Meet Rachel Daggett of Rachel Daggett LMT in Dover

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Daggett.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Rachel. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My introduction to bodywork started early on around the age of 14. My family had been involved in a car accident that resulted in severe nerve damage in my mother’s arm which led her to find an integrative manual therapies office. My mother would oftentimes bring me with her to her PT sessions and I would act as a second set of hands during the treatment.

After a while, they started sending her home with “homework” and mine were the hands that continued her healing process at home. It was something I took naturally, but it wasn’t my dream. I had blinders on for another mode of helping people, nursing. An unfortunate biking accident peaked my fascination with emergency medicine and after that I was referred to as Nurse Rachel.

Throughout high school, I was always rubbing my friends and schoolmates and was often asked if I was going to become a therapist, and my response was always “Ehh, maybe after nursing school.” Once I graduated high school I headed to the University of Southern Maine in Portland to pursue my goals and dove into nursing, in my studies as well as working in the field as a nursing assistant. During my time at USM, I was lovingly dubbed the “Floor Mommy” when you are the Mommy type people naturally come to you with their problems, when you are the mommy type who also happens to be a nursing major, they think you have the answer to those problems. I lived with a lot of athletes so there were a lot of muscle-related issues. At the time my sister was going to school for massage and she began teaching me things she was learning in hopes I would work in her. That backfired in a very good way for my hall mates. Before I knew it I was massaging the whole floor.

As I began taking my nursing concentrated classes I found out I was ill-fitted for the field in the first semester of senior year. It was a split decision at 4 am “I’m leaving nursing school. Great! What are you going to do Rachel?” The answer I came up with was massage school. Even though I didn’t finish my nursing degree, I wouldn’t trade my time there for anything because my style of massage has been heavily influenced by the knowledge I learned in my time at USM. More specifically, my studies of kinesiology. When you are working on muscles, knowing the what it is and why it moves is extremely important but I found a real fascination in the how it does what it does and why it reacts a certain way given specific stimuli and that is how I have developed the key to my approach to massage. I continued my education for a massage at the Northeastern Institute of Whole Health in Manchester NH. I gained a strong base there, it was a perfect fit for me. I left there with strong ambition and a built-in clientele from my practice hours and set up my first practice right out of school. It was great! For 2 whole months till I had a miss-understanding with an icy parking lot and severed my humorous bone. It was an 8-month journey back to massage.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Getting to where I have definitely not been gravy. Since I started with massage I have had a broken arm, a broken foot and a laundry list of personal health issues. I’ve been a chronic pain person since I was 9 yrs old and by the age of 26 was pretty much functioning at a level 7 on the pain scale on a daily basis. Thankfully I found an amazing company that has unbelievable products to lend internal support but before that, my work actually made me feel better. It kept me moving and I usually felt my best after massage #3.

From the broken bones I learned things that helped my clients later struggling with the same issues that one can only learn from personal experience. As well as one traumatic event that nearly debilitated me completely in my personal life. During the hardest time of my life and every bad day since then, the place I feel the most about myself is when I am at my table. It grounds me. Even though they were hard struggles I think they made me better at my job and really full my passion for what I do. In the hardest times of my life, I had one constant that never wavered and that was the work I did at my table. It’s a rare thing to say that when the world is spinning and there is chaos all over the place, all I want to do is get to work where everything makes sense.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I view myself as a full spectrum, macro kind of therapist. I try to get a full picture when approaching problems in the body but I think the biggest thing is that I let my intuition lead me down whichever path the body shows me. I look at everything, the positioning of the body at rest the movement or lack thereof in the body, where is it pulling, are their kickbacks? Do I feel things in the lymph, the spinal fluid, their energy? It all tells me things. It is not unusual for a client to say “Well my neck hurts but you will probably tell me it’s coming from my left big toe.” I have a tendency to view massage in a different light than most therapists. When developing my menu I wanted to base it how my clients want to feel after their treatment and from there how to get the desired result without having to push the body too far.

My philosophy is that massage doesn’t have to hurt to achieve big change, there can be a lighter side to therapeutic means and a deeper side to relaxing ones. There is always another way to get to where you want to be. If something I’m doing isn’t working I’ll try something else till I figure out what that body needs. I’d prefer it to be not what is easiest for me, but what is best for my client. I definitely have a different style from any other therapist I know. A lot of therapists find something they like or are really good at and reach the highest level of certification they can from it. I like a Hodgepodge. Between my studies and things I’ve gleaned from my own experience as a chronic pain sufferer who from an early age received medical and holistic treatment to help with the obstacles in my body, I’ve come up with a “Rachel” massage that has helped me become the therapist I am. From relaxation to therapeutic, which is the majority of my clientele, to prenatal and hot stone, I love everything on my menu At the end of the day the best feeling is knowing I have made a difference in the people who put their trust and their bodies in my hands.

What were you like growing up?
I was a very charismatic child. Every new stranger was my next best friend. My mother had to keep a close eye on me because once she turned around I’d be sitting on some strangers lap. How I didn’t end up on a milk carton no one really knows because I would go anywhere with anyone. I always wanted to help people. I was raised in church so my first means of helping people to boo boo’s was to pray for them, later I learned more ways to help and when I knew something I shared it. I have always been the mommy type, helping with younger cousins, there are 21 of us or friends smaller children. I’ve always been a caretaker.

I was always a happy go lucky girl. Always singing, dancing and chatting with people, I love to perform and once middle school hit I was on the stage, chorus, select choir, all state, drama, as a small child I was VERY dramatic, always got my way with my big sister. I loved to work with my hands, I like to play with hair, jewelry, dress up, HUGE girly girl. I liked to sew with my Nana which came in handy for all of those drama costumes, I was not exactly lucky seeing as I was the most accident-prone child I have ever known, there was always a cut, an ankle injury, something broken. I think I spent more time on crutches than half the sports teams! Its served me well in my work though, I can understand how my clients are feeling.

Contact Info:

• Address: 6 Old Rochester Rd. Dover, NH. 03820
• Website: racheldaggett.com/menu
• Phone: 603-343-6475
• Email: rachelmdaggett@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/missyrazel06/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RDLMT
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rachel-daggett-dover-2

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