Waking up at 3:00am to be ready for this year’s 25^th Anniversary Los Angeles Marathon seemed impossible.  However, over 30 student and graduate therapists from National Holistic Institute were pumped up and ready to go!  A few arrived earlier than staff!

This was the inaugural year of the Marathon’s route starting at Dodger Stadium and ending at the Santa Monica Pier.  Massaging runners at the beach – how cool!  It was optimally temperate marathon-running weather, with the fog never quite dissipating at the beach.  We warmed up quickly though as the runners started finishing and the line lengthened.  Despite what seemed like a never-ending queue, the NHI therapists worked tirelessly and with few breaks so that no runner had to wait longer than 15 minutes to receive our much needed touch.

As in years past, our students were chosen to [Read more →]

While National Holistic Institute offers class starts year-round, we experience the most enrollment excitement during the back-to-school time of August and September.  So, with great delight, our campuses recently threw open their doors to the many new prospective students with several Open House events.

From San Jose to Encino, prospective students, friends, and family members snacked on cheese & crackers, cookies, and assorted fruit while mixing with members of the faculty, admissions, current students, and graduates.  Attendees visited an anatomy-rich science room; received sports massage treatments; participated in [Read more →]

Eight members of National Holistic Institute’s San Jose Campus Sports Massage Team donated their time and talents to raise $500 for the American Cancer Society by providing massage therapy for the participants of the Los Gatos Relay for Life.  The NHI students worked from dawn to dusk providing relief for achy lower backs and knotted calves.  Relay For Life can be considered the American Cancer Society’s signature activity. They are overnight events and can last up to 24 hours in length.  The event in Los Gatos was held at the track at Rolling Meadows Middle School.  The NHI Sports Massage Team offered $1/minute massages throughout the day and by 8:00 pm had collected a considerable donation to a great cause.

Over 100 NHI students, staff, and graduates massaged at the 2009 Nike Women’s Marathon.  The marathon raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Our Sports Massage Team gave over 1,000 massages on race day and another 1,200 massages during the accompanying 3-day Expo.  Runners appreciated the work and our students received valuable experience.  Big thanks to the NHI staffers who made this happen: Lucas, Beth, Al, Jenna, Laura, Conrad, Jaime, and the many others who contributed throughout.  As an added bonus, all volunteers took home a free pair of Nike shoes!

If you compete at a sporting event in San Francisco or Los Angeles, you may have experienced a massage by some of our students or alumni.  We volunteer many hours to these great causes.  Last month was one of the largest – the San Francisco Marathon – where we were proud once again to be recognized as the official massage therapists.

It was a successful event by every measure!  Much gratitude goes out to Lucas Nevarez for coordinating this operation and providing us with the follow-up report.

We had 103 volunteers, 80 tables, and massaged approximately 1200 runners in just a few short hours. The students did an amazing job, taking care of many strained, overworked, and often cramping muscles. NHI was well received and appreciated by these aching athletes.  

San Francisco Marathon NHI Massage Tent

Something this size doesn’t happen without a lot of help.  Well-deserved shout-outs go to Nick Lanoza, Beth McNeill, Conrad Santos, Jaime Montenegro, Shoshana Friedens, Giselle Griffin, and Marz Jaffe.  Also, thanks to the staff and teachers who helped pump up the anticipation and excitement.

Being a part of a multi-campus, 100+ person “Whoosh!” is enough to send a shiver down anyone’s spine!

I’m so delighted to have Melissa Wheeler as one of our guest bloggers.  She has been with NHI over 15 years and is one of the first teachers I met when I initially toured the school.  While Emeryville is her home campus, she is the Faculty Training Coordinator for all campuses.  She makes sure all NHI teachers continually meet our high level of training.  Her background is in Sports Massage and Rehabilitative work, having worked in a Physical Therapy clinic for a number of years – and with athletes at Cal Berkeley.

This is the first of Melissa Wheeler’s occasional series about interesting conditions that can benefit from massage.

Lace Bite.  Ouch!  What is THAT?  Runners, walkers, hikers:  Loosen your laces!

Lace Bite is a common condition that develops over the top of the foot where the long extensors of the toes pass under the extensor retinaculum. (see illustration below).  Compression of these tendons can cause a painful condition called tenosynovitis.  In this region it is commonly called “lace bite” because tight shoelaces are often the primary cause.

• Retinaculum:  Thickenings of deep fascia in distal portions of limbs that hold tendons in position.
• Tenosynovitis:  When tendons that pass through a synovial sheath become irritated and inflamed.

How to Treat with Massage?  Deep Transverse friction of the affected tendon along with myofascial release on the retinaculum (and loosening your laces) can resolve the problem!  I had a client who had this condition for months and could not figure out what was wrong.  After one massage specific to this area – the pain went away!  However, don’t work if acutely inflamed.

Happy 1st week!  By coincidence, this blog began one week ago on the same lucky day as the Olympics in Beijing – 08/08/08.  But then, many would say there are no coincidences.  Massage and sports have a long, beneficial history together.  In fact, some of our graduates have massaged at Olympics past, but I haven’t heard if any are in China currently.  Still, if you’d like to hear about what it’s like to be at the Olympics from a massage therapist’s point-of-view, Massage Magazine has a blog on that subject going now.  Click here to read all about it.

Attending massage school was one of my greatest ideas.  I fell head over heals for massage.  This “hobby” was becoming a huge part of my life.  Now I was the one massaging my marathon friends!  Wouldn’t it be great if I could make a living doing something I enjoyed so much?  One of my classmates, Ed, had the same idea.  Together we started doing our sports massage gigs.  Then the school we had attended came up for sale.

We both knew what a treasure TTI was to the L.A. massage community.  While TTI had come highly referred to me, Ed actually attended another school for a short while.  It was so bad that all of his classmates dropped out and the school cancelled his class.  So, against the advice of our accountants, lawyers, families, friends, astrologers and the voice of reason, we bought Touch Therapy. 

Ed would never let down.

With plenty of blood, sweat, tears, a whole lot of our savings, and much laughter, we turned the school around financially while maintaining its quality of education.  Enrollment rose; completion rates soared; and all was good.  But feedback from graduates and employers told us that TTI’s main 200-hour program was no longer adequate.  Therapists needed more training to compete in today’s market.  Exploring how to extend our curriculum, I met Mason Myers, President of National Holistic Institute.

Over tacos in San Diego, Mason told me how great NHI is.  I countered by telling him how amazing TTI was.  He invited me up to San Francisco to see his campus and arm wrestle over the matter.  When I stepped foot into NHI, I felt like I was at Touch Therapy – only bigger.  So impressed was I, that I let him win the arm wrestling match (but don’t tell him that).  Talks of a merge began.  TTI needed a longer program and NHI wanted to expand to Southern California.  It was a match made in heaven.  I stayed on to manage the Los Angeles campus in Encino.

Now 2 years later, I massage paperwork more than people, but I wouldn’t trade my NHI experiences for the world.  I look forward to sharing these adventures with you as we go along.