Real Office Walls Make Good Neighbors

Here’s a visit again to the denizens of the noisy office – I have fairly quiet neighbors, but my recent moved-in neighbor, a chiropractor, has his desk and phone on the other side of my massage room and his treatment room along the other wall.

         

We are unwillingly sharing conversations, little mumbles and buzzes, usually, but we both can sometimes get those exuberant clients.

         

I did a little checking and found out many office buildings are like mine – a drop ceiling covering a mess-morass of cables, vents and lights in a common ceiling. Our walls do not go all the way to the top. (insert jokes here.)

         

Well, there is an old standby, soundboard, which folks put inside the walls of regular drywall. There is also a product called QuietRock, a drywall that features a gel membrane in the middle. Apparently liquid is the best noise stopper.

         

We draped a good bit of soundboard over our ceiling tiles, and I found a lovely little product called QuietPutty that filled some of the air gaps between the boards and the windows.

         

Sadly, we are still hearing each other, a situation which I think might be more uncomfortable for him because sometimes I get clients who are moving through issues stuck in their muscles. You know what I mean?

         

Well, another round of internet shopping and this time I am going to try a product known as a ceiling cap. This is a vinyl and foam sheet that sticks onto the top of the existing ceiling tiles and baffles out the noise.

         

I found some other cool products such as polyester batting and rolls of vinyl quiet sheets, but they require a level of skill and dexterity I lack on top of a ladder. Stick-on and pre-cut is my speed.

         

Looking for a solution has been a drag, but I have to remember when I was a new therapist I worked in a gym in a room next to the ladies toilets. “Whoosh!”

         

And… once I worked in a salon where the folks mixed color right outside my room – while they gossiped about layoffs and clients and bosses.

And… at one time, I had a great room with a great view to a beautiful garden and pool. They had a childproof gate that clanged like Big Ben. I used a lot of foam tape that year….

By Susan Peterson, CAMTC, NCTMB

Walking Hard….

One of my favorite clients really hates massage. Doesn’t want it, doesn’t like it, would rather do his own taxes with a broken pencil or his own root canals with a rusty knife. Tough cookie, he never fails to tell me how much he dislikes massage when he comes in. This massage therapist is easily amused.

         

Trouble is, this guy had a car accident at age 19 and was in a body cast for a year. He came back, inch by inch, with one functional leg and one leg that had been so shattered and so stiffened it barely functions. He has one intact quadriceps, no sartorius and scar tissue for most of his adductors.

         

And heck, he restricts me to working on the “good leg” only.

         

That car accident was 42 years ago. He’s managed through strength and determination (that big muscle between the ears) to get this far. He stationary bikes, walks with a limp and has had a lot of acupuncture.

         

Lately, the “good leg” has not been behaving. The knee is getting tricky, he has lot of pain on the lateral side of the knee and femur, and is very stiff.

         

Stiff is not the word. I tried for some basic muscle softening, using Swedish and gentle spiral stretches to de-fuse the quads and ITB. Well, these guys are resistant. Every single action is automatically resistant to range of motion, a sign, I think, of too much control for way too long.

         

Repetitive Swedish strokes were helping little, and the normal PNF patterns were unable to break the chains. Time for some trigger point.

         

I am comfortable with perhaps a half-dozen TRP techniques, mostly time direct pressure or gradient pressure. TRP is not always my first choice, because these techniques sting. But the TRP giants, Rolf, Travell, et al, say treat trigger points to restore function. I agree.

         

Simply strengthening active trigger points will make them go latent, but once activated by stress later on, TRPs become stronger than ever.  Each active attack gets a bit worse until function is extremely restricted. Sort of like the “tin man.”

         

“Ëeeyoohhoootttuewsfffooosa!”

         

Yes, the secret samurai language of trigger points! Twenty minutes and a gazillon milligrams of endorphins later, the good leg started to soften. The magic of PNF returned, and the quads are beginning to act like muscles.

         

Not exactly my favorite either, I told him, but TRP certainly does the job.

         

Now for the hamstrings. He has the trademark short ham gait, heels in, duck feet almost crossing when he walks. Wobbly and increasingly prone to falls with age and weariness. I’m hoping to get the good hams to 45 degrees. Maybe even a back massage someday….

         

The story on how a stranger became at home in your world

Hi there Find Touchers!

I’m Mel. Or Melissa, depending on if you get emails from me.  I thought that you might like to get to know me a little, and learn how I came to Find Touch, and how massage has changed my life.

I was born in San Diego, and moved up to Seattle when I was 10. Did a back and forth a few times, but I am here to stay, and couldn’t be happier. I’m a rainy day kind of girl! I’m married (two months to the day!) and a proud mama of a Siberian Corgi (Locke) and two wonderful cats (Eko and Jack).  I’m a reader,baker, cook, penguin enthusiast,  writer, chemistry enthusiast, and love a good whiskey.

The path to my career in massage started just over a year ago. I was a server, working at a popular restaurant just above Pike Place Market. For a few months, I had some minor knee pain, which only impeded my ability to walk a little. Nothing big, I certainly didn’t think twice about it. I’ve had knee problems in the past-but I loved my job.

