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I have been a practicing Massage Therapist since 1984. For more than 20 years now, my job has been to help people get their lives back, often after serious accidents, illnesses, injuries, or surgery. Much of my work is centered on deep tissue therapies, surgery prevention, and chronic pain relief. I offer my clients the expertise and experience to relieve their pain, so they can live the life they want instead of fighting a daily battle just to cope. I welcome questions and encourage my clients and patients to be as informed as possible about all their healthcare options.
Primary therapy modalities include Medical Massage, Deep Tissue Therapy, Trigger Point Release, Neuromuscular Re-Education, Soft Tissue Release, Sports Massage, and Reflexology. I'm a Nationally Certified Medical Massage Therapist. As of June 2006, there are only 1100 of us in the US.
I did my initial Massage Therapy training in Atlanta. The 1250 hour course included Anatomy, Physiology, Kinesiology, Swedish, Trigger Point Therapy, Orthopedic Evaluation skills, and basic Shiatsu. I've been doing this for more than 20 years now, and I still love it.
I spent my first 5 years in practice with an orthopedic surgery group in Atlanta doing injury and surgical rehabilitation. I've recently moved to High Point, North Carolina, and I'm now NC Licensed (#6258). Most of my practice is Medical & Orthopedic Massage Therapy.
Many types of pain, including chronic pain, are in fact muscular in origin, or are triggered by commonly overlooked, and easily treatable influences.
Othopedic, range of motion, and other types of muscle testing are muscle specific and scientific. Analyzing movement patterns allows me to evaluate muscle dysfunction, adhesions and restrictions that reduce range of motion, and cause pain. Once you understand how it all interacts, it's much easier to treat. We see remarkable results in our chronic pain patients, many of whom are able to reduce or eliminate their use of prescription painkillers (under medical approval and supervision) as they progress in their treatment. Deep Tissue release of Trigger Points and adhesions releases and removes excessive muscle tension and dysfunctional holding patterns. Adding Neuro-muscular re-education helps break the cycle of holding patterns and the pain they create, letting the body move naturally, restoring normal function.
I expect my clients to feel relief in their first session. Sometimes there is some soreness, but they should feel a noticeable improvement in the quality of their movement. If I can't get steady and consistent improvement in 3 sessions, it ususally means there is another factor involved. I'll do my best to send get my client the appropriate help. I just don't see the point in living with pain if it can be avoided.
Painkillers may make you feel better, but they won't make you healthy.
Here are a few of the conditions I work with:
Chronic Low Back Pain
Carpal Tunnel Sundrome
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Piriformis Syndrome
Plantar Fasciitis
Sciatica
Knee & Ankle Injuries
Frozen Shoulder
Migraines
Fibromyalgia
Post-surgical Recovery
Surgery Prevention
Chronic pain changes everything about your life
Ordinarily, when we receive a pain stimulus, our body produces endorphins to help fight the pain. Recent studies have shown that in patients with Chronic Pain, the body reduces the amount of pain fighting endorphins it produces, eventually producing none at all. This reaction to chronic pain has often been confused with developing a "drug tolerance", and as a result, long term chronic pain is often seriously undermedicated.
I began teaching in 92 as a guest instructor for Pima Medical Institute and was part of the City of Phoenix's Law & Legislation Committee when the Massage Therapy laws were re-written. I currently teach several classes in CA each year with Healing Arts Institue. (http://abundanthealth.com/). For a listing of my classes feel free to check their website, or my upcoming events page. I'm currently a member of the ABMP (abmp.com), the USMMA(usmedicalmassage.org), and the IHF (www.hypnosisfederation.com).
What is Medical Massage?
Medical Massage entails much more than simply working for a physician or chiropractor.
- With Medical Massage you must be working within the context of a prescription, or under the direction of a physician, and working within the given diagnosis. Techniques often include Manaual Therapy, Therapeutic Stretching, Neuromuscular Re-Education, Lymphatic Drainage, and others to provide provable results.
- "Provable Results" is more than the patient simply saying, "Oh, I feel much better."
- We document the level of dysfunction through range of motion and orthopedic testing, identifying the specific muscles involved. If we find additional dysfunction outside the original prescription, we must notify the referring physician and obtain their permission to include it in treatment.
- We are required to document everything, from initial evaluation, to SOAP and progress notes. Re-evaluations are done every 30 days, by State law.
- We are not allowed to diagnose. We may tell a paitent what we observe, we may request that the patient discuss the viability of certain types of stretching and exercise with their physician, but diagnosis, or prescribing anything (even if it's simply to "drink more water") is outside our legal scope of practice.
I firmly believe that if you're going to call what you do "Medical Massage" you need to have a bare minimum of 1000 hours of training, including advanced study of Anatomy, Physiology, Orthopedic Assessment skills, Contraindciations, Pathology, Neuromuscular Re-education, treatment protocols, Medical terminology and ethics. As a contrast, The County of Sacramento (CA) only requires 126 hours, the City of Sacramento (CA) requires 250. Most licensing states have a 500 hour requirement, NY and Ohio have the most stringent education requirements at 1000 hours.
