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Vichy Massage

People always ask me why I don't have my own place?  I tell them I do.. I love working in the spa.. Being an employee.  Sure I could make potentially more money in my one practice.. but Im lazy and could never duplicate the beautiful facility and wonderful staff I work with.  Massage therapists, Estheticians, Hair Stylists, front desk staff and a bunch of other people that keep things going.  Awesome great people to work with every day... And another reason is the two $40,000.00 Vichy Massage rooms... I can give an awesome massage in those rooms.. Its a fifty five minute hands on massage followed by twenty minutes of water massage.. I'm able to do whatever kind of soft tissue work the client wants or needs...plenty of time... fifty five minutes.  After that I use this big hose, they call it a Scots hose for some reason...I guess it sounds better then a fire hose. But I use that like a portable Jacuzzi jet over the entire back of their bodies...Temperature and pressure is adjusted to the clients liking.  Perfect.  Usually about 104 degrees...It feels awesome after a good massage.. You know how good a hot shower or bath feels.. And you of course know how good a massage feels.. They both give a very relaxing feeling to the body/mind... However they are both different....Well you get both of those feelings together with this service.. Its like 1+1 = 3.... A synergistic effect.  Its a mind blowing experience... People are Zoned afterwards.   Like I said, after the hands on massage I use the hose like a portable Jacuzzi jet over the entire back side of the body.. Then after that, there are seven overhead showers that come into play... They make a waterfall down the clients back for five minutes or so... and while the client is under the  waterfall, I'm sprinkling cool water and essential oils around their body.  The client is  under a towel that is manipulated around during the service to give maximum skin exposure to the wonderful 104 degree water... I'm wearing swimming trunks and a T-shirt... The tile floor is heated...When I get a Vichy massage... I always feel like I'm floating down the Amazon river during a rain storm with some kind of safe life jacket on or something like that... lol   Its a very experiential experience and a zone out for everyone. I will attach pictures of the Vichy rooms.  I think I have two of those scheduled in a row tomorrow..Fun fun.. They always generate big tips too.  And I can do medical type work in those rooms too if necessary, and finish off with the water... Its awesome.  I am definitely able to enhance my massage work in those rooms.  

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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on November 26, 2012 at 8:55am

Definitely write about it, Gordon!  I always enjoy reading your posts, and always learn something too.  Can't get much better than that!

