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Therapist extols the power of massage therapy in relieving pain
By SALLIE BARR PALMER
| Article published on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006 |
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CLEARWATER – Following an auto accident in 1997, Karen Robinson found herself suffering chronic back pain, a condition she shares with millions of other Americans.
Doctors offered various treatments to relieve the pain, but nothing worked. She was hesitant to undergo cortisone injections, so as a last resort, she tried massage therapy.
The non-invasive treatments allowed her to return to her normal activities without pain.
“The power of touch was overwhelming,” said Robinson. “Massage appears simple, but it’s very powerful.”
“The decision changed my life,” she went on to say, a change which not only relieved her pain, but also changed the course of her life. Six months after completion of her massage treatments, Robinson enrolled in massage therapy school. She graduated at the top of her class, received her license in 2000 and now has over 10,000 hours of professional experience.
Robinson has practiced massage therapy in Clearwater for the past eight years and a year ago started her own business, Living Life Force, with the objective of helping others to benefit from the same healing touch of massage which has helped her.
“I’m a certified neuromuscular therapist,” she said, “which involves more advanced study than regular massage therapy.”
The therapies she offers include relaxation and relief of tension, neuromuscular, myofascial (fibrous connective tissue) release, sports massage, deep tissue and injury rehabilitation.
“I was amazed at how wonderfully miraculous the body is,” Robinson said. “It has this incredible desire to be well and, given the right tools, with time it will heal.”
“My patients don’t get the same treatment every time,” she said. “Each session is different. I give the body what it needs at the time – there is no set routine. I try to communicate with the body. I observe the way the person moves or lies on the table. That tells me what to do and how to do it.”
She is now expanding her business with the assistance of two other therapists. Her goal is to develop a group of like-minded massage therapists with the intention of healing people and guiding them to better health through teaching, supplements and the art of massage.
Robinson said that learning massage therapy has enabled her to find what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. In addition to helping others, her work also helps her.
“Massage gave me back my quality of life and now I want to pass it on to others and to keep passing it on,” she said.
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Article published on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006
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