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I've had back pain and hip pain for half my life. I've fought it with massage therapy, chiropracty, physical therapy, yoga, and drugs: painkillers, muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatories, cortisone injections, etc. Over the years, all these have really done is ease the pain temporarily. \r
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My back has gotten so bound up that chiropractors can't adjust me. Deep tissue massage only eases the pain for a few days. Drugs just mask the pain, and I keep needing more and more. The pain had gotten bad enough that I was taking drugs constantly just to get through a day, and my back doctor was talking surgery. \r
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When I told him that I'd rather do damn near anything than spinal surgery, he recommended I try a different kind of therapy, the myofascial release stuff at Hands On. I'd done physical therapy before with very little effect, and I was very skeptical about this style of therapy. \r
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Myofascial release seems very low key at first, sometimes barely enough to feel, and targets odd areas that I don't generally think of as essential to my back. But each time I went to therapy, I left feeling worn out, like I'd done intense exercise, and the next day, some part of my body would move better. Each session gave me more freedom of movement, and less pain.\r
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They also taught me a lot about how my muscles and tendons and such are interconnected, how tightness on the front of my hip joint, for instance, could put pressure on my lower back. This gave me what I needed to recognize where my problems were centered, and how to loosen them up on my own whenever I felt that tightness coming back that led to pain.\r
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I went to them for about six months over a year ago, until the majority of my days were completely pain free, and even my bad days were relatively mild. People who haven't lived with constant pain have no idea what a gift it is to just go through life without hurting. And it lasted. I had the tools to keep myself flexible and pain free.\r
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What this means to me is that I don't have to live my life addicted to various drugs, I don't have to have spinal surgery, and I have the energy to do things again that I haven't been able to do for years. That's worth an awful lot.\r
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I only had to cancel once, and was 2 hours under the 24 hour notice, so got slapped with the fee. It sucks, but if people can cancel with impunity, then the company goes out of business and I can't get the therapy. I consider it an acceptable trade-off.\r
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To say that I'd go back is pretty much a given. After 2 months of 80 hour weeks working on a charity event and not doing my exercises, my back was in bad shape again. I've just started the therapy sessions and already, it's improving. These people know their stuff. I particularly like working with Erin. She finds the worst spots and works them out, and gives me the best home exercises to keep the pain at bay.\r
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I would take my kids here, I would and do recommend Hands On to my friends. You get your money's worth and then some.\r
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Paige
Pros: Very effective therapy techniques
Cons: Strict cancellation policy
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