How My Teen Athlete’s Back Pain Was Finally Relieved

I have always loved massage, and I knew that massage was good for relaxing the body and for stimulating the lymphatic system to help the body release toxins, but I wasn’t prepared to discover the kinds of dramatic health benefits that my teenage daughter who is an athlete experienced in just two sessions of deep-tissue massage. The following story is my first-hand experience.

Last Spring my just-turned 15 year-old daughter Julianne began to complain about pain in her lower back that came almost “out of the blue.” She is a competitive soccer player and gets bumped and shoved all of the time, and she could not identify the pain as coming from any particular incident. When the pain got to be so bad that she asked to go to a doctor, I took her to a chiropractor. Over the course of several adjustments her pain lessened, but did not go away completely. Around the fifth or sixth treatment the chiropractor determined that a strong kick, the kind of kick Julianne would do on the soccer field regularly, would put her back “out” immediately. My daughter was then given exercises to do to strengthen her inner core muscles, but because she thought her inner core muscles were strong enough and the exercises were too trivial, she did not do them.

It was determined that sometimes you just need a break from sports and luck have it, she was visiting Germany in the summer–a perfect opportunity to have a break. In Germany she was taken by her Dad to an M.D. who also is a chiropractor.

The M.D. / chiropractor examined my daughter and said that her back appeared fine, there was nothing he could find that was wrong, and that was the end of the treatment. Over the course of the summer as she took a break from competitive sports she stopped complaining about back pain. (And except for bike riding, she still refused to do any core-strengthening exercises.)

Returning home in August she got back into soccer and made the High School varsity volleyball team. About two weeks into the season, she began to complain about some back pain again. Eventually the back pain got bad enough to affect her playing in volleyball games. One time riding her bike home from school practice, crying in pain, her back hurt so much she told me she could not get off the bike for a few minutes.

What was I to do? Chiropractic would not fix the problem immediately, I knew, and an allopathic MD would only prescribe painkillers. Because Julianne had a volleyball tournament that weekend I talked to a neighbor friend and was given a Chinese herb pack, the kind that sticks like a patch on your skin, and several Advil (ibuprofin) for my daughter to take before and during the tournament.

But the patch and the painkillers did not help; she was in pain the entire tournament and was able to play only a couple minutes at a time.

What was I to do? I asked my higher guidance and this is what came up: In the summer I had received a “rain check” for a free massage from an Ayurvedic practitioner / massage therapist whom I had advised on writing books and publishing. I called her and asked whether she would be able to help my daughter’s back pain. “Most definitely,” she said with confidence in her voice, she sounded like she knew what she was talking about. I made an appointment for a massage for Julianne for the following Tuesday.

Julianne received her massage and was able to relax for just about 2 hours before she was to play in a school volleyball game. The massage therapist had instructed her to take one whole day off just to relax after the massage, but Julianne went right into the game. Surprisingly, she was able to play that evening and the coach kept her in.  On the way out of the game, one of the other volleyball Moms remarked, “Julianne looks like she’s walking a lot better today. She looks a whole lot better than at the tournament last Saturday.”

“She got a good massage a few hours ago,” I said. That Sunday, Julianne was able to play in a soccer game with her club soccer team with almost no pain.

I made another appointment with the massage therapist, this time for 90 minutes. I felt one more treatment was the medicine that was needed. Julianne received her second massage and has not complained about any pain whatsoever ever since! In fact, she looks better than ever on the volleyball court and on the soccer field. And all because of two sessions of deep tissue massage from a skilled massage therapist.

I shared my experience with the coaches and some of the parents on both of Julianne’s teams, and one of the Dads said that deep tissue massage was what helped him get rid of his back pain.

A few days later I read an article on the high cost of health nosubhealth.com care on Mike Adam’s “health ranger” website, NaturalNews.com, and came across the following reader comment:

I am a neuromuscular massage therapist and I can remove MANY structural issues people have, that allopathic system goes right to surgery or PT with, to the tune of many times the cost of my work. An example…it costs roughly $10,000 for carpal tunnel surgery. I can make most carpal tunnel GONE in 2-3 sessions and sometimes one, to the tune of a maximum cost of $180 for 2 sessions. I have heard NOTHING about educating people about the lower costs and less invasiveness of many corrective therapies already available to people. If money was granted to basic massage therapists to get further training to do detailed corrective work, this would be money very well spent.

I agree with the poster. I have seen with my own eyes what someone who is really skilled in massage can do. The woman who helped my daughter has over 20 years of experience in the Ayurvedic healing arts and is skilled in Swedish massage, Thai massage, Abhyanga, Chi Gong and Accupressure. If you’d like a massage from Tiffanae Dawn Luke (her practice is in Santa Cruz, California), you can reach her at her website, Tranquil Ayurveda. If you don’t live anywhere near Santa Cruz, California I recommend finding a really good massage therapist in your area. It can change your life.