Massage & Bodywork

September | October 2014

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M&B: What inspired you to get into massage therapy? In 1969, I was at the University of Florida on an athletic scholarship to run track. I read an article in Track & Field News about how massage therapy was being used by many European runners to help with recovery and performance. That article piqued my interest. There were no massage therapists where I was. I'm sure massage must have been happening somewhere, but it wasn't happening there. I purchased and read The Massage Book by George Downing, and I was just fascinated with the whole idea. Look at all these things you can do with your hands, these different strokes—it helps this, it helps that, it makes muscles work better. I just thought it was so cool. When I mentioned this to a friend of mine, she said, "You know, there are massage schools where you can learn how to do this." I was like, "What? Really?" I started looking up massage schools—there were only two or three in Florida at that time—and enrolled at a place in Gainesville that is now the Florida School of Massage, but at the time was called the American Institute of Massage. I went through a 10-month training program and then did an apprenticeship for another year under my mentor, and here I am 40 years later, still doing it. M&B: And discovering massage made you to want to learn more about the body and health? Yeah. So getting a degree in health education just sort of made sense to me. My specialized certification track was health promotion and wellness, which fit right in to massage. 96 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k s e p t e m b e r / o c t o b e r 2 0 1 4 I added to that the requirements to become a certified athletic trainer (athletic training certified, or ATC). An ATC is charged with the care, prevention, and treatment of athletic injuries. It requires a four-year degree, with coursework including anatomy, kinesiology, orthopedic assessment, physiology, and therapeutic modalities, and a certain number of clinical practicum hours working under an athletic trainer. Keep in mind, I had already been a massage therapist for 10 years when I enrolled in the ATC program. I was attracted to it because I was looking for more assessment skills. At the time I went through massage school, assessment was not part of the curriculum. I think massage therapists serve a more important role in the health-care system than we recognize. A massage client usually sees their massage therapist more often than their primary care physician. Massage therapists should gain knowledge on assessment and various types of joint conditions, so they can recognize these conditions and accurately refer clients to the appropriate specialist. M&B: Tell us about your experience as a track and field athlete. Track and field has been great for me. It's allowed me to travel and meet interesting people. I started high school in 1964. It was the first year of desegregation in Georgia, so I was bused to what had been an all-white high school in Columbus, where I was the first black athlete on the high school track team. In my senior year of high school, because of my track and field record, all the Southeastern Conference schools—Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Auburn, and Alabama—recruited me vigorously. But I had the best recruiting visit at the University of Florida. I felt welcome there. I was the third black athlete on the University of Florida track team and only the fifth at the school. Had I gone to any of the other schools, I would have been their first or second black athlete at that time. M&B: Your athletic background and your massage career led you to work with the US Track and Field team at the World Championships and Olympic Games, and you were responsible for getting massage incorporated into the US Olympic program. It started when the Olympic Games came to Atlanta in 1996. I was the manager of athlete medical services for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. The majority of the Olympics is run by volunteers—taking tickets, putting hurdles on the track, setting up the events. Massage therapists had been used at Olympic Games in Every treatment room in Vaughn's facility has windows for natural lighting.

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