FIRST TIME EXPERIENCE

The first time you work with a new practitioner can be nerve racking and full of unknowns.

You’re in pain or feel ‘off’ and don’t always know what you need to correct this, or if this person you found online or heard about is going to be good or able to help you.

You won’t ever fully know until after you’ve been on the table, but here you can at least get an idea of how things will go when you come see me for the first time.

This appointment is required by all first time clients to set the best foundation for your self care journey with me.

How We Start

I don’t know you. You don’t know me.

For that simple reason, I start every new client off with a required 15-30 min ‘consult’ at the beginning of their first appointment. Here, we go over what brings you in, your medical / activity history, take thermal images of your tissue to look for inflammation and blood flow restriction, body mechanics and posture / alignment.

This sets the foundation for how the hands on work will go and help both of us understand what you need.

  • We can’t expect to fix everything in a single round. Improvement, yes. But the focus for the first appointment is to learn you and how your body is moving now, where you want to go, and what’s the best course we need to take with the right techniques to get there.

    Soft tissue work via massage or stretch modalities will be implemented, but in a condensed, more exploratory manner. Tissue responds to corrective care differently for everyone.

    I approach care with a ‘less is more’ mindset. I would rather use fewer techniques that are appropriate for you than a full roster of techniques to show you what all I can do if it means the tissue better responds and you see some improvement the days and weeks following.

  • It’s not massage. It’s not stretch. It’s not an assessment.

    It’s potentially all of that at once, or just a few. I approach our introductory appointment as I do a FLEX service so we can hone in on what is best for you and your goals with no preset expectations / restrictions.

  • For the next several days, you’ll probably feel sore or maybe even a little worse. This is completely normal and expected. Your body reacts to tissue manipulation with inflammation / tension to protect itself as it ‘figures out’ what happened to it and accepts that it is safe and the issue we addressed has improved or resolved.

    You’ll start to notice change after this resolves.