I am sitting here, once again, shaking my head. Why? Three more clients let me know they got crappy massages from someone else. The one lady just called to set up a couples massage for this weekend and she said the place she went to a month ago – they barely touched her and she felt like she got no massage at all. A male client last week looked scared when I mentioned that we mix in hot stone therapy and I asked him why. He said the last massage he had, the lady acted like she really did not know what she was doing with the stones and the stones were way too hot. My female client from a week and a half ago said that she has been getting deep tissue from a lady in Youngstown who insists on going ridiculously deep and my client ends up SEVERELY BRUISED each and every time!
In Ohio – licensed massage therapists are a part of the medical field. We are licensed by the Medical Board of Ohio and I can still recall the very first rule we learned was – FIRST DO NO HARM!! This is known as the Hippocratic Oath – and it is part of the oath that most medical professionals adhere to…
Massage Envy and Hand and Stone
I hear horror stories all the time. The most are about Massage Envy and a close second is Hand and Stone. After that is a whole list of the area spas and places where clients go to experience crappy massages. Are there some good therapists in the city. Yes, of course. But, it takes some time to find them…
Thing is – Many of our clients came from one of those other places. It turns out that the Groupons and low prices that many people go after are not quite a bargain after all. We, on the other hand, would like to have you as a client for life and we do that by offering REAL MASSAGES that have a lot of awesome stuff in them to help our clients feel their best.
Our prices are a great value considering what is in each session. Even still – our sessions are priced about $20 less than for our area! We offer great customer service and a TOP – LEVEL bodywork with real pain relief, superb pampering, and ridiculous stress relief. But we aren’t for everyone, some people don’t care about the service or the results, they only care about the price…”
Trying to Save Money
We get the calls all the time. Folks price shopping. They are sitting online looking at Groupons and any other massage specials and attempting to compare what we offer to those other places. And they call us to see what we charge. When we tell them $70 (which by the way is $20 less than what is commanded in our area), they run and look elsewhere. Forget about the fact that our sessions have a TON more in them than the average massage around town (hot stone therapy, deep tissue, real bodywork and therapy, a phenomenal foot massage).
You Get What You Pay For in Cleveland
I am here to tell you that in the Cleveland area you get what you pay for. And, there are times you will also overpay for massage just because it is sitting in some fancy spa. Two years ago, I wasted over $300 for a spa day at the area’s largest and most plush LOOKING spa on the west side of town. I have gotten better massages in the clinic at my massage school. The guy clearly was very NEW and I could tell was thinking his way thru the session. He massaged my leg just above my knee (rather than working on my whole leg). He barely used any pressure. He refused to touch my hip/glute area (which is where a lot of my low back pain comes from). The rest of the spa day was also a flop. The only part I actually got something out of was the hair service. That person actually knew what she was doing.
Massage Connoisseur
I am a massage Connoisseur which means I purposely experience massage in all kinds of places and from all types of therapists – both licensed and certified. I have even gone to two of the local (unlicensed) foot spas and will not again. I have been receiving massages for over 20 years and I now get massages once per week so I spend a lot of money on massage – both for relaxation and pain relief.
Let’s Do Something Fun
We do not utilize NEWBIES in our office. Period. All of us are highly-skilled and SEASONED massage professionals. However, around town, especially when it comes to area spas and large massage entities – you will find that they mostly hire NEWBIES right out of school. Why? They can pay them peanuts and the workers will take it. They are paid $9-15 an hour.
So the next time you get a massage see if you can spot the newbie. Do they drape you like a caterpillar cacoon? When they work on your leg do they only go just above the knee because they are afraid to work on the whole leg? Is their massage fluid and continuous like they already know what they are going to do or do they seem to be deciding as they go? Do they get regular massage? Because this is one of the ways you will find an excellent therapist – if you find one who is not massaging YOU in a vacuum – never getting massages themselves. Are they practicing what they preach if they never get massages themselves? Is their deep tissue work only ONE LEVEL – hard? Do they insist on doing an entire routine on you or doing the massage in a PARTICULAR order regardless of whether you need a customized session? This will be a very interesting and fun thing to do. You will notice a lot.
Try not to laugh…
Saving Money – Nope!
When you spend $40 for a massage that does absolutely nothing for you, YOU DID NOT SAVE MONEY. You flushed it down the toilet!
How about putting another $20 or $30 with that and come see us and get a real massage that will leave you feeling like a brand new person. Or, like the client who came in last week who had sciatica issues for weeks and she texted the next day to say she had never experienced even one day without pain until I worked on her. Or the many prenatal massage clients who come in with severe back and hip pain who leave pain free. Our clients walk out feeling a 1000% better than when they walked in. We have clients walk in barely able to bend down to tie their shoes and suddenly they have some great range of motion in their backs. We help traveling clients who feel beat up from sitting on an airplane for hours or in a car for hours feel like we swapped out their body for a new one!
Are we miracle workers? Nope. To be honest, if you have any type of chronic pain issue going on, you should plan on having a series of 2-3 sessions over several weeks at first because massage is not supposed to FIX you in one session although it seems to do that sometimes. But excellent bodywork makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE. I am a testament to that…
I Practice What I Preach
I broke my ankle in 3 places while in massage school. I was not even allowed to put pressure on it for 7 weeks then I was in a wheelchair while in school! As a result, I get pain all the time in my calves, ankle, and lower back and if it were not for deep tissue massage and hot stone therapy, I would have had to give up doing massage years ago. It is what keeps me going and moving well. I was always getting massage before this, but mostly for relaxation and stress reduction. Now I rely on massage to manage chronic pain.
Book Your Session and See the Difference
To book your own session, simply call or me (Donna) at 216-640-6851. We offer day, evening, and weekend appointments.
Donna Agrinsonis
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