08/29/2025
Massage Rant incoming!!!! PARENTS! DO NOT LIVE THROUGH YOUR KIDS, LET YOUR KIDS LIVE!
All too often i see a kid or a young adult that graces my table who had the sports dad or sports mom or combo who was so pushy on sports their baseball player or football player has a rotator cuff surgery before 19 or 20.
If your child is a pitcher for example do not be that dad yelling at a coach for taking them out of the game to rest their arm all because you want to see your kid keep pitching. If the arm is tired let it rest. All you are doing is setting your child up for a surgery and prolonged issues later in life to satisfy the parents desires to live through the childs games. I saw this so much when I worked as a surgical nurse whoch wad one of a thousand reasons i switched gears from nursing to what i do now and as a medical massage therapist with a specialty in sports and injury, I hear the kids story when you're not in the room, or their old enough to see me on their own. I am all about PT but I will also never understand why WV doesn't have medical massage therapists working in PT because sometimes limbering is more important than building and lets be honest we all know a tens unit is no substitute for a deep tissue massage....
Most coaches and parents do not have their kids on stretching regimens after practice or after a game. You want your child to be a pro athlete, great, get them into stretching too.... And thats when they need it most. Also treat a game and a practice like going to the gym. Give your child post workout protein shakes after the game or practice. It will help them recover and build muscle while they sleep after the game or practice.
Be it coming to me, another massage therapist, a uoga coach or what ever.... Have your sports kid in some type of program to keep those muscles LIMBER!
I hate this anology but its the best one. A drunk driver walks away from a car accident with the least amount of injuries because the alcohol loosend them up. The same applies to your muscles and your child's muscles. Wanna workout like a beast and reduce your chances of injury, then get in a program that increases your muscles limbering, same for your child...
Having said that, this is one of a dozen reasons I work from home, I get to spend time with my son Chris incase he had an autistic melt down, and unlike other massage therapists I haven't had to raise my prices because my overhead expenses dont reflect ridiculous rent costs since I own my home and my hours are way more flexible. I also have membership programs that beat your copays and deductibles out of the water.