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 26, 2012 at 1:05pm

Gosh I had such a good day yesterday....Everyone I saw for massage yesterday came in specifically because they hurt..And I was able to help them all dramatically.. The two clients in the morning walked out pain free and very happy.  The last two clients are the ones Im going to talk briefly about for different reasons.  One younger women in her late twenties told me she had fibromyalgia.  She sees medical doctors for trigger point injections.. And when I asked her where she was hurt.. She said everywhere.  You can tell if someone is really hurting by just looking at them...She actually started to cry when talking to me about her pain.. Her eyes were red from lack of sleep...She said sometimes it really hurts when her husband hugs her and other times she wants him to just squeeze her as hard as he can because it feels good... And lets face it...if you are getting injections because you are in pain.. You have to be hurting... I told her with all my heart and soul behind what I was saying.   That I will put all my knowledge  and skill set together,everything I know to do, whatever I can to make her pain go away.. When I walked out of the room.. Im not really a religious person. But I prayed that I could help her. She was really in pain... I prayed.  She was very sensitive to touch..But I knew the worst thing that would happen, is nothing.. I dont hurt people anymore.  In the begging of my career some clients would feel beaten up even though they liked the massage... Anyway , she was one trigger point after the other from her low back to the top of her neck... She had a headache too.  It was a fifty minute massage.   I told her that after the massage she should know without doubt if Im able to help her or not.   Gosh after the massage she felt better... I asked her how much better...she said 50%.. I felt good about that.. She asked me next time, if I can work on the front of her hips and legs...that her back feels better... I just didnt have the time to address her entire body given her condition...Anyway I felt good about that because she is coming back.. That means I helped her...I didnt ask her how her headache was after the massage. I just have a feeling that a lot of her pain is from to much medical intervention.. I have a feeling anyway.  That was an intense fifty minutes for me...Now the client after her was interesting... When we came into the room I asked her what she needed from the massage.. She said with a sigh in her voice..JUST RELAXATION I GUESS.   I said, uhm, are you  hurting somewhere? I could tell she was no where near the pain level of the previous client. But something was wrong from the tone of her voice... She said she has a rib out and it pinches a nerve that runs down her back.. She showed me where she hurt as she was talking... she touched from between her left shoulder blade to her mid back.  And she told me that due to an accident that she had a disc missing in her neck.. Not quite sure what that meant . But her neck must be in bad shape...I asked her where her neck hurt.. She pointed to her right occipital area. She told me she has to see a chiropractor regularly for her problems...So from her point of view massage was only good for relaxation..Maybe thats her experience too.. But when I hear the words pinched nerve and chiropractic together I strongly suspect she might not be getting the appropriate therapy.. lol   And sure enough I was right.  Her rib out turned out to be a trigger point on her erectors near her left shoulder blade at T5 (it hurt when she took a deep breath)...and the pinched nerve that supposedly runs down the back was another trigger point on her erectors at T12.     And the occipital pain was a trigger point in that area... I made them all go away...And pointed out to her that she had no rib out and no pinched nerve...That it was all muscle pain, trigger point pain...I showed her pictures of trigger point pain patterns in one of my books..  It was muscle pain.. my goodness.... She left me a very nice tip and note at the front desk..   Thank you so very much!  I will see you this Saturday.  I'm so thankful to have found your help. Then signed her name...  I was lucky and able to help everyone I saw yesterday with their pain... Now its not always like that...And I work on a lot of people that really have no pain in their bodies at all...Sometimes I think they should be working on me.. lol   And of course I don't always help everybody...  But yesterday was a good day for me and my clients.

Therese Schwartz said

Definitely write about it, Gordon!  I always enjoy reading your posts, and always learn something too.  Can't get much better than that!

Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on November 26, 2012 at 4:55pm

Great stories, Gordon!!!  That poor girl you worked on first - she's probably been through a lot trying to get help.  And the second one had clearly resigned herself to her pain.  

I'm going to have to get serious about learning trigger point therapy as soon as I'm not pushing my learning curve in a bunch of other directions.  But a lot of what you do is also part of who you are, and all of your experience over the last 30 years.

My client earlier today is trying to get her leg back to normal after a ping pong table fell on it - an injury similar to what happened to my leg when I got kicked, although not as much overall damage.  She has a very hard lump in it that one of her doctors told her might always be there.  She wasn't happy about that!  I did some lymph drainage work on it - it had no lymph flow at all.  And some gentle MFR, also balanced the meridians in that leg the best I know how to do.  That lump in her leg is much softer now, and it all feels better.  She was really happy!

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 26, 2012 at 7:52pm

Yea I hope I can continue to reduce the fibromyalgia ladies pain.  She did have a lot of trigger points.. I suspect and hope that after a few sessions all her trigger points will be gone...So what ever pain is left, we will see?.. She is coming in next week.. I will keep you posted on this thread..  Ideally I would want her to come back in three days, in order to continue the healing as efficiently as possible..But her schedule doesn't allow it....And the second lady, well she was brainwashed... There was no rib out or pinched nerve. My goodness.. She knows  better now.  I explained everything too her... her pain was gone when she left the spa.. A very good omen... Again she is coming in next week, and we will see how she is doing then.  And good work with your clients leg injury.. Your own experience in dealing with your leg injury is going to help you in helping her. You've been in a similar place.

Therese Schwartz said:

Great stories, Gordon!!!  That poor girl you worked on first - she's probably been through a lot trying to get help.  And the second one had clearly resigned herself to her pain.  

I'm going to have to get serious about learning trigger point therapy as soon as I'm not pushing my learning curve in a bunch of other directions.  But a lot of what you do is also part of who you are, and all of your experience over the last 30 years.

My client earlier today is trying to get her leg back to normal after a ping pong table fell on it - an injury similar to what happened to my leg when I got kicked, although not as much overall damage.  She has a very hard lump in it that one of her doctors told her might always be there.  She wasn't happy about that!  I did some lymph drainage work on it - it had no lymph flow at all.  And some gentle MFR, also balanced the meridians in that leg the best I know how to do.  That lump in her leg is much softer now, and it all feels better.  She was really happy!

