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Chronic Pain Relief

At Massage Therapy of Oak Park, we are dedicated to meeting your individual needs through the highest quality hands-on health experience. Our licensed massage therapists have been trained to integrate various massage techniques to reduce chronic pain, alleviate stress and help you connect with your own healing potential.

Our focus is on providing overall balance in order to improve the functioning of the central nervous system, empowering the body’s natural healing process. Rick Halle-Podell, owner of Massage Therapy of Oak Park, has over 20 years of experience treating chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, complex regional pain syndrome (i.e., causalgia, reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, RSDS), chronic pelvic pain, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction and migraine headaches. Advanced training in osteopathic hands-on therapies from the Barral Institute have provided him with techniques and anatomical knowledge that can help you on your path to healing.

Most recently, Rick was honored by the National Institutes of Health for his role as Lead Massage Therapist for a research project studying chronic pelvic pain in conjunction with Loyola University Medical Center, Northwestern University Medical Center, the Rehab Institute of Chicago, Stanford University Medical Center, University of Pennsylvania, Cleveland Clinic and William Beaumont Hospital. He also co-authored an article published in the Journal of Urology on the use of manual therapies to treat chronic pelvic pain.

An Integrated Treatment Approach to Chronic Pain

We understand that every person’s pain is unique. Therefore, we utilize an integrated treatment approach incorporating a combination of advanced osteopathic hands-on therapies like myofascial release, craniosacral therapy and visceral manipulation.

When approaching chronic back and neck pain, Massage Therapy of Oak Park thinks of the body three-dimensionally. Consider the articulating surfaces of the ribs. They connect posteriorly to the thoracic vertebrae wrapping around and attaching to the sternum. An organism in good health has physiological motion. Increasing the mobility of the ribs throughout the thoracic cavity helps to decrease pain by restoring movement and affecting the afferent stimulus to the brain.

Who Benefits from Chronic Pain Relief Through Therapeutic Massage

Many different types of individuals can benefit from therapeutic massage, but particularly those suffering from chronic pain syndromes like:

  • Migraine headaches

  • Chronic pelvic pain

  • Chronic fatigue syndrome

  • Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome (RSDS)

  • Chronic neck and back pain