The Missing Link to Physical Well-Being: Massage Therapy

Recently, our Lead Coach Justin completed a 600-hour massage program allowing him to sit for the Massage and Bodywork Licensing Exam.  In September of 2020, he passed the exam and is now a Licensed Massage Therapist in the State of Pennsylvania.  Adding massage has always been a long-term goal for us; legally providing soft tissue work provides the feedback necessary to develop more effective exercise programming, thus obtaining better outcomes for our clients. 

Over the last five years, we started attracting more and more clients with chronic or persistent aches and pains.  They were told they needed surgery or exhausted their physical therapy benefits, or simply did not qualify for physical therapy because their pain wasn’t acute or limiting.   These clients were looking for help when traditional interventions failed.

Marino’s Fitness continues to be the place for people who want to improve their fitness without risking injury.  To date, we’ve been able to help clients improve their cardiovascular health, increase their flexibility/mobility, and develop their strength by adding lean muscle tissue.  These strategies alone can help correct underlying aches and pains, but we knew we could, and wanted to do more.  Fitness professionals are limited in our scope of practice, and simply developing exercise plans to “avoid” injury or to “work around” problems was no longer enough for us. 

Massage therapy was the ideal solution, but not the typical massage synonymous with rest and relaxation.  The bodywork we provide requires the practitioner to assess the sight of pain, investigate the potential origin of pain, and deliver muscle therapy to help reduce chronic musculoskeletal issues.  The school Justin attended, The Wellness Center of Chester County, focuses on all types of massage but has an emphasis on treatment-based clinical massage therapy.

Now, we can provide a more comprehensive program, with even better outcomes for clients. 

·       Bodywork will help treat and manage musculoskeletal pain. 

·       The program design team will use data collected from bodywork sessions to create more specific/corrective exercise programs.

·       Personalized nutrition strategies to ensure adequate nutrient delivery for recovery and reducing body weight for long-term joint health.

Since we started the massage program, we’ve had better success than expected.  One client with chronic shoulder pain was able to avoid surgery.  A hip replacement client has better mobility and less pain after one month than he has in over a year since surgery.  Finally, another client has returned to running with zero knee pain, something she suffered with for years and is only 28 years old.  Communication is the key to our success.  Having massage and fitness speaking the same language eliminates interpretation and allows for clear, concise action. 

People who exercise with chronic pain tend to “deal with it” by taking anti-inflammatory medications or by “pushing through” an exercise, which exacerbates the source of pain.  Even worse, the onset of pain might be delayed 24-48 hours after the exercise session, so they don’t link a specific exercise to their pain.  Out of frustration, Dr. Google is called in for a consult and the patient is left with multiple incorrect diagnoses.  Unfortunately, this creates a horrible feedback loop, and they return to the gym to “push through” then “deal with it” later.

The goals of clinical massage are to:

1) reinjure the tissues to instigate an inflammatory response and stimulate healing,

2) differentiate, via palpation and assessment, which tissues are causing an individual’s pain vs which tissues are painful and,

3) stimulate lengthening or shortening of the right tissues to create a long-term solution to the individuals’ underlying problem.

This is an exciting time for us at Marino’s.  The pandemic was tough on us as a business, but it also allowed us to grow and come out stronger on the other side.  We see an opportunity to create a new model for the fitness industry, one that truly focuses on helping clients feel better, move better, and live better.  I strongly believe in the impact of massage, so I enrolled in the same school as Justin and will finish the program by June 2021. 

If you’re interested in learning more about how our muscle therapy/bodywork program can help you, please message Justin at justin@marinosfitness.com, call him at 484-696-4348, or simply grab him when you’re in for your next training session. 

CM