Hands of Healing Touch Therapists Columbia Missouri

We promise to provide a passionate, accountable, and honest experience for those who wish to empower themselves through the education of our therapy. Meet our team.

Helen

Accepting new clients!

Specializing in: Neural Reset Therapy, Deep Tissue, Sports, Relaxation, Prenatal, Reflexology, and Hot Stone Massage

Helen has an intuitive touch that will definitely make you feel good about coming in. She strives for excellence. Consult with her about your specific needs so she can customize your treatment to helping you feel better faster.

Helen makes it convenient for people who can not make it in during regular business hours. You will find her on the schedule in the afternoons throughout the evenings until 7pm, and even Saturdays until 6 pm.

Lic# 2012032275.

Emily

Accepting new clients!

Specializing in: Deep Tissue, Sports, Relaxation, Aromatherapy, Hot Stone, and Prenatal Massage

Emily has a very exciting drive for massage and its amazing health benefits. She brings a tailored deep but relaxing massage to each individual and loves the healing effects of essential oils. If you like oils be sure to ask her which essential oil may help you.

For your convenience Emily starts as early as 9 am and works somes Saturdays.

Lic# 2014039902

Mirra

Accepting new clients!

Specializing in: Neuromuscular Therapy, Deep Tissue, Relaxation, Hot Stone, Prenatal, and Massage for Seniors.

Practicing since 1974, Mirra Greenway, BS, LMT, was Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork from 1994-2014. Specializing in Clinical Therapy, she owned the Massage Therapy Institute of Missouri (MTIM) opening in 1994 until its closure in 2011. She personally trained hundreds of therapists in the state of Missouri, including some of the professional therapists at our office! We are honored to have our Master join her practice with us as we continue to provide you exceptional care!

Mirra is available most weekdays until mid-afternoon.

Bus. Lic# 2006005578
Lic# 2001007661

Jessica

Accepting new clients!

Specializing in: Deep Tissue, Sports, Hot Stone, and Relaxation Massage

Jessica is a full time student as a future PTA and a forever part time deep tissue massage therapist. She is a weekly cross-fit warrior who loves to keep a strong and healthy lifestyle. We all agree she is doing what she loves. Jessica will listen to your needs in order to customize a therapeutic massage to your liking.

Jessica works Saturdays and you might to see her open on a few Sundays!

Lic# 2015037495

Kelly

Accepting new clients!

Kelly is our newest addition to the office providing a quiet and enjoyable relaxation and or deep tissue massage. Let her treat your upper body pain with NRT®. Kelly is a local part time LMT and Pilates fitness instructor who loves getting bodies feeling better and back in to motion. She is currently working on getting her lower body certification in NRT®. Do come in for her upper body. She will have your neck back and arms in top condition! No joke! Session only takes 30 mins. You can find her on our books Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Lic# 2018004393

Wanda

Accepting new clients by request only. Call to book.

Specializing in: Deep Tissue, Sports, Prenatal and Relaxation Massage

Wanda has been working on call since 2005. She helps at sporting events, corporate functions and even private spa parties. You can request her by calling our office or check daily online to see if you can find her on our schedule. Otherwise join her at Hoyles Chiropractic located in Ashland MO.

Lic# 200512755

Angela

Not Accepting new clients at this time.

Specializing in: NRT, Deep Tissue, Sports, Ashiatsu, and Medical Cupping Massage

Angie has been the owner of Hands of Healing Touch since 2004. Graduated from the Missouri Massage Institute of Missouri and has over 2000 hrs of continuing education. Now with full clientele, she is proud to have her caring team of massage therapist assist the Columbia area with the quality care they look for.

Lic# 2005012749
Bus. Lic# 1900031595

Mary

Specializing in: Thai Massage

Mary is an independent massage therapist who really enjoys massage and yoga. Come let her give you a deep massaging stretch! Her Thai Massage is such an amazing mixture that you will want to experience it.

Accepting New Clients!
By appointment only.
Please call 573-228-0539 to set up your next appointment. Mary is our sister spa located right next door in suite 120. No walk ins.

With NRT® You will experience 50 - 80% reduction in pain levels in your first session and yes...it lasts!
Did you know that most "all" joint pain can be completely eliminated by identifying and "releasing" the muscles that make that joint work?
What is Neural muscular Release Therapy®?