Benefits of Massage
- lower blood pressure
- reduce stress
- boost the immune system
- improve circulation
- release fascial adhesions
- help muscle injuries heal faster
- improve flexibility & mobility
- can improve balance and proprioception
Massage helps relieve:
- Chronic back & neck pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Multiple sclerosis
- Muscle strains and sprains
- Myofascial restrictions
- Sports Injuries
- Restricted range of motion
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Heel Spurs
- Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
- TMJD
- IT Band Syndrome
Most people think of Massage as a simple field, without a lot of scientific validation or complexity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most experienced Therapists specialize in 3-5 areas, and are kept quite busy keeping up with advacements and education in their field. One therapist cannot know everything about every form of massage, and every massage system.
There are currently a lot of terms and certifications floating around the Massage industry. Many are confusing, and the average consumer has little knowledge or opportunity to differentiate between them. If something you need is outside your therapist's experience and/or scope of knowledge, they need to be prepared to send you to someone who can help you. So how do you know what you're getting?
- Make sure they have an adequate level of training. - The current base level of training through much of the country is 500 hours, in a state approved school. Many states now also require that you pass a National Examination.
- Ask what specialty training they have. Typically you will get one area of specialty training in addition to swedish masssage in your basic 500 hour course. A quality training in a specialty like Lymaphatic Drainage will often have at least another 100-500 hours. Just because someone has taken a weekend class doesn't mean they are a specialist. Most of the major training institutions (Upledger, OMERI, etc.) have an online listing of therapists who have fully completed their training and testing.
- Listen carefully to your therapist - Do they have enough background in the science of their field to explain what they're doing and how it works in a way you understand? Can they respond to your questions? If not, you may want to see another therapist.
Some basic information about muscles:
- Muscles always pull, they never push. In order for one muscle to contract, another must extend.
- Muscles must have both a blood and nerve supply to function. Without a nerve supply, muscles cannot get the message to contract.
- Muscle cells can regenerate in response to exercise.
- A muscle may be in one of three states, at rest, extended, or contracted
When a muscle is overworked, damaged, atrophied, etc. The other muscles that help it function must increase their workload.
Surrounding each mucle is a thin piece of tissue called the fascia. Ordinarily, it behaves like a semi-permeable gel membrane. When there are active trigger points, or other some other insult or injury to the muscle, the fascia cannot move properly, and begins to act like sprayed on styrofoam. This tightened, inflexible fascia acts like a "strait jacket" and can exert pressures of up to 2000 lbs per square inch on the muscles and surrounding tissues. No X-Ray or MRI can detect it. If the fascia has trapped a bit of nerve between layers, the pain will travel and can show up in unexpected places, often appearing unrelated.
What is a "Trigger Point"?
Trigger Points and their resulting pain patterns were discovered and documented by Dr. Janet Travell. Dr. Travell published more than 100 papers with the AMA Journal of Medicine before her death in 1997. She practiced for more than 40 years, including service as White House Physician to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. She authored medical texts, and continued to teach until 1993.
A trigger point (TrP) is basically a small piece of muscle that has contracted, and won't let go. An individual TrP will be from 2-8mm in size. They can't get larger, but they can form entire rows along the length of the muscle. If a "knot" feels larger, then you probably have adhesions as well. (adhesions are normal when lots of TrPs are present)
Myofascial TrPs can be identified, and have been documented, by spontaneous electrical activity (SEA). If your doctor "doesn't believe in them" here's the reference. Hubbard, D.R., and G.M. Berkoff 1993 Myofascial trigger points show spontaneous needle EMG activity spine 18 (13):1803-1807 Gerwin, R.D. and D. Duranleau 1997 Ultrasound identification of the myofascial trigger point. Muscle Nerve 20:767-768 (letter).
What is an Adhes
An adhesion happens when layers of muscle and or tendon stick to each other or to bone. Swelling is natures "cast", it's way of getting us not to move the injured part. However it often does its job too well. It can stick several muscle layers together, reducing the length, strength, and flexibility of the muscles. It also inhibits muscle action.
What is Cranio-Sacral Therapy?
Cranio-Sacral Therapy was developed by John Upledger, DO. Dr. Upledger was part of the University of Michigan Team that finally proved that the sutures of the skull do indeed have a nerve and blood supply, and could in fact, move.
What is Myofascial Release?
Myfascial Release was developed by John Barnes, a Physical Therapist and one-time colleague of Dr. Upledger. MFR involves releasing the restrictions and adhesions in the fascia to promote fluid and mucle movement, freeing up the fascial "straight-jacket" that can exert as much as 2000 psi on a muscle, yet still be invisible to X-Ray and MRI.
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