Hands On Sports Therapy

My mission is to provide a client-centered approach to therapy, in order to help facilitate greater awareness and empower clients in moving with less pain, and greater ease and confidence. Whether you are training for a marathon or want to pick up your child without pain, it is all movement that affects our quality of life. Through thoughtful and compassionate touch, my goal is to assess the specific mechanics, kinetics, and compensation patterns that are unique to your body, gain a bigger picture of who you are, and ultimately work with you toward achieving more functional movement and greater balance.

After an early career in Geography and the social sciences, in 2008 I moved back to my home state of Iowa and a long held interest in wellness slowly began to become my new career path. In 2010, I completed a 250 hr. certification in Yoga Therapy and began working with clients one on one. Drawing upon a long history as a dancer (over 35 years now) and a passion for working with individuals and helping to achieve their wellness goals, I helped clients to identify imbalances in strength and flexibility in their bodies, and designed individualized home practices.

That summer, I made the decision to expand my education and moved to Des Moines to pursue Massage Therapy. After over 750 hrs of training, I graduated from Body Wisdom School of Massage Therapy in Urbandale, specializing in Deep Tissue, Sports Massage, Myofascial, Active Engagement, Positional Release, Passive and Active Assisted Stretching, Neuromuscular (Trigger Point Therapy), and Shiatsu.

In March of 2017, I traveled to the south of France and received training and certification in ACE Medi-Cupping. I am so thrilled to be able to bring these cupping techniques to my clients at Hands On! If you would like to read more about cupping and its benefits, here is a link - https://massagecupping.com/benefits-of-massage-cupping-therapy/

In October of 2019, I became certified in MSTR (McLoughlin Scar Tissue Release Therapy). Working with scar tissue has become a passion, and I never grow tired of helping people understand the relationship their own scar tissue plays in compensation patterns and pain. I particularly love working with women who have had 1 or multiple c-section scars or hysterectomy scars, and helping them to restore function to their core muscles and pelvic floor.

Also in 2019, I took my very first course in NeuroKinetic Therapy and it has since radically transformed my practice and continues to shape me into the therapist and healer I am today. I am incredibly passionate about functional neurology, applied kinesiology, and movement based assessment.

In 2022 I completed Dynamic Neurological Assessment, which helped to broaden my toolbox to include how to assess for limbic (in the form of emotional or trauma), physiological, and structural issues that may be contributing to chronic pain and inhibiting movement. I establish communication with the nervous system via manual muscle testing techniques to determine what is going on in each of the 5 primary kinetic chains - anterior, posterior, lateral, deep longitudinal, and the intrinsic core.

In 2023, I received my certification in all levels of NeuroKinetic Therapy and am actively continuing to learn more techniques in functional neurology.

In addition to working as part of the Hands On team, I work with clients in my home practice, Facilitated Body Therapy, LLC where I live with my sweet cat, Maggie. I have been honored to work with the Women’s Volleyball team at ISU, as well as during races and events throughout Des Moines and Ames. I am also honored that through neurological based bodywork, I have been able to help all ages and varieties of people gain a better understanding of how their emotional and physiological state is directly affecting the pain and restriction they feel in their bodies. Utilizing neurological based bodywork, I have worked on everyone from post stroke, early onset Parkinsons and dementia patients, chronic anxiety and depression, hernias, auto-immune disorders, and PTSD just to name a few in conjunction with people who have been experiencing chronic pain and are looking for root causes. I can honestly and sincerely say that I love what I do, and I’m learning from my clients all of the time! I look forward to a long and continually rewarding career in body work, empowering my clients and helping them to achieve their goals toward optimum health and well-being!