamie@uwo.ca> in advance. I expect you will find the conditions completely reasonable, but permission must still be obtained in advance.

kjartan@ii.uib.no