The Collegian

Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Andrew Dodson Massage Therapist Ken Lapina egins to work on a patient's stiff back. Lapina works at Therapeutic Massage south of Hillsdale. He believes the most efficent massages work deep into muscle tissue.

Media Credit: Andrew Dodson Massage Therapist Ken Lapina presses deep into a patien's tissue, forcing the muscle to relax.

Treesa Weaver-Rich has owned and operated Therapeutic Massage in Hillsdale for 25 years. But she said it has been nearly two since she's put hand to back and treated a patient.
"I keep falling off my dirt bike," Weaver-Rich said. "I bought an Enduro to ride trails with my husband, and I've had two shoulder injuries and two knee injuries. Some people think I might do better with a four-wheeler."
Crashes aside, Weaver-Rich has done well. She employs six therapists in a small building about two miles south of town on Hillsdale Street. She moved her business there after working for the Hillsdale Chiropractic Clinic for six years.
The inside of Therapeutic Massage is a deep forest green, which Weaver-Rich said reflects her love of the outdoors. ("If I could give a massage outside, I'd be in heaven," she said.)
After signing in, patients enter a dark room filled with light music, and lie down on cushioned table. They tell one of the therapists what hurts, and what kind of treatment they want: sports massage, deep tissues, myofascial, Swedish or trigger point, during which the therapist stretches the muscles and applies pressure to certain points to loosen back and limbs.
"Feel that twitch?" said therapist Ken Lapina as he urges his thumb into a knot of muscle. "It'll pulsate until it loosens up. But don't be surprised if you're a little sore Monday or Tuesday."
Before she started her business, Weaver-Rich was a secretary suffering from tight shoulders and a sore neck. After four visits to a masseuse, she felt her pain ease away.
"I thought, 'my neck doesn't hurt, my shoulders aren't hurting anymore,'" Weaver-Rich said. "I wasn't taking ibuprofen every day. So I asked my therapist about a place to go to school [to study massage]."
Weaver-Rich's early experience inspired the mission of her business. While some of the therapists will do light or relaxing massages, Lapina said steady and judiciously applied pressure is the key to relieving pain.
"Some guys just want to brush off your skin," he said, sweeping his hands across the back. "But when I feel all this tension, I just want to get in there and work on it."
Weaver-Rich said she's focused on maintaining her clientele in the rocky economy, but she hasn't run into a downturn yet - business has been steady.
"I see it as a sign we've done our job of educating people about massage," she said. "It's not just a spa treatment relax thing. It has medical benefits."
The treatment can help stiff people of any age, but Weaver-Rich's oldest patient is 91-year-old Betty Watson of Hillsdale. She credits the massages with keeping her limber.
"I can still shovel snow," she announced. "I go once a month, for an hour and a half, so it's a lot of fun."
Therapist Amanda Willis has treated her since Weaver-Rich's accidents.
"They're both excellent," Watson said. "It's quite deep - I love the way they rub your back, and then up into your neck."
Weaver-Rich said Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a law requiring therapeutic massage businesses in Michigan to be certified, something the state has not required in the past. Weaver-Rich said that should bring the aid of massage to more people, since it will encourage insurance companies to subsidize it and therapists to stay certified.
"Right now, you could read 'massage for dummies' this weekend and put out a shingle," Weaver-Rich said. "When I interview a new therapist, they have to give me a massage. It's one thing if they can talk it - but they have to relay it through their fingers."

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