The Remedial Massage Guy Rockingham

21/07/2025

We're off to Langkawi and a couple of former tin mining towns, Taiping and Ipoh, nice to explore somewhere different! Although Taiping is the wettest town in Malaysia, it will be interesting to see one of the oldest towns, where tin was transported by train to Penang for export. We are going in the allegedly "dry" season, which means simply that it doesn't rain quite as much! Taiping gets a whopping 130 inches of rain a year, or 3.2 metres! That's a lot of wet stuff!

09/07/2025

Thanks to an obscure setting on my iPhone, my greeting has been that I am closed until December 24. Only just discovered that it hasn’t been using the correct greeting I changed it to since returning from Bali last year! Now fixed. Thanks iPhone for losing me many appointments! I’m laughing, though at how technology can both assist and be detrimental at the same time! Expecting my practice to be busier now this glitch is fixed!

19/06/2025

A quiet June caused me to reflect on my pricing structure. My practice is based on helping a large number of new clients each year. I need a large volume of new clients, since I aim to resolve people's pain and other issues in as few visits as possible! Many clients don't return for a year or three, hence the need for a steady stream of new clients.
Even though my prices were considerably cheaper than anyone with a similar skillset and over 20 year's experience, I felt that potential clients were baulking at $90 for an hour, largely due to the cost of living crisis.

So I have simplified everything. All the discounts have gone, just affordable prices, all day, every day! Makes the booking process simpler, too. At $80 for an hour, it more aligns with my fundamental philosophy of making my services accessible to as wide a range of the community as possible!
Please note that whilst hardly anyone ever books for a relaxing massage, I think my version is well worth trying, in the Bali Beach experience in the warmest clinic in town, whatever the winter weather is doing outside!

17/06/2025

Since posting about how muscles that cross a point of pain, such as the knees, tighten up and restrict movement, I have had THREE clients with knee pain and restricted range of motion. All experienced reduction in pain and increased flexibility by the end of the session by lengthening all the muscles that cross the knee and relieving the trigger points. I also have these Thermosleeves that can be either frozen or microwaved to be used as cold packs or heat packs to relieve pain, and I also apply liquid magnesium at the knee to help relieve the symptoms of osteoarthritis! Funny how things happen!

13/06/2025

A client asked whether Remedial Massage can help relieve pain caused by hip bursitis.

ANYWHERE there is pain, all the muscles that cross over the pain point tighten up and, in doing so, develop trigger points which does two things. First of all, trigger points themselves can produce symptoms of their own, often in the form of a dull ache. But also, by virtue of being short and tight, add extra pressure over the pain point, increasing the pain. So by loosening and lengthening the muscles all around the hip bursa, and relieving the trigger points, it reduces the pressure on the hip bursa, and reduces the pain, but without working directly on the hip bursa.

For knee pain, for example, I work on the whole leg to reduce pain in the knee!

The same applies after surgery. Muscles don't appreciate being sliced or chopped, and they are apprehensive and afraid you might repeat the episode as an irresponsible owner of your own body! As a result they tighten up in fear. So after knee surgery, for example, the rehab should also include lengthening all the muscles in the leg. Ditto for shoulder surgery etc.

It applies even more so after whiplash injuries. All the muscles in the neck and shoulders tense up, as they are apprehensive about you doing it again. That is where CranioDural therapy comes in!

10/06/2025

Just awaiting my 8:00AM client. A lazy 32 degrees. The Bali Beach Experience. As advertised! Complete with the sounds of waves gently caressing the shore. No passport needed! And it is the Early Bird Special! So what are you waiting for??!
I wish I could find someone offering a similar experience and price point, I'd be there every week!

09/06/2025

06/06/2025

I posted this graphic a couple of years ago. It is the expectations placed on a new physio working out of a clinic. After being in pain for years, and being subjected to treatment plans and overservicing by chiros and physios alike, whilst seeing zero results, this is why I walked out of a well paid, permanent, government position, to retrain to do what I do, with a philosophy that is diametrically opposed to this approach.

Early in my new career, I did rent a room in with a physio, inheriting a client base. After 3 or 4 months, the owner took me aside and noted that a lot of my clients were not coming back. Isn't that the whole idea I thought? But the owner said that when they saw a new client, they planned to be seeing the client for the next 20 years! I quit the following week, and have worked from home ever since. It has not been without challenges. Invisible in a quiet cul de sac with no through traffic or foot traffic is not the ideal base to attract clients. It take me a long time to build up a client base as a result, but over time, an increasing number of new clients came my way, and I did it by sticking to my principles and philosophy.

Just look at these requirements for the new physio:
85% rebooking rate
Client average visits > 6
Average consultation > $95 including product.
(my note, this was a couple of years ago, and this is for HALF HOUR appointments, so a big hint to go the upsell "Would you like fries with that?)

In contrast:
I don't attempt to rebook
I attempt to resolve people's issues in AS FEW VISITS AS POSSIBLE, sometimes just one visit.
If I am not getting satisfactory results after 2 visits, I suggest scans, because it may be more than a muscular problem, and really all I do is lengthen tight muscles and other soft tissues.
It does mean that I am not fully booked, and have quiet days, but that also means that someone in pain can be seen the same day! Even on a Sunday.
And I have always attempted to make my services accessible to as wide a range of the community as possible. My weekday Early Bird special, for example is $70 per hour, exactly the same price I was charging when I opened a clinic in Broome in the winters of 2008 and 2009. I think that is pretty reasonable given inflation and that I have enhanced my skillset and now have 21 years as a Remedial Massage Practitioner and have worked on over 7,500 clients!
I had hoped to have reached 8,000 by now, but the council crackdown on my opening hours for over a year, (having to close at 5pm and not open on Sundays), coupled with the cost of living crisis has had an impact on my quest to reach 10,000 clients before I drop off the perch or retire!

All I can say is "I did it my way"!

06/06/2025

Always nice to get a review:
"Yesterday I had an appointment with Arthur for hip/knee pain that has been getting progressively worse over last few months. Delighted with the result after only the first session. Can not believe the dramatic improvement. Arthur also sorted out other issues I did not know were also problematic. Thank you so much. "
An overseas visitor, too!

Just FYI, I am really making an effort to attract serious funding from State and Federal governments to come up with a PLAN to fix the roads so they are good to go to cater for future population growth over the next 20 years. Not the piecemeal approach current funding models use where council applies for funding for specific projects individually. For the questions I posed at the May 27 and intend asking at the June 24 meeting, see the link below, It includes several documents tabled in support, as questions are limited to 3 minutes.
https://arthurgalletly.com/council.html