This is why I am a Massage Therapist

This was my first full week back to work and seeing my clients,working on my clients was like taking a huge breath of fresh clean air. 6 weeks was a long time to not have my hands on someone. I fell right back in, no problems. I guess I was worried that for some reason I would have to "learn to ride the bike" all over again, but nope, natural as well breathing.

All week each client greeted me with excitement and gratefulness, they were as eager to see me as I was to see them, but one lady, her exuberance really was over the top. But it made remember me why I chose this career...

I was changing the sheets on my table when my next client entered the office. Elated she came through door separating the waiting room from the office space and treatment rooms, almost screeching, "I am soooooo GLAD TO SEE YOU!!!" I turned around to see her rounding the privacy wall, rushing at me; arms wide open, "Can I give you a hug?" "Well of course." I replied, slightly taken aback at this woman's enthusiasm. Her arms wrapped snug around my shoulders she squeezed and patted my back. "You changed my life." Slightly whispering it, with almost a quiver in her voice as though she were about to cry.

This client, we'll call her Betty, came to me about 5 weeks prior to my injury with a referral from a chiropractor friend of mine. She had such hip pain that she could hardly climb the stairs in my office. She had been living this way for three years and was fearing she would need a hip replacement surgery. Her quality of life had diminished almost completely, mind you she is only in her 50's and with a vibrant personality and right now she can barely walk. She had no health insurance and was absolutely desperate for someone to help.

Over the course of the next 5 weeks I worked 100% on her hips, we did TiggerPoint, myofascial release, range of motion, stretching, muscle stripping and various other techniques I had in my little bag of tricks. She noticed good results after the first treatment, but we had a ways to go. After tests and assesments, I agreed with Dr. Anderson and her problems were not likely joint dysfunction, but muscular. Her treatment plan was based on two components, financial ability of the client to pay and necessity. In order to make a difference we needed to space the treatments close enough together to achieve progress. We were seeing good results and Betty was feeling better than she had in years. Just before my untimely "leave of absence" Betty began to get very upset with herself that she had waited three years to seek help. I explained to her that we can't go back in time and fix what we didn't do, but we can move forward to fix the problem now and that mental and emotional state work very closely with physical healing Letting go of emotional trauma is essential to healing, and holding onto guilt is devastating on the physical body. We began working through some of her emotional injuries during her sessions as well, (a small perk to being a massage therapist is that we get to be an emotional therapist as well). After her 5th treatment we had made a lot of progress, she was now climbing my stairs with little pain and her over all posture was improved 70%. I will admit I was having a lot of fun watching the therapy work. She worked very hard on her self care during the week and her progress showed. I did become very worried for her and wondered how much her condition would decline during the absence of the treatments for 6 weeks.

She broke her hold on me and moved far enough away that I could take a good look at her now. She looked fantastic! She was dressed in a cute black capri exercise outfit with a baseball cap, she had obviously lost some weight and her face was beaming with a smile from ear to ear. She held her hands out and did a little turn as if to show off just a smidgen. "I went dancing!" She exclaimed, hugged me again and said, "I couldn't have done it with out you. You gave me back my quality of life." I couldn't help but get caught up in her elation as well, I was at that moment as proud of myself as I was of her.

And that my friends is why I do what I do. It's not for the glitz and glamor. It's not for a big paycheck or a star on the walk of fame. It's to help people live there lives to highest quality as possible.

We are only given but this one body, it can only take care of you as good as you take care of it. Fill it with good natural healthy food and water, exercise it, stretch it and give it a great massage therapist. Tell your body thank you for working so hard to provide you with all the things you have and want.