NRT® is comprehensive soft tissue application that is designed to balance and stabilize the body’s relationship between its central nervous system and its musculoskeletal system. Once balance and stability are achieved the body can become the self healing that it is designed to be, eliminating painful re-occurring conditions forever.

The idea of balancing two major systems of the body may seem complex and very difficult to accomplish. Understandably, the vast complexities of the human body can seem overwhelming when trying to educate yourself about why you have pain. These complexities are what make pain relief so difficult for modern medicine to achieve. The answers to pain relief are often so simple that they get lost in this complex world. The one question that would seem most logical to begin with seems to elude most tradition approaches to pain relief and is the one question that should be asked first….why does this area hurt? The basis for NRT® is built around this question.

NRT® is based on the physiologically fundamental causes of pain. These causes are based on two laws of physiology. The law of reciprocal inhibition and the law of symmetry. Neurological laws that have been proven for decades. There is literally a reason for everything that exists within our bodies. When it comes to pain within our body there is always going to be a reason why its there.

The main focus of NRT® is to identify the fundamental cause of someone’s pain. This is not the main focus of traditional approaches to pain relief. You may be confused by this statement due to the fact that there are so many things available to us that are designed to identify and diagnose our condition. Things such as x-rays and MRIs are used to pinpoint specific conditions within our body and are the most commonly used methods of identifying painful conditions. Where these methods are great at telling us what condition we are presently in, they tell us nothing about what got us there to begin with. What’s more frustrating is when these methods have negative results. Where “no news is good news” can be somewhat relieving in certain situations, in a painful situation we want to know what is wrong. When diagnostic testing comes back negative it can be very confusing to the patient as well as the doctor. Pain is definitely present so why hasn’t anything been revealed? The answer is typically found deep within the muscular system of the body and NRT® resets it.

The applications used in NRT® to identify muscular imbalance are based on simplicity and logic. Logic is the truest form of reasoning and it is what science is based upon. By understanding the simplest form of muscular function and logically applying that function to a particular pain condition you can quickly understand the problem at hand.

NRT® is based on two neurological laws that govern how our bodies operate we must first break down the most basic components of human function, specifically muscular function. You must understand that everything we do as human beings is controlled by our brain. It is our life source and without it we are nothing. Whether we are sitting in front of our computer punching keys on a key board or even eating our brain is controlling every aspect of these functions. We go about these tasks everyday of our lives with complete disregard for how or why we are able to accomplish these things. Whenever we perform any motor task, basically any form of movement, our brain tells our muscles what movement to perform and how to perform it. A muscles primary role in human function is to provide movement. The brain communicates to muscles through neural pathways in the central nervous system. These pathways are like internal “highway” systems for communications to travel back and forth. It’s through these pathways called mechanoreceptors that the brain will tell your muscles to perform movement. When muscles are perfectly healthy and balanced signals are effortlessly sent through the neural pathways and motor functions are easily accomplished. If a muscle becomes injured in any way the brain will immediately protect that muscle from any further imbalance. This is called compensation and is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, components of the protective phase.

Identify The “Cause” Not Just The Symptom

Compensation can best be described as a detour in the neural system. It is a protective pattern that allows us to go on and is the very reason that we can live with pain. As one muscle goes down into injury the brain instantly sends signals to other helper muscles (neural detour) so the same tasks can be accomplished. If our brain did not have this ability to shift the workload during times of need the simplest of injuries would render us useless. This gift that our brain provides is also one of the biggest reasons for chronic pain. Compensation is actually a huge imbalance to our system. The longer we remain imbalanced the more permanent the protective patterning becomes. While the compensatory pattern allows us to remain functional throughout the healing process, it can simultaneously cause future problems into our muscular system. In order to begin the pain relief process the imbalanced pattern must first be identified within the muscular system.

