Art Riggs has a B. A. in psychology and graduate study in exercise physiology at U.C. Berkeley. He was certified in massage at the McKinnon Institute in 1986 and became a Certified Rolfer®(174) in 1987 and Advanced Rolfer®(174) in 1991; maintaining his Rolfing practice in Oakland, CA. Art specializes in athletic injuries and has worked with Bay Area professional and Olympic athletes and dancers including the Golden State Warriors and The Dance Theater of Harlem.

He has been teaching deep tissue massage therapy for 20 years and has led workshops for health spas and for physical therapists and assisted in various Rolf trainings, primarily with Michael Salveson, Jan Sultan, and Jeff Maitland. He established the Deep Tissue Massage program at the McKinnon Institute in 1989 and currently leads an eighty hour Deep Tissue certification program at the San Francisco School of Massage.

For the first ten years of his practice, he specialized in myofascial release at a physical therapy clinic where an interest in the treatment of injuries was cultivated. He has worked with several Olympic athletes, professional football and basketball players, and professional dancers and musicians to treat injuries and to improve performance.

However, his teaching and the practice of working with the general population to provide a better awareness of their bodies and allow more ease an comfort in their everyday lives remains the most gratifying aspect of his work.

His practice is located in Oakland, CA, and he is the author of Deep Tissue Massage--A Visual Guide to Techniques and the video, Deep Tissue Massage and Myofascial Release--A Video Guide to Techniques. He also has published several articles for massage magazines and co-authored a chapter on myofascial release in Modalities for Massage and Bodywork.