Joel Klein – Sports and Orthopedic Massage Therapist, Active Release Techniques

Joel’s Massage and Bodywork Bio:

• Certified Massage Therapist (Specialization in Sports Massage)
• Certified, Orthopedic Massage, Orthopedic Massage Education & Research Institute (OMERI)
• Certified, Active Release Techniques (ART); Full Body.
• Certified, Active Release Techniques (ART); Long-Tract Nerve Entrapments.
• Nationally Certified in Massage and Bodywork (NCTMB)
• Professional Member of ABMP
• Sports Massage Instructor, Body Therapy Center, Palo Alto

Sports / orthopedic massage is an excellent adjunct to personal training. It can help you recover more quickly from your workouts, help correct postural imbalances, as well as help to discover and deal with minor issues before they become major ones. Also, massage can be rehabilitative and help in the healing of injuries and overuse conditions, such as tennis elbow and carpal tunnel syndrome. Receiving massage can definitely enhance your fitness performance!

“Joel is a fabulous massage therapist. Sports-massage and deep tissue especially, but also the occasional ‘I’m so stressed, I need help!’ massage. Thank you Joel!” – Trish Williams

Joel began taking courses in massage over 15 years ago, while he was living in the LA area and working as a graphic designer. What started as a hobby eventually turned into a complete career change. After training for and riding in two California AIDS Rides, a 580 mile bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, he developed an appreciation for the power of sports massage from an athlete’s standpoint, and that inspired him to pursue it further.

“My approach to massage is as a problem solver,” Joel explains. “The human body is complex, and finding the source of aches and pains is a fascinating puzzle.”

“Because of how everything in the body is connected, it’s not always the case that the problem is the area that hurts. It’s very rewarding to be able to help relieve a problem that has been with someone for a long time. I can’t tell you how many people live with everyday aches and pains that can be improved with body work,” he notes.

“It sounds like snake oil, but there are dozens of problems that can be resolved through massage or Active Release Techniques. For example, there are people who believe for years that they have sciatica, (a condition where the sciatic nerve becomes pinched by a disk) when actually they have a nerve compressed by a tight piriformis muscle deep in the hip. The symptoms can be almost identical, but the latter can be corrected through soft tissue work.”

“It is cases like these that highlight the benefits of a regular massage program. Many people only think of getting a massage when they have pain, when the truth is regular massages can help prevent issues in the first place, by helping to keep muscles supple and maintaining good range of motion. “

“Even though you may not have pain now, your muscles are constantly repairing minor tears. The body’s natural response is to heal tears as fast as possible, and sometimes it can be too aggressive when it lays down scar tissue, like a kindergartner using big globs of white glue to connect popsicle sticks. Muscles and nerves can become stuck to each other when they are supposed to be separated, forming adhesions that restrict proper muscle movement, possibly causing pain and stiffness,” he explains. “Another source of these adhesions is chronic tension: Just working at a computer day in and day out can create inflammation in one’s neck and shoulder muscles that can cause adhesions, which in turn can cause dysfunction and pain.”

Joel employs different approaches to break up these adhesions. He is A.R.T. (Active Release Techniques) certified, and has been been having great success using this approach with his clients. “With Active Release, I hold the ‘stuck’ area while the client actively moves the muscle through a range of motion that encourages the stuck tissues to separate.”

“I don’t believe that body work has to hurt to be effective,” he says. “If there is too much pain, the body will tighten up to protect itself, and then you don’t get anywhere.”