May 8, 2017

Meet Carly Vernon of Integrated Muscular Therapy in Lexington and Winchester

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carly Vernon.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Having practiced yoga since 2001, fascination with anatomy and how the body moves came quickly during massage school. After graduation in 2011, I immediately trained in orthopedic massage and opened my own practice.

Though my practice was doing well, I felt that the standard treatment protocol from my training just didn’t cut it. Inquiries to colleagues left me feeling as though my field had plateaued in helping deal with, or better yet eradicate, chronic pain. It wasn’t good enough for me to simply be ‘managing’ pain. My yoga practice had given me insight that the body was capable of much greater leaps in healing.

My hunt for answers first brought me to NeuroKinetic Therapy (NKT) and David Weinstock. I was introduced to a different way of thinking and analyzing. And now had a new tool with which to test and guide treatment! I gained insight into how the brain communicates with the body and learned how to ‘talk’ to the motor control center.
After reaching Level 3 in NKT, I still needed a more effective way to treat what I was now able to confirm through testing.

By this point, my focus had filtered down to the foot. How our whole body moves in relation to our feet. My focus quickly became my obsession. My obsession brought me across the pond to London where I studied under Gary Ward, founder of Anatomy in Motion and author of “What the Foot.” In the 2+ years since I have become an AiM practitioner, clients’ decrease in pain, increase in mobility, and all-over satisfaction has skyrocketed.

Using the tools I’ve learned led me to develop my own form of treatment, Isolated Vertebral Mobilization. Adding this powerful technique to the protocol has brought immediate and profound physical relief and strength to clients.

Continuing my obsession with the foot finally brought me to CranioSacral Reflexology. Developed by French Osteopath, Dr. Martine Faure-Alderson. CSR has proven to be the final (at least for now) step in my search for a total protocol which encompasses the whole body. All 5 systems, and more, come into balance.

Daily I feel such gratitude! I am fortunate enough to have found a deeply fulfilling, exciting, ever evolving and fun profession. Gratitude for these tools which allow me to help my clients in a subtle, powerful, and impactful way.
And gratitude for the vast network of interesting, intelligent professionals I have met along the way. They have become a wealth of resource…and a place where I can make anatomy nerd friends.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One real challenge has been learning how to manage being a single mom, a business owner, a friend, dog-mom, and a kick ass muscular therapist all at once. And make time for myself

Most of those things come naturally, therefore are easier to prioritize. Being a business owner is not so natural for me. A few bumpy roads, but I finally figured out the best way to get everything done (and done right):

Hire people to do the things you really really do not like to do. Or at which you are really really incompetent. Well worth the investment. I have someone clean my linens, I have an accountant, a bookkeeper, a cleaning service, and amazon prime. And with online scheduling, all I need to do is set up my schedule.

Delegating like this has taught me that in the art of letting go of control I am allowed more freedom to do what I love… and am given the gifts of time and sanity.

Integrated Muscular Therapy – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Sessions begin with a postural analysis, Anatomy in Motion 3-D analysis of gait/movement, and possible testing.
Specific movement patterns are identified to determine the source of pain, discomfort, and/or performance limitations. From there, treatment will take on its unique form designed around the feedback from the analysis.

Most can expect treatment to include:
Soft tissue manipulation/muscular therapy/silicone massage cupping
Guided Isolated Vertebral Mobilization
Guided Movement
Education on the body and their particular pattern

While there is no ‘typical’ client for IMT, things that regularly show up are
Arthritis
Chronic Pain
Plantar fasciitis
Insert sports injury here
Low back pain
Sciatica
Any foot problem
Neck Pain
Whiplash
Neuropathy
Neuroma
Weakness
Tension
TMJD
Pelvic Floor issues
Insert surgery here
Repetitive Stress (desk jockey, musician, writer, etc.)
Complicated stories and issues

Many clients also come for treatment of surgical scars.
Specializing in scar tissue release of any and all types:
joint replacement,
organ transplant,
crushing accidents,
head wounds,
minor and major surgeries
…the list continues.

The newest addition of treatment is CranioSacral Reflexology. This treatment has osteopathic roots, cranio-sacral research, and reflexology techniques. This subtle yet powerful session treats the entire body, allowing each person’s own body to balance the autonomic nervous system, thereby, balancing their… everything. A subtle and effective treatment which is as relaxing and nourishing as it is deeply therapeutic.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment thus far has been in putting together a program introduced to me by my friend Megan Belanger, MLD Specialist (Manual Lymphodema Specialist) and Licensed Massage Therapist.

LoveCogs a community-funded pay-it-forward program. Clients contribute to the fund, which I happen to call LoveCogs, and anyone can tap into this fund for assistance with payment for their treatment at IMT. An honor system, use it if you need it, use only as much as you need. Some have contributed one time, and then used it another!

One of my clients has gone through a multitude of setbacks, financially, physically, emotionally. One session her employer paid, one I paid for. She would reach out in desperate pain to schedule an appointment, but turn around and cancel due to the financial burden.

I don’t think I will forget the day when I was finally able to treat her; the tears of gratitude in her eyes when I explained that her bill was covered. My heart was filled. These were my peeps whose kind generosity gave the gift of relief on more than just the physical level. She rescheduled. And then another donation came in. Cogging the Love.

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