Treatment of physical dysfunction and pain is an incredibly deep well — one that could be studied without end, for my entire life and many beyond it. Across a lifetime of physical activity ranging from moderate to fairly extreme, I've found that whether I'm in exceptional shape or going through a sedentary season, pain is something that's always present, somewhere or another.
Counter to a lot of my contemporaries in this field, I think a pain-free life is something of a fallacy. Instead of pain-free, I'd like to offer a different goal: a life not limited by pain. In the most active years of my life, I'm still in pain — but it's pain I choose: the soreness of working muscles, the bumps and bruises that come with activity and outdoor living, the occasional sprained ankle from an unseen root. With care and attention — self-care, stretching, proactive strengthening — I manage what I run into day to day. I do preemptive ankle work so that when I do sprain one, it's not as bad as it could have been. I make time for sleep, rest and good food, so my body can actually recover from the bumps, bruises and training.
There have also been times in my life when I wasn't nearly as active, and had my activities restricted by pain — mentally, physically and emotionally difficult times to navigate. I'm thankful I've been able to lean on colleagues and other allied health practitioners through the periods of chronic pain that pulled me away from things I love. I put everything I had into managing those conditions myself, and it wasn't always enough — I'm genuinely thankful for people who showed up with a helping hand when it wasn't.
In my work as a massage therapist, I find real fulfilment in treating, educating, and providing a listening ear for people navigating physical dysfunction and chronic pain. I've been on both sides of the table, and I'd be honoured to be your massage Sherpa, and help lighten your load.
In practice, that means I start with assessment, not a fixed routine — orthopedic and movement testing to work out whether a dysfunction is postural, muscular, joint-based or nerve-related, since the treatment for each looks different even when the pain feels similar. From there it's a combination of hands-on soft tissue and joint work, remedial exercise, and education, aimed at the actual mechanism rather than just the painful area — the sore spot is often not where the problem started.
Browse the full list of conditions by body area for how this plays out for something specific — a stiff neck, a sports injury, chronic low back pain, or dozens of others.
What I Focus On
- Assessment First
- Root-Cause Treatment
- Manual & Movement Work
- Education
