Medical Massage

Have you ever had a massage therapist ask you if you had pain only to proceed with the massage and basically ignore it? Now you might have received a perfectly good general massage. The therapist certainly massaged the area of concern. The problem was that they didn’t pay enough attention to it or it was treated like every other part of your body. The difference between medical massage and a basic Swedish massage is specificity. Medical massage is a comprehensive way of looking at what hurts, figuring out what is causing you pain and going about treatment to alleviate the discomfort.

Medical massage requires a dialogue between the client and the massage therapist. We will discuss your condition before you get on the table. You’ll have the opportunity to tell me your history and your theories and I’ll ask some questions before we get to the hands-on portion. Once we start to work together, I’ll be checking in with you to see if the pressure I’m using is comfortable. I’ll ask if I’m working in the right place and I’ll tell you why I might be checking other areas for secondary muscle involvement. As a relationship develops there might be less need for checking in but your feedback is always welcome.

After your first session, we’ll develop a treatment plan. Most soft tissue problems gain a foothold over time and it takes more than one session to fix (but sometimes we get lucky!) So we’ll schedule a follow-up visit and talk about exercises, icing, heat and other self-maintenance activities which you might want to try in between visits.

I will bring to bear all my years of hands-on experience, all the modalities I’ve studied, all of my own experience with injuries and subsequent healing to bring you back to a state of pain-free balance. Can I fix everything? Unfortunately, no and I will let you know if I can’t help you. I will also refer you to another health care professional if it’s indicated.

I think of what I do as detective work. There is mystery in the human body. The soft tissue tells us a story and we listen. Then we follow the threads, address the dysfunction and piece it back together. In so doing, the healing process begins.