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 26, 2012 at 8:02pm

In this attachment I'm commenting on a client I worked on not too long ago.. It was trigger points all the way.

Gordon J. Wallis said:

http://triggerpoints.net/    Thats a very good site.

Maryshka said:

Thank  you very much for sharing info.

Would like to learn from your source. Please share TP reference materials.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 26, 2012 at 10:01pm

http://kenthealth.com/   This guy has some very good home study material.  Well worth checking out

Gordon J. Wallis said:

http://triggerpoints.net/    Thats a very good site.

Maryshka said:

Thank  you very much for sharing info.

Would like to learn from your source. Please share TP reference materials.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 27, 2012 at 12:51am

The hazards of being a male therapist.. When I worked in a chiropractic office, it hardly happened. But in a spa its a bit more frequent.  My experience anyway.

elizabeth mount said:

I appreciate everyone's stories. More so with the reference to the exact tps,
It's her loss she didn't want a male therapist. We try to book up our male therapist but still make it clear at booking what's up, a walk out happen recently though.
Permalink Reply by Maryshka on November 27, 2012 at 1:33am

Maybe there comes a time when client-patients, who continue to present with discomfort/pain, have reached a plateau in treatment to consider another option such as proliferant therapy/prolotherapy (prolozone, etc.). It's natural medicine and has been around since the 1950s (at least). There is the possibility of undiagnosed Barre-Lieou Syndrome (formerly called posterior cervical sympathetic syndrome) as an origin of pain cycles.

In Anchorage: http://www.getprolo.com/michael_fischer_prolotherapy.htm

http://www.getprolo.com/fibromyalgia_and_prolotherapy_reeves.htm

http://wehelpwhathurts.homestead.com/barrelieou.html

The best we can offer is to do our best as bodyworkers. If, however, such treatments are not long-lasting, the best we can do for our client-patients is to be educators and help client-patients find other paths to follow. This comes on the heels of personal experience post-MVA and the cycle of chiropractic/massage which got me to a place of comfort but did not stop the periods of relapse.

 

Thank you for this discussion; such brings out the best in all of us.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 27, 2012 at 1:53am

Thanks for the link. I will check it out... However I feel pretty confident about helping her.. We will see? There is a lot of psychology in this.. I'm very confident with what I do, and she feels that.. and its easy to tell If Im failing to help someone..She experienced noticeable improvement. If I can get her in at a higher frequency and eliminate enough Trigger points, there is a global effect that takes place, a cascade effect where muscles stop compensating for each other and relax..Ive been practicing a long time..  She has been getting the wrong therapy up until now as far as I can tell.  I know that because in her words it has not helped at all... If I  do fail. We will know soon enough .. Then I will inform her of your information.. Thank you so much for the info.

Maryshka said:

Maybe there comes time when client-patients that continue to present with discomfort/pain have reached a plateau in treatment to consider another option such as proliferant therapy/prolotherapy (prolozone, etc.). It's natural medicine and has been around since the 1950s (at least). There is the possibility of undiagnosed Barre-Lieou Syndrome (formerly called posterior cervical sympathetic syndrome) as an origin of pain cycles.

In Anchorage: http://www.getprolo.com/michael_fischer_prolotherapy.htm

http://www.getprolo.com/fibromyalgia_and_prolotherapy_reeves.htm

http://wehelpwhathurts.homestead.com/barrelieou.html

The best we can offer is to do our best as bodyworkers. If, however, such treatments are not long-lasting, the best we can do for our client-patients is to be educators and help client-patients find other paths to follow. This comes on the heels of personal experience post-MVA and the cycle of chiropractic/massage which got me to a place of comfort but did not stop the periods of relapse.

 

Thank you for this discussion; such brings out the best in all of us.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 27, 2012 at 2:17am

I'm hoping for that cascade effect.. I have to somehow get the frequency of her visits up a bit...However, that being said.. Im not going to rip her off with continuous sessions with little to no improvement.. My favorite saying is FOUR OR NO MORE.  Not saying that I automatically stop at four sessions.. Its just that there has to be a continuous improvement from  session to session.. If not...She will get your information.. thank you again.

