If you’re experiencing pain and visit Jessica Miller at Muscle Wellness Massage and Body Works, you’re in for more than just a relaxing massage. Jessica is a licensed and skilled massage therapist, and what makes her massages different than many others is that she asks the right questions and targets the right areas to help her clients to not only feel better, but to thrive.
Jessica approaches massages from a medical background and works with clients to understand where the root of their pain comes from. With that information, she targets the muscles so her clients can experience a pain free recovery.
Jessica’s medical background started with an interest in the nursing field. From there, she became a medical assistant for eight years, but the idea of massage therapy kept coming up time and again. Once in the massage therapy program, she got through the program with flying colors. “…Learning the muscles was a little bit easier for me,” she says, talking about going to school for massage therapy. “It was more of a review, but the information on muscles was much more in depth than I ever got in any of my other medical programs.”
And Jessica puts all she knows about muscles to good use with her focus on muscle wellness. She starts each client with a full consultation to learn more about the client, their activities, their habits, and the issue at hand. Once she gathers the information, she’s better able to assess the root cause. For example, a client may come to her with back pain, but after the consultation and because Jessica understands how the muscles work together, she can determine the root cause of the pain and any other possible issues.
While massaging the area of pain may bring about temporary relief, Jessica explains that massaging the area of pain won't always fix the problem. It's with a better understanding of the client's activities and habits that Jessica can pinpoint the root cause and use massage therapy so the combination of muscles work better together and function as a unit. “In 2020 when people started working from home, creating their own desk by sitting on the couch or bed, a lot of people complained about back pain,” she says. “I started to realize that with upper back pain came tightness in the front of the chest, so the pecs and bicep muscles were pulling the shoulders forward and creating the tension in the back. Once I loosen up the front and the bicep and the pecs, the back starts to let go and releases that tension.”
Jessica says it generally takes four to eight sessions to work through an issue, and there’s accountability on the client in the way of exercises performed at home for maintenance. She said people can also exercise to keep their muscles in good working order. “Any type of exercise is good, especially for people who sit for long periods of time,” she says. “Blood flow is very important…People who are active tend to have better blood flow to the brain and throughout the whole body, so my goal is to keep the client moving and stretching.” Jessica explains that it’s the oxygen from the flow of blood that helps support muscle health.
Jessica serves a wide range of clients with services such as Therapeutic Massage, Sports Massage, and more. She's also added Abdominal Therapy Massage for Prenatal and Post-natal since receiving her certification. The goal with a prenatal massage is to alleviate round ligament pain and to help the baby reach the optimal position for delivery.
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"...Exercise keeps the muscles in good working order." Jessica Miller LMT, CNMT