But this pesky knee pain. It just kept getting worse. It got to the point where I was holding on to a counter to pull myself up with every ounce of strength in my arms, while my knees were screaming at me. Stairs became something I avoided at all costs. I could walk…but it was not the most fun activities I could think of.  Getting in and out of cars was…a feat. 

And then came my breaking point. Quite literally. I was on my way to a chemistry test (see, it really is one of my passions!) and my knee said no more. It gave out on me. I was sobbing in pain, on a bench, a hundred feet from my classroom. Yet, I sucked it up and hobbled (holding back the tears) to my course, and promptly failed the exam because my knee was in such pain. I quit my beloved serving job as I laid on my bed, writhing in pain, it hurting even when I wasn’t putting any pressure on it. It was a rough time, and I worried my fiancé and family so.

I was lost. I couldn’t walk, couldn’t work. Couldn’t finish the career path in which I had set myself on.  I sat on my couch, hour after hour, just watching television. Until, I got a massage.

I don’t even wish I was kidding.  I had one session, on my knee.

And I could walk.

Granted, I wasn’t pain free. Not yet. But after another session, I could walk farther, and more often. And oh goodness…it felt so good.  And so then, I started working with Find Touch.  I had a new, amazing  appreciation for massage therapy! 

Since this pain began, its been a long journey. I’ve been through physical therapy, learned all the exercises, and yet, still, nothing worked for me quite like massage.

Which is why I love you guys. So much.  Because of the healing work that you provide, I can walk again. I can take my monster (affectionately called) for a walk.  I can mow my backyard, and go for hikes in the fantastic NW.   I can go up the stairs to work to connect you with employers, Continuing Education, special deals and our blog. 

I am so proud to work with the healers that you are. I learn more about you every day, and more about the healing that you provide. As a non massage therapist immersed in a massage driven community-I can’t thank you enough. I continue to be inspired by you daily, and am personally forever thankful to you. All. Of. You.

Mel

Bottled Nerve-Amma

This massage therapist has long searched for the magnum of massage oils. Somewhere, somehow, there is an oil out there that will take inflammation, anxiety and tension out of clients.

         

Oils are not the only source of relief in massage, but I figure if there is oil out there, a certain blend, that will send people out to never-never land, I am going to find it.

         

My candidates:

·       Clear, cold pressed sesame oil blended with a touch of neroli, an essential oil made from citrus leaves. This is subtle, wafting, not-too-sweet and shifts people from drive to neutral. Fantastic scalp and face massage.

·       A tiny drop of sweet birch essential oil added to clear and cold-pressed castor oil. This is very thick oil for scruffy feet and elbows. The birch adds something refreshing between a mint-y and, oddly, an earthy aroma.

·       Myrrh, rose and sandalwood oils added to plain, uncooked avocado or rice bran oil. These pretty much lead to a coma, but I use these sparingly. As great as they are, these scents are often used for funerals. I don’t want any crossover.

·       Magnesium sulfate lotions added on the worst zone - at the last pass of a Swedish massage for fibro or workout soreness. I’ve also seen other therapists using magnesium and sulphers in moderation.

Do I seek the mythological fountain of relax? Yes. I could have a less noble hobby.

         

Now spill, so to speak. What is your favorite curare blow-dart oil for the highly stressed?

Student Massage….

One of the nice things massage schools do these days is try to encourage students to do an externship during their course. Unpaid, but for credit.

          

I was near the end of my classes when I went for my first interview for a massage job. Thought I was God’s gift to massage, of course, and I didn’t count on traffic. Arriving 10 minutes late, the lady in the salon/spa/gym gave me the big stare down.

          

“I shouldn’t hire you because you are late,” she said.

          

I tried to look positive. “I didn’t count on a lot of traffic after 10 a.m.,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

          

For some reason, she hired me anyway.

          

As an employer, I gave people the benefit of the doubt, often to my regret later. But I have found if the interview is too perfect, too cookie-cutter and with all the right answers, I will also, later, regret it.

          

Oh heck, this extern applicant is in his first 100 hours. I asked him for the definition of a Swedish massage.

          

Blank stare. Pause. Enormous amounts of time passed. He managed to collect himself and said he wasn’t real sure.

“It’s lighter than deep tissue,” he offered.

Oh heavens, isn’t that a big test question in school? On the boards?

I flashed on the time I went for a job interview and demo massage and realized I hadn’t used pit spray. I did a one-hour massage with my elbows stuck to my ribs. Like a wobble toy.

“Where do you want to work when you get out of school?”

“The Angels,” he said.

Baseball. I like baseball. Maybe this could turn around.

“How about a 10-minute Swedish back massage?” I said, breaking my usual 20-minute request.

Well, he didn’t do 10 minutes, he didn’t do Swedish, but he had a great touch.

”Send me over the paperwork, I said. “I don’t feel it is right letting you loose on clients, especially for no money, but you can work on me and a couple of therapists who used to work for me and get some experience.”

No regrets? I hope not.