Muscle Mobility Performance and Wellness
Get Freedom From Chronic Pain
Unfortunately, as some people age, they resign themselves to believing that living with chronic pain is their new normal. Perhaps they’re taking anti-inflammatory medication on a daily basis or using a cane to get around, but according to Alizabeth and Mike Van Duyn, it doesn’t have to be that way.
“Our biggest thing is spreading the knowledge of wellness when it comes to pain,” says Alizabeth Van Duyn, owner of Muscle Mobility Performance and Wellness. Alizabeth, a licensed massage therapist, and her husband Mike, owner and manual practitioner, opened the practice in August of 2017 and are passionate about helping their clients conquer chronic pain. The couple shows people that if they take steps to improve their wellness and seek treatment, life can once again be sweet.
“Some people will say, ‘Oh, if only I’d done XYZ when I was younger, I wouldn’t be in this condition now,’” Alizabeth says. “The truth about chronic pain is that it doesn’t care what age you are now. If you start doing something today, there is only the potential for growth and freedom from chronic pain.”
Mike and Alizabeth have heard clients lament that they can no longer participate in the activities they once loved, whether that’s competing in a road race or getting down on the floor to play with their grandchildren. The Van Duyns are here to prove such naysayers wrong.
At Muscle Mobility Performance and Wellness, they assess a body, looking at how it moves and performs in order to see where it’s restricted.
“Across the board, the biggest thing we see is people who are unaware of proper alignment and proper function of their body,” Mike says.
Lower back pain, for instance, is typically the result of poor hip alignment. Knee pain, while it could be due to arthritis or lost cartilage, is more likely caused by one’s gait being off, which again causes improper alignment.
“We look at different parts of the body to see where the soft tissue needs to be manipulated so it can be aligned properly and function properly to release and relieve those chronic pain issues,” Mike says.
“Nine out of ten times, our bones are out of place because our muscles are pulling out of place,” Alizabeth adds. “If we don’t manipulate the soft tissue, your adjustment isn’t going to last longer than your walk to your car.”
They offer medical and sports massage therapy, which includes various modalities like cupping, scraping, lymphatic drainage, and lymph vacuuming.
“A lot of chronic pain comes from our lymph system and how it’s not flowing correctly,” Alizabeth says. “The lymph system releases toxins that build up in the body. If it’s not flowing, it gets stuck in an area and that’s where you start feeling that chronic tension. If you can open up the lymph system, it can help the chronic pain.”
On staff they have human movement specialists, personal trainers, physical therapists, chiropractors, even nutritionists to help with gut health as everything flows together. The goal is to get rid of a client’s chronic pain, get the body properly aligned, and help them learn to strengthen their body to stay in proper alignment. All of this, in combination, results in the best outcome.
“We don’t want to see clients a bunch of times a week,” Mike says. “We try to get people on a program where we see them initially, then again two weeks later, then bi-weekly, then once every four to six weeks for a maintenance massage or therapy.”
Mostly they just want people to know that they are there to help them. They recently saw a client who for years had dealt with terrible sciatic nerve pain. After visiting chiropractors, primary care doctors, and a myriad of clinics, she had nearly lost hope of ever feeling better. But after her first appointment at Muscle Mobility Performance and Wellness, she cried tears of joy because she finally felt relief. Seeing her reaction got Alizabeth a little teary, too.
“It makes owning a business so much better when you see those victory stories, and people learn that they don’t have to live with untreated chronic pain,” she says. “This is why we created this company — to see the difference in people’s lives.”
Muscle Mobility Performance and Wellness is one of the top chronic pain websites for information on treatments. Their official grand opening is December 4. Visit them at mmperformancewellness.com/programs-services.
