HEALTH
ELLEN GILLETTE
Brittney Smalls-Davis owned a mobile massage service, Hands of Synergy
Massage, until last year. She hopes to reopen eventually, taking therapy
into clients’ homes.
once again possible in Port St. Lucie to enjoy the stress relief
from a relaxing Swedish or an invigorating deep tissue
massage to get out all those kinks from sitting through yet
another Zoom meeting.
However, googling massage therapy in Port St. Lucie may
increase stress, with close to 100 choices. Listen to friends.
Ask your doctor. Many chiropractors have massage therapists
in-house. Read online reviews. Being able to communicate
clearly with a provider is important. You’ll want assurances
that everything is being done properly to ensure safety and
professionalism.
BEYOND CLEAN
COVID-19 is commonly believed to be spread between people
within 6 feet of each other through respiratory droplets.
Those droplets are created when an infected person coughs,
sneezes, sings or even talks, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Keeping socially distant helps.
Masks help. Washing hands often helps. Sanitizing helps.
If you’ve been wanting or needing a massage, there’s
good news. Local massage therapists say that while they’ve
always taken the recommended and required steps for
licensed massage therapy, they have stepped it up a notch to
counter the pandemic.
Extra protocols are in place to ensure client confidence
and safety. One thing you probably won’t find, however, are
gloves.
“Massage has to be skin to skin,” says Karla Nattis of
Karla’s Massage Therapy.
Nattis’ business shut down for three weeks, but was able to
reopen because of the relatively small traffic flow.
“We didn’t lose clients,” she says. “In fact, we’re stronger
than ever. The feedback I’ve gotten is that people didn’t want
to go to a place that was super busy.”
Nattis accepts clients by appointment so that she can control
numbers, as well as spend extra time cleaning.
During a pandemic, the need for safety may supersede the
need for de-stressing, but it doesn’t have to. Local massage
providers say they’ve always put a premium on cleanliness,
but have stepped it up even more.
Ross Hoffman of Hands on Health and Healing says he and
the other providers with whom he shares a building were
shut down in March by government order as nonessential. >>
Port St. Lucie Magazine 33
/irsc.edu