I am a graduate of The Blue Heron Academy of Arts & Sciences in Grand Rapids, MI; a state licensed, post secondary school. I have a Professional Manual Therapist Certificate (1200 hr.), a Master Herbalist Certificate (600 hr.), a Medical Acupuncture Certificate (600 hr.), and a Reiki Master Certificate (Reiki I, II, and Master level attunement). My Reiki Teacher was Danielle DeVoe of Frankfurt, MI. Blue Heron Academy is a post secondary, holistic medicine academy owned by Dr. Gregory Lawton, DC. The Academy is licensed by the state to legally certify me as a massage therapist. I sat for the AMMA Diplomat Exam in May 2002 and passed. This is the most difficult massage exam given in the country. Our training and testing standards for soft tissue work are the highest in the nation. In the past, I have worked in consultation with DC’s in their offices, billed insurance, and had my own private practice for 6 years. I am exclusively an independent practitioner now.
Medical Massage
Medical Massage is a soft tissue therapy protocol that combines deep tissue massage with manual joint mobilization. We use a dry hand with traditional and original techniques designed to reduce pain, spasm, and inflammation in a non-invasive, non-painful manner. It is not the same as physical therapy, but is not completely dissimilar. It is more. It is related to chiropractic but there is no adjusting and the whole focus of the treatment is soft tissue work, not skeletal. It is related to relaxation/therapeutic massage in that we treat the soft tissue, but we do not use oil and we do not do full body massage. Our focus is always clinical/medical at the injury site and sub-clinical conditions that precede it. Medical Massage has two main treatment goals; the reduction of inflammation and the re-establishment of normal range of motion in joint and connective tissue. With our techniques, we are able to penetrate tissue to the periosteum; the origin of many pathologies. We accomplish all of this with the use of our hands, nothing more. We are trained at length in anatomy, especially the muscles, but specifically in ligament pathology, location of ligaments and nerves, and how to tactilely evaluate the soft tissue and treat it accordingly. I have been in practice for 6 years and have seen this work on hundreds of patients where physical therapy, therapeutic massage, surgery, or drugs, have failed. This is not always the case, but many times it is. Reason being, the way I work is so different than others. Medical Massage includes therapeutic modalities such as heat (infrared lamp) and cold, range of motion assessment, postural folding with deep manual therapy, Chinese herbal liniment post-treatment, some therapeutic exercise programs (although if a patient is seeing a PT covered by insurance, they cover this), and stretching.
Patient Management
Patients are seen for therapy with acute, sub-acute, chronic, and chronic-active conditions. They are treated for their specific presenting symptoms and may need to initially be seen 3 times a week, for 2 weeks for nerve re-education. I then re-assess and possibly cut back to 2 times a week. Eventually, treatments stop when the patient is fine. They can then call me as needed. Specific clinical treatment goals are established for each patient based on how old the injury is or what the condition is. The goal is usually a decrease in pain and increase in normal function for longer periods of time. Sometimes, it is to wean off a med with side effects and commence with herbs/food to treat, which I can do with their Dr. if requested. I have a pre-pay plan that offers discounts as an initial incentive to commit to 10 treatments. This works well. I also have a strict 24-hour cancellation policy that you sign at your first appointment.
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