In a world where there are so many options to choose from, how do we know what or who is right for us? When it comes to massage, it is such a personal thing. There are many reasons why a client will return to you and also many reasons why they wont. For me, my therapist is not only my therapist. She is a friend, a mentor, a confidante and a therapist all rolled into one. I see her because not only do I like her massage style, but I know I’m guaranteed to have a good laugh, get my grumps out and get some good advice in return as well as walking away feeling 100% better than when I went in, physically and mentally. Hev (my therapist) doesn’t put on what I class as ‘oogie woogie’ music for me, she knows better. Many years ago when I woke from a 2 week coma, I had some ‘issues’ giving a certain sample. I called on Hev, she came and gave my tummy the treatment it needed and bam sample is granted. She knows me and she knows her stuff. But you see Heather isn’t for everybody the same as I’m not for everybody. There are many questions you need to ask yourself when trying to find ‘your’ therapist. Firstly what are you looking for? Are you looking for someone to ‘fix’ an injury or are you looking for someone who can provide you with regular maintenance of the body? Do you want fluffy and light or do you need deep/sports style massage? Are you comfortable with your therapist or do you find yourself feeling anxious and uncomfortable during a treatment? Do you trust in their knowledge and are they showing you their level of knowledge by the way they provide treatment? There are so many questions that only you can answer. I now have 2 therapist working alongside me here at Ellis Remedial. They are both brilliant and yet we are all different. We all have different styles but from all feedback so far, our clients are happy to see any of us for their treatment. That’s a great dynamic to have in a practice especially from an owners point of view, knowing that our clients trust us all. There are clients that started out with me and are seeing my other therapists more regularly now and that is absolutely fine. It isn’t up to a therapist to demand who a client sees for treatment, it is completely up to the client. After all, they are paying for the service. I have absolute confidence in my staff to provide excellent service to everyone who walks through our doors and that’s the way it should be. Let’s say you have an injury that has been ongoing for quite some time. You are seeing a health professional but nothing seems to be improving. That professional insists you keep coming back, even though you are not gaining any benefits from the treatment. This frustrates me! As a health care professional it is in my opinion paramount that you look beyond your own realm of knowledge and refer when needed. Lets look at Fred (we will call him Fred, not his real name). Fred presented to me a few weeks ago with chronic pain in his groin whenever he lifted his leg up to step e.g walking up stairs. Fred has put up with this pain for the past 5 years. Never having massage in his life he thought he would give it a try as scans and doctors sent him around in circles achieving no results for the ‘injury’. His first visit to me was tough for him. He was nearly jumping off the table with even the slightest of touch to his effected area. I released his back, which was like concrete, and the rest of his limbs, making a start on unraveling the mystery that was before me. The important thing here is that I knew I could not help this man on my own. I am not a machine or a physiotherapist and I was baffled at what was actually happening. In saying that I referred him onto one of Hobart’s best physios to help me out. He came up with a diagnosis and together we had some idea what was going on. Fred came back to me after the Physio visit and we worked his Hamstrings. Same result, nearly jumped off the table! What was going on? His next appointment was back with the Physio who performed some dry needling on him (not to be confused with Acupuncture). Feeling like there was some improvement, we had him back in last week for another massage. We massaged his Hamstrings, nothing! We worked on his Quads and Groin, nothing. He didn’t leap off the bed and he didn’t complain at all. We are winning the battle. Now Fred is aware that we can’t undo a lifetime of problems in a few sessions and will continue to see me for massage. He has also seen Wendi for Acupuncture. I guess the important thing about this story is that sometimes you need more than one professional to get to the bottom of an issue. Fred is super happy, he is getting some relief. If your therapist isn’t prepared to look outside the box and refer you on when needed the question remains, are they the right therapist for you?
