We have a High Art

Had a very successful day yesterday, and I thought I would share it with you guys...A lot of therapists grovel for or seek work or employment from other health care providers..When in actuality , in my opinion, it should be the other way around.  Now before I go on I dont want to come across as a braggart or that Im better then anyone else.. Because Im not... I work in a spa and have had clients want their money back after I worked on them, ok...  Anyway I had a new client last week that is a Physician Assistant.. He had suffered a severe accident a few years back that cause him to have surgery on his cervical spine.... When he came in he moved gingerly and complained of constant burning pain on his right shoulder that ran up his neck... he also complained of anterior left deltoid pain.  Those were his presenting symptoms when he came in for his 50 min. massage with me..  He has a very hard time sleeping at night and awakens every morning with a severe headache and has to inject himself with medication every morning to start his day.  He has worked with MDs and Physical Therapists about his pain with no relief.. And was told that a second surgery was his only option...  I told him that I was going to look for sore spots near his pain areas, and eliminate them if i can...When Im able to do that, more often then not, most peoples presenting symptoms just go away.. He seemed skeptical, and expected a relaxing massage, but told me to go for it if I really think it will help... Anyway I palpated a Huge trigger point on his right upper trap, and another trigger point on his left anterior deltoid..  I eliminated them both rather quickly...They were not sore on re-palpation....Then I had him turn over and gingerly worked his neck and discovered that he had severe soreness in his left jaw and temple..Apparently that was the area of accident.. I was able to down grade the pain in those areas by 50% according to him..  When he left after that first session his deltoid pain was gone and his shoulder pain was definitely better, however he still said there was a weird burning sensation in his shoulder and neck...but he said it was definitely better and different then when he first came in... He was suprised and happy as to how he felt after the massage and rescheduled for a 30 min. session..... I saw him for that 30 min. session yesterday.. He was very happy and smiled when he told me that he now sleeps though the night. There is no more pain (burning or not) in his shoulder or neck, and he hasn't  up with a headache sense his last appointment a week ago.  However his deltoid pain had returned..  But he was very happy with the results... So I eliminated the deltoid trigger point again....I down graded his jaw and temple pain again...I had 15 min. left in the session so I had him turn over for a good back rub...I figured that would help...But when I did that I discovered, and to his surprise a very tender and trigger pointed left lumbar spine mostly at L4 and L1, along with a smaller glute trigger point on the same side...I was able to eliminate all of those sore spots...After the session he sat up and told me that he thinks he no longer needs another neck surgery and rescheduled next week for another 30 min. session next week..He told me that he did not expect such pain relief and was very thankful and surprised...To him, massage was just a relaxing thing, and it is excellent at that too( as we know)..However medically we remain unrecognized, even to ourselves .. Physical therapists and MDs couldn't help him...He is substantially better after only an hour and a half of soft tissue work from two massage sessions...I keep saying this....Once any underlying pathology is ruled out... Its soft tissue work all the way.. Have no doubt on that,, I dont.... We have a High Art.