Getting Started
During the initial analysis spastic and overused muscles will be identified by palpation and targeted for treatment. Prolonged compensatory patterning can cause damage to the muscular tissue involved. Simply identifying the pattern is only the beginning. In order to effectively restore normal function we must reverse the imbalance and get you reset. For a bit more detailed explanation of application, we activate muscle spindle cells by tapping on the muscles, or their tendons. We can also activate those cells by pushing or pulling muscles directly or indirectly. We will need you awake and willing to help.
What we feel in palpation is the imbalance. A “detour” in the neural pathway, so by re-establishing the correct path we can eliminate the “detour” all together. The main problem that NRT® looks for in damaged muscle tissue is a condition called ischemia. This simply means a lack of blood within a muscle and is one of the biggest reasons for muscular pain. Over time as muscles compensate to protect us they will undergo many unhealthy changes. The more a muscle protects the tighter it will become, squeezing everything within it like a garden hose, namely blood vessels. This will greatly restrict the amount of blood that flows through that muscle.

Blood means many things to our body, but the thing it means most to our muscle tissue is oxygen. Muscles are workers and they need to breath. Imagine how irritated and unhealthy you would become if you had to continually work in a physical environment without enough air. Oxygen is the foundation of a healthy muscle. This is the absolute key to the overall success of NRT®.

Once ischemic tissue has been identified the tissue will be manipulated so that blood flow can be restored. This is accomplished through our six application methods to the effected muscle. The depth of pressure is pretty light to medium and you will not be taken out of your normal range of motion. The greatest thing about NRT® is that your brain literally guides the therapist through this entire process and eliminates any "guesswork". A skilled therapist can listen to your brain through palpation. Our brain has a built in alarm. If too much pressure is applied to an area the brain receives a signal from the area that it is basically being invaded. The brain sends back an immediate response signal of protection. The first response is to spasm the muscle or pull away from the pressure being applied. This spasm should be felt by the therapist and will determine the correct amount of pressure to be used. More importantly, along with the spasm, the brain sends signals to the blood capillaries to constrict and restrict the blood supply to that area. This defense tactic is the exact same thing that happens when you bump your leg on something and a bruise appears. It is there to protect us. If it didn’t exist we could bleed to death internally from a simple bruise. Shutting off the blood supply to an area that we have already determined does not have enough blood would be very counterproductive. This happens the second a therapist applies too much pressure. Unfortunately, many therapists believe in the “no pain, no gain” approach to muscle work. This may be acceptable in some situations; however, from a curative standpoint it will not work. This is why our deep tissue massage don't really hurt. When too much pressure is applied the brain will fight and defend against the pressure and the results will be more pain and damage to the effected tissue. On the other hand, too little pressure will not stimulate a brain response at all. The correct amount of pressure and movement needed to restore blood to the tissue hangs right on the edge of what is called a myotacic reflex, or simply a guarding reflex. This reflex is commonly referred to as your pain threshold. Applying the correct amount of pressure will cause the brain to react by dilating the blood vessels at the exact area of pressure. This restores very precise blood supply to the damaged muscle. This process is repeated many times in different applications to get through layer upon layer of effected muscle tissue. As the blood supply is restored the muscle can once again breathe and the internal environment of that muscle is restored.

The three primary things that a muscle needs in order to be healthy and balanced are blood flow, strength, and flexibility. Blood flow is the foundation for muscular health and without it strength and flexibility can never be maintained. Establishing blood flow to damaged muscle tissue provides that solid foundation for successfully eliminating pain. Some of the most difficult cases have been completely fixed by simply allowing the muscles to breathe again. Compensatory patterns are eliminated, neural pathways are restored, and proper strength and conditioning can be maintained.

What to expect with NRT®?

NRT® is a full body, fully clothed application. Session is done face up. So if you can not lay on your belly this is not a problem. It can be broken up into lower and upper body half hour sessions, but works best resetting both together. Depending on how locked up you are, it could be a 4-6 week commitment of NRT® in which you may receive 1 or 2 NRT® sessions per week. Most of the time the results are pretty quick. Like within the first session. If the reset doesn't take the full length of time allowed to apply the reset we can do some yummy spot specific massage for the remaining time. Once your pain is eliminated you can then come back to the office once a month and maintain it by either another NRT® treatment or a deep relaxing massage. You pick. The consistency and frequency of sessions will break old and restricting muscular imbalances that will completely "free-up" your body and allow it to do what you have always wanted it to. NRT® can be used on a wide variety of clients in all ages and differing physical conditions.

NRT® is not a “cure all” new invention; it is simply the most logical place to begin.