The JBMT Story

The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies was founded by Leon Chaitow, an internationally recognised authority on many topics within the bodywork professions. Its first issue was published in 1996 with the support of Mary Law (Handspring Publishing), and published, in the early days, by Churchill Livingstone.

Mission statement

JBMT was originally created, in the words of Leon Chaitow:

To offer material which can both increase our knowledge base while also encouraging creative, intuitive, improvisation in the individual and collective professional evolution of those engaged in health care utilizing manual and movement methods.
To emphasise integration, rather than separation, between the bodywork modalities and professions JBMT serves – specifically to “demolish the barriers between all those in the ‘bodywork and movement’ professions. “https://www.bodyworkmovementtherapies.com/article/S1360-8592(97)80056-3/abstract
To “translate” between research and clinical practice, by a/ ensuring that published research articles provide usable, clinically relevant information for direct application by clinicians; b/ feeding back to researchers where more work is needed and demonstrating how it is used in clinical practice through case reports/studies/series; c/ cultivating & facilitating dialogue between these two poles of the sciences.
One of JBMT’s defining missions has always been the promotion of the potential of those who submit their work for critical consideration, for publication. This includes active mentoring and encouragement of nascent authors, as well as assisting established ones.

Editorial Board

Over the years the editorial board of JBMT grew, along with the journal itself, with the current members of the editorial team all being close colleagues of Leon Chaitow, hand-picked for their expertise and commitment to the journal’s mission.

Over the years, Judith Delany LMT, Benny Vaughan LMT, Rose MacDonald PT, John Hannon DC, Dimitrios Kostopoulos Md, PhD, Matthew Wallden DO, Warrick McNeill PT, Jerrilyn Cambron PhD and Glenn Hymel DEd all served as JBMT editors, with Craig Liebenson having written an editorial for every single issue of JBMT since its inception.

The international editorial board boasts several dozen experts spanning the bodywork professions from both clinical and research approaches: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-bodywork-and-movement-therapies/editorial-board and is officially supported by a number of international professional associations and schools: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-bodywork-and-movement-therapies

JBMT grows

In 2009, further acknowledgement came in the form of Medline indexing, and from the 62 pages of the inaugural issue, JBMT had grown to 300 pages, divided into four specialised sections beyond the “General” section.

https://www.bodyworkmovementtherapies.com/article/S1360-8592(15)00277-6/fulltext

Craig Liebenson, Matthew Wallden, and Warrick McNeill served as associate editors for the Prevention & Rehabilitation section; Dimitrios Kostopoulos for the Diagnostic Methods section; Dr Jan Dommerholt for the Myofascial Pain & Treatment section; and Thomas Myers for the Fascia Science Section. Dr Glenn Hymel remained in an advisory role as Emeritus Associate Editor.

Making plans

In May 2017 Leon met with then Senior Associate Editor Dr Jerrilyn Cambron and Publisher Christopher Baumle to discuss future plans for JBMT.

These were put into action earlier than foreseen, when Leon Chaitow fell ill in early 2018, and in March 2018 Dr Jerrilyn Cambron was appointed acting Editor-in-Chief, alongside Dr Sasha Chaitow as Managing (Administrative) Editor, under Leon Chaitow’s continuing supervision.

2018 was a landmark year, since JBMT was publishing sponsor for the international Fascia Research Congress taking place in Berlin, and production of the Special Issue due for October 2018 was overseen by Leon Chaitow himself, despite his declining health.

He dictated his final editorial a few days before his passing in September 2018: https://www.bodyworkmovementtherapies.com/article/S1360-8592(18)30313-9/fulltext

but sadly, he did not live to see the production of this issue, which featured his obituary by Thomas Myers: https://www.bodyworkmovementtherapies.com/article/S1360-8592(18)30370-X/fulltext.

FRC 2018

Dr Sasha Chaitow represented her father, and the Journal, at the Fascia Research Congress, awarding the JBMT prizes for Clinical Relevance to the two prizewinning author teams, and delivering a short address in which she shared Leon Chaitow’s final thoughts and vision for the fields of fascia research and the journal itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uz6KAPTFCM

Leon Chaitow’s legacy

On the announcement of his passing, Associate editors Matthew Wallden, Warrick McNeill, and Craig Liebenson set the tone by noting:

“The choice of the title of this journal written for those who work on or with the human body and those that use movement as their tool seems to mean more now than perhaps it did when its first edition appeared over 20 years ago. The refusal to name even a single discipline as a key audience in the title of the JBMT is its strength. The Journal, therefore, attracts a broad readership and diversity in a contributor’s base training. And it will continue to do so.

The increase in research in areas untouched two decades ago is at least partially a result of Chaitow’s belief in the need for research and its dissemination of the science behind these sometimes disparate and often under-verified professions.

There are many textbooks to Chaitow’s credit, too many to list here, but it is likely that the living organism that is this Journal, the JBMT, will prove to be the lasting legacy of Leon Chaitow’s professional work…

Read full article :https://www.bodyworkmovementtherapies.com/article/S1360-8592(18)30455-8/fulltext#back-bib1

After serving JBMT for 18 months and completing the transition asked of her by Leon Chaitow in his final weeks, Dr Sasha Chaitow oversaw the production of 7 issues of the journal (Apr 2018-Oct 2019), ensuring that his principles and mission statement were maintained, and demonstrating her dedication to the integrative and translational principles that were Leon Chaitow’s main focus.

The end of an era

Following a decision by the publisher to enforce policy changes and restructure the Journal, as of January 2020, Dr Sasha Chaitow is no longer associated with JBMT.

JBMT will continue in whatever form is decided by its new leadership.

Leon Chaitow’s Editorials

JBMT EDITORIALS 1996-2013

Scroll down and click on any of the thumbnails to view and download Leon Chaitow’s editorials from the first issue of JBMT (October 1999) to 2013. Preprints of more recent editorials will be added in due course.

The articles are in PDF format. If you do not have Adobe Reader installed on your computer, click here to install it now.