As with most specialized or advanced therapists, I started out as a relaxation/sports massage therapist after a career in my major (Nutrition) didn’t work out. As a former track athlete at Florida State, Go Noles!, I understood the importance and benefit of massage in treating muscular aches and pains and I have always been compelled to help others. A few years out of massage school I had a growing business and was doing well, but 9/11 changed all that. My business died and I had to reaccess my situation. Fortunately, I meet a man, my husband, that allowed me to pursue my passion of helping people who were in constant pain, feel better and return to normal lives.
Through my search I was fortunate enough to be introduced to new therapies that combined different bodywork modalities and cranial therapy techniques, finding new ways of helping those in severe and chronic pain called Structural Energetic Therapy and CranioSomatics. Doing this type of worked completely opened a whole new world of how I could really make a difference in others’ lives. I had the luxury of learning and working for 9 years next to the creators of the work, who helped me hone and perfect my skills. I love what I do, therefore I am constantly looking for ways to educate myself so that I can do the best possible job for my clients. I have even taken a cadaver class to gain a better understanding of the body and how the muscle, bones and organs connect. I know, strange but really cool and highly beneficial.
In 2010 I opened, Surgical Alternative to help reach more people in pain and train new therapists on all the techniques that I learned to help others. I soon realized that most therapists wouldn’t take 9 years to learn, master and test the most effective techniques to provide maximum relief to their clients. The work was to precise and complicated for most therapists, that’s why most who I learned with or taught never really used it. I really needed a better way. Shortly after, I started creating Cranial Structural Bodywork with a longtime friend and highly experienced therapists, Greg Spindler. While I used my years of experience to uncomplicated the Cranial Techniques, Greg did the same on the bodywork side. A year later, we launched our first Cranial Structural Bodywork Classes which combines many different modalities including Cranial Structural Therapy, Structural Bodywork and Applied Kinesiology (muscle testing) techniques and I was on cloud nine. We have since taught all our experienced therapists at Surgical Alternative and many around the state and look forward to helping other therapists realize their dreams.
I have been awed and privileged to get the array of clients that have been referred to us. Many of the clients we see have been in pain for a long time, and have been told there was nothing that we can do for you, have been told their test came back fine, and or been told here are some medications to help manage your pain…good luck.
If anyone of you have followed my blog in the past, then you know I’m passionate about letting people know there are surgical alternatives. I’m also excited to see the positive press about the health benefits of massage (which I have tried to stress with my clients). Technology has changed accessibility which will continue to evolve the world. I hope we get to a point where we can use massage and other alternative medicines to stay healthier and cure common alignments instead of medication.
At Surgical Alternative, we have been helping people cure many conditions associated with injuries, headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel, nerve entrapment, sciatica (providing sciatic pain relief), low back pain, hip pain, knee pain, or foot pain and tailbone pain – that is related to the musculoskeletal structure. Don’t Live in Pain, Live Pain Free.
