The quote above, loosely attributed to the great Ida Rolf, has been my defining quote as a massage therapist. Early in my career I had a client with very stubborn low back pain. He had been to other massage therapists who appropriately focused on his low back. Since this only provided temporary relief and not the long-term solution he was seeking, it was time to re-think the problem. Based on knowledge of functional movement, I began checking his upper legs, then his calves. The calves were hard as cement and excruciatingly painful! That was the area to focus on. Once we were able to relax the tight calf muscles, resolving the low-back pain was simple.

The interconnections and complexities of the human body never cease to amaze me. As a massage therapist, my challenge is the help resolve a client's issues by thinking in broader terms of whole-body, functional muscle movement.