ABOUT LEO

I've always liked engaging in impact sports, but in my mid-30s I started realizing impact sports didn't necessarily like me back. Around the same time (and a few years into my massage career), I began studying orthopedic massage techniques, which revealed to me that most of the joints in my body were hypermobile. Finally, I understood why I had always been relatively injury-prone, despite being fairly strong and capable otherwise. Over the last 20 years, I've contended with an extensive variety of injuries and forms of chronic pain; and while the experience has been less than pleasant, it's also been highly educational. It might have sidelined my notion of boxing professionally, but as a massage therapist, I've become much more capable of helping others than I ever would have otherwise. I've learned a great deal about how injuries occur, how to assess them, how to treat them, how to prevent them, and about the body's healing process in general. The world of orthopedic bodywork is the closest thing I've found to an owner's manual to the body - speaking musculoskeletally, that is. 

My own injuries have also given me a kaleidoscope of insight into the mental and emotional aspects of dealing with acute and chronic pain. I've navigated day-to-day life with debilitating, yet mysterious pain that multiple specialists, X-rays and MRIs couldn't seem to explain. I've experienced what it's like to have your life limited or re-shaped by pain and injury in the long-term. Sometimes, the best you can do is to make peace with things as they are in the moment. But I've also learned that sometimes, even often times, it's possible to recover from an injury that seems like it will never heal - if you get the right help. And I know now that it's entirely possible to prevent many injuries from turning into chronic pain - again, if you get the right help. 

I haven't always gotten the right help. Sometimes, I went years without it; whether because I didn't realize I deserved to take care of my body, or because I wasn't aware of all my treatment options, or because I wasn't able to afford proper care right away. As a massage therapist, I've always wanted to help others. But now that I'm better able to tell the difference between good intentions alone, vs. good intentions aligned with a systematic bodywork approach that gets results, I'm passionate about helping those in pain get the best help possible. Either by helping them myself, or, when I'm not able, by pointing them in the direction of someone who can.