Gordon J. Wallis said:

Thanks for the link. I will check it out... However I feel pretty confident about helping her.. We will see? There is a lot of psychology in this.. I'm very confident with what I do, and she feels that.. and its easy to tell If Im failing to help someone..She experienced noticeable improvement. If I can get her in at a higher frequency and eliminate enough Trigger points, there is a global effect that takes place, a cascade effect where muscles stop compensating for each other and relax..Ive been practicing a long time..  She has been getting the wrong therapy up until now as far as I can tell.  I know that because in her words it has not helped at all... If I  do fail. We will know soon enough .. Then I will inform her of your information.. Thank you so much for the info.

Maryshka said:

Maybe there comes time when client-patients that continue to present with discomfort/pain have reached a plateau in treatment to consider another option such as proliferant therapy/prolotherapy (prolozone, etc.). It's natural medicine and has been around since the 1950s (at least). There is the possibility of undiagnosed Barre-Lieou Syndrome (formerly called posterior cervical sympathetic syndrome) as an origin of pain cycles.

In Anchorage: http://www.getprolo.com/michael_fischer_prolotherapy.htm

http://www.getprolo.com/fibromyalgia_and_prolotherapy_reeves.htm

http://wehelpwhathurts.homestead.com/barrelieou.html

The best we can offer is to do our best as bodyworkers. If, however, such treatments are not long-lasting, the best we can do for our client-patients is to be educators and help client-patients find other paths to follow. This comes on the heels of personal experience post-MVA and the cycle of chiropractic/massage which got me to a place of comfort but did not stop the periods of relapse.

 

Thank you for this discussion; such brings out the best in all of us.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 27, 2012 at 10:11am

Maryshka, I'm thinking about myself most of the time, and just realized that you live near me.  Where are you hurting the most.. What part of your body?

Maryshka said:

Maybe there comes a time when client-patients, who continue to present with discomfort/pain, have reached a plateau in treatment to consider another option such as proliferant therapy/prolotherapy (prolozone, etc.). It's natural medicine and has been around since the 1950s (at least). There is the possibility of undiagnosed Barre-Lieou Syndrome (formerly called posterior cervical sympathetic syndrome) as an origin of pain cycles.

In Anchorage: http://www.getprolo.com/michael_fischer_prolotherapy.htm

http://www.getprolo.com/fibromyalgia_and_prolotherapy_reeves.htm

http://wehelpwhathurts.homestead.com/barrelieou.html

The best we can offer is to do our best as bodyworkers. If, however, such treatments are not long-lasting, the best we can do for our client-patients is to be educators and help client-patients find other paths to follow. This comes on the heels of personal experience post-MVA and the cycle of chiropractic/massage which got me to a place of comfort but did not stop the periods of relapse.

 

Thank you for this discussion; such brings out the best in all of us.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on November 28, 2012 at 2:21am

The young women getting the trigger point injections.. I should be able to help her..Those injections sound so brutal and primitive..I want to help her. I feel I can. She will be back in Friday or Saturday. I just found this statement.  Forgot what book I copied it from.. But its truth.  I will add it as an attachment...

Therese Schwartz said:

Great stories, Gordon!!!  That poor girl you worked on first - she's probably been through a lot trying to get help.  And the second one had clearly resigned herself to her pain.  

I'm going to have to get serious about learning trigger point therapy as soon as I'm not pushing my learning curve in a bunch of other directions.  But a lot of what you do is also part of who you are, and all of your experience over the last 30 years.

My client earlier today is trying to get her leg back to normal after a ping pong table fell on it - an injury similar to what happened to my leg when I got kicked, although not as much overall damage.  She has a very hard lump in it that one of her doctors told her might always be there.  She wasn't happy about that!  I did some lymph drainage work on it - it had no lymph flow at all.  And some gentle MFR, also balanced the meridians in that leg the best I know how to do.  That lump in her leg is much softer now, and it all feels better.  She was really happy!

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