Knoxville Therapeutic Massage an alternative approach to healing – Oskaloosa Herald

KNOXVILLE When clients step into Knoxville Therapeutic Massage, theyre met with a peaceful atmosphere of soft music, warm lighting and gentle smiles.

The calming environment stands in stark contrast with owner Sherry Luedtkes previous workplaces: the fast-paced halls of hospitals and somber bedsides of hospice homes.

For twenty five years, Luedtke experienced healing and modern medicine first-hand as a nurse.

I did all different kinds [of nursing], but what I noticed was that there were certain people who just drop through the cracks, she said.

With growing children, Luedtkes passion for healing and helping others never faltered, but she knew that the stressful and difficult life of nursing was not the path for her.

After 25 years of nursing, I kept pushing myself because I had to do it, I had to do it, she said. I just got so depressed and it was hard. It was hard, hard, hard work. I just hit a wall.

In that time, Luedkte came to an important realization that would change the direction of her life: there were people that the healthcare system was letting fall through the cracks, and she was going to help them.

People would come in, it was a lot of women, she said, and they would say Im sick, Im sick. We would run labs and tests and everything else but we would find nothing and so these people would just be sent away. They would be told its all in your head. I thought, this is weird. Why is this certain population failing?

Luedtke decided to leave nursing and pursue massage therapy, inspired in part by a past department leader who offered massages to the nurses. When the massages lifted her headaches, Luedtke was intrigued.

Then, seven years ago, Knoxville Therapeutic Massage was born.

I just discovered that human touch is just what you need, she said. People just need human touch and then you get better. The body will heal itself if you do things for it. And it doesnt have to be modern medicine, it can be alternative medicine.

A licensed massage therapist, Luedtke offers several services in 30-, 60-, or 90-minute sessions.

A few of the services offered include cranial sacral therapy, a gentle massage promoting the flow of cerebral spinal fluid to decrease pain; barefoot deep tissue and prenatal massage.

While there has been little scientific research providing evidence backing the credibility of therapeutic massage, Luedtke said that the different services can help clients with stress reduction, headache relief, lowering blood pressure and stimulating a sense of wellbeing.

In this world, its not all scientific. Its a lot of anecdotal, so I had to adjust there, She said. I had to adjust and kind of just trust. You have to kind of just trust.

Though she had to unlearn some things from her nursing career, Luedtke said that her experience in the healthcare field has given her a unique perspective from which she approaches her job.

Luedtke works with the client to set a goal and a treatment plan, taking into mind the clients medical history. She personalizes each session to the client, combining types of massage to maximize benefits.

Whatever the client needs is what I perform, she said. She said that truly listening to her clients in a way that modern medicine doesnt always, allows her to combat the clients pain looking at their body as a whole rather than as parts.

Part of it is, youve gotta hear the person. They just need to be heard, she said.

And her medical background helps her do just that. Having worked as a hospice nurse, Luedtke said that she has a unique understanding of pain.

In nursing, we learned all kinds of pains, she said. That, I believe, is what helped me the most; understanding pain, types of pain.

When putting together a care plan, Luedtke looks at the body as a whole, physical and mental. Instead of addressing only one problem area, her approach looks at the role each part of the body plays in its healing.

In alternative care, the whole body goes back together, she said. In medicine, we separate the body. We separate the heart, the lungs, the kidney and the liver and the doctor takes care of that organ. We gotta bring them back together. Here, I dont assess systems, I assess the whole.

She considers her work a combination of modern, chiropractic and alternative medicines.

I address the whole person, the body and the mind, she said.

From aging gracefully to loosening aching muscles and releasing grief, Luedke said that she has seen massage therapy transform people even those who walked in questioning the practice.

It works, she said. Massage therapy, it heals so much.

Spirituality is an important part of the process, and Luedtke said that the patient plays just as large of a role in their healing as she does.

Im just the facilitator, she said. All I do is facilitate the body. The person on the table is doing the work because theyre the ones asking for help, theyre the ones getting better.

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Knoxville Therapeutic Massage an alternative approach to healing - Oskaloosa Herald