meet Craig Harris
Craig Harris LCMT, COMT, is an Orthopedic Manual Therapist and Instructor of the Hendrickson Method® (HM).
With over 25 years’ experience, Craig is the most experienced Hendrickson Method Instructor in Southern California.
His journey to becoming one of the most well-respected orthopedic manual therapists began as a solution to his own pain, and continued as Craig realized he had found his life’s purpose.
Craig enjoys being active outside and spending time with his wife. He has a son and daughter.
My story
Three years into my martial arts training back in 1986, as I pushed off the ground to launch myself into a front jumping kick, my back went into complete spasm. Thus began a 20-year journey to find the most effective treatment for neuromuscular pain.
I found trigger point therapy and deep tissue massage to be helpful, and this led to my following my passion to became a massage therapist. Massage therapy brought me and my clients good results – if muscles were all that was involved. However, even after thousands of hours of study and years of practice, I found traditional massage to be too limiting for people with long-term pain.
Massage therapy is not appropriate for recent injuries, and it takes it’s toll on the practitioner. The harder I tried to help people, the more my own body began to suffer. I found I could only work on people about 15 hours a week. At the end of a long day’s work, my thumbs and forearms burned and my shoulders and back ached. I began to wonder if I could continue at all in this career that I so loved.
Fortunately, I finally discovered the Hendrickson MethodⓇ of Orthopedic Manual Therapy in 2006. I knew I had finally found the therapy I had been seeking and was born to practice; the method built perfectly on my knowledge, and promised a whole new way to effectively and efficiently treat people with all kinds of pain. After six years of advanced study in Berkeley, including three years as assistant teacher, I became a certified Hendrickson Method instructor. Today, I lead Continuing Education courses, workshops, and events in Los Angeles, and I’m honored to be the first person allowed to offer full 200-hour certification training of Hendrickson Method outside the Bay area.
who benefits from orthopedic manual therapy?
Craig’s clients have ranged in age from 2 months to 92 years old, and have included Olympic boxers and basketball legends, Cirque du Soleil featured principal dancers and top studio musicians, elite tri-athletes, everyday computer users, and celebrities. People have flown from as far as Toronto, New York and New Zealand to receive treatment.
discover more about the techniques used
Read more about The Hendrickson Method
Find out more about Craig’s stages of treatment for common injury here
“I recently sustained compression fractures to my T7-T12 vertebrae following an accident. Craig worked with me extensively for several months helping to promote healing by restoring circulation and function to the affected surrounding tissues. I was especially impressed with Craig’s coordination and consultation with my orthopaedist. My orthopaedist was amazed at the speed of my recovery of mobility, and the short period of time that I had to use a walker and pain pills – ten days! Craig carefully explains each part of the process and there is no pain whatsoever involved in his work.”