He is an expert—likely the top 1% of his profession. — Jon
Rick got me back to feeling normal again after my hip replacement and, more recently, post-shoulder surgery. I recommend giving Rick a try if you’re in pain or not happy with where you have gotten with your physical therapy. — Liz
I suffered a severe injury a few years ago, and surgery, rehab, chiropractic, and ART [Active Release Technique] didn’t help. But then I found Rick, and I was able to start exercising again. — Russ
A friend sent me an article on plantar fasciitis that Rick wrote. It blew my mind and gave me hope. We had three sessions in total. The payoff: I don’t feel that horrible foot pain anymore, and I can walk barefoot around the house. — Misty
I haven’t been to the chiropractor in nine months, and I canceled my shot. My husband is thrilled that he doesn’t have to watch me stretch in front of the TV anymore. Thank you, Rick! — Sheryl
When I consider how important my health and ability to function are to my life, the results I received from Rick’s work far exceed what he charges. — Luke
I had shooting/burning neck and shoulder pain from a gym injury for almost 2 years. One month it got so bad I could barely sleep lying down, and even sitting while driving felt impossible.
I’ve done physical therapy, chiropractic, stim work (NeuFit), and traditional massage. None of it worked. Rick’s technique is not a regular massage, and his knowledge of the body, mechanics, and muscle attachment/anatomy is doctoral. He got my muscles activated and working correctly again. — Adrienne
Having shed tears of joy and pain, I settled into my airplane seat, understanding I was forever changed. — Barbara
I had a full travel day on Wednesday, and as I was walking up the jetway, I realized that I had spent several hours walking and sitting at airports and on airplanes with ZERO sciatic pain! — Craig
Rick overdelivers! — Keith
Read in-depth client testimonials.
Address
Engaging Muscles Massage is less than a mile south of the LBJ freeway (635) and across the street from the Dallas County Tax Office.
Engaging Muscles Massage
12700 Hillcrest Rd Ste 125 #143, Dallas, TX 75230
Jump to Google MapTravel
Engaging Muscles Massage is located 25 miles from Dallas Love Field Airport and 30 miles from DFW Airport.
Priorities
Your health is your #1 asset.
Are you ready to stop the vicious cycle of symptom management, false promises, and running into dead ends at every turn?
Are you ready to stop stretching, actively releasing muscles, and doing one-size-fits-all common knowledge exercises that increase compensation?
With thirty years of hands-on experience, I’ll figure out how your brain has chosen to compensate for previous injuries, orthopedic surgeries, and common knowledge exercises.
Three Inconvenient Truths (that increase fragility)
1. The vast majority of practitioners who work with the musculoskeletal system don’t have the skill set to differentiate tight muscles from muscles that are underperforming.
For example, in most cases, the piriformis muscle isn’t tight; it’s underperforming.
If you read the previous sentence and your immediate reaction was, “I know my piriformis is tight because it feels tight,” I’m confident when I tell you that thought process has cost you a great deal of time, etc.
As counterintuitive as this may be, going by what feels tight is unreliable and, more often than not, leads to stretching, rolling on a lacrosse ball, and actively releasing muscles that were never tight to begin with.
To get to the root cause of pain, you want a reliable way to confirm whether your muscles are tight or underperforming, and that’s what I provide.
2. Most practitioners who work with the musculoskeletal system don’t know how to figure out the ways in which your body is compensating differently than the three people who walked through the door with plantar fasciitis, for instance.
So, of course, you end up walking away with the same common knowledge calf stretches and custom molded foot orthotics that increase compensation as much as the store-bought inserts that cost hundreds of dollars less. (hint, hint)
3. Common knowledge stretches and exercises add insult to injury.
The billion-dollar problem: In most cases, the underperforming muscles aren’t identified before the common knowledge exercises are put into practice. So, of course, compensation increases.
When the neurological input to the underperforming muscles isn’t restored before the common knowledge stretches and exercises are repeated, you might get lucky and no longer experience pain, but you most certainly won’t function better than you were before the pain or injury.
Whereas when the underperforming muscles are identified and the neurological input is restored, and specific exercises are repeated, you no longer experience pain, and you function better than you did before the pain or injury.
To ensure you caught what I was throwing with this list of inconvenient truths, imagine how many neck and low back surgeries could be avoided in the real world if the vast majority of practitioners stopped pretending to do more than they are capable of providing.
The fastest (and best) way to change your mind about the value of stretching, foam rolling, and releasing muscles is to feel what it’s like to have increased stability.
Your brain takes notice when stability is restored.
When the neurological input to the underperforming muscles is restored with the hands-on deep tissue massage technique that I’ve been doing for over twenty years, your brain will recognize increased stability. Then, you’ll have more mobility and flexibility that holds longer than twenty-four hours.
Taking the path of no longer stretching, foam rolling, or releasing muscles, and instead, doing what results in more stability, increases the likelihood of maintaining antifragility as you age.
Give yourself the gift of what it feels like to have increased stability; schedule a session today.
Jump to 8 Advantages of Having More Stability
Investment (that leads to antifragility)
Whether you work with me at my office or online, package pricing is an opportunity to increase stability, mobility, flexibility, and strength.
Every session is two hours. The smallest package is three sessions (six hours).
Can’t get to Dallas?
Take the next right step forward. Work with me online.
Jump to Work With Me Online
Background Highlights
Since serving as the biomechanics consultant and massage therapist at ESPN, where I worked with on-air talent and the people behind the scenes, I have devoted a great deal of time, energy, and attention to developing an approach that includes getting to the root cause of pain, improving performance, and preventing injuries before they occur.
I taught kinesiology (the study of human movement) for fifteen years.
Most recently, I taught kinesiology at the Parker University School of Massage Therapy in Dallas, TX.
I wrote the foreword for the 1st edition of Joseph Muscolino’s kinesiology textbook. I’ve also been quoted in Runner’s World UK, Massage & Bodywork, and Massage Magazine.My thirty years of experience as a licensed massage therapist include thousands of one-on-one sessions as a nationally certified personal trainer.
I’m a member of the ABMP (Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals) and the AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association).
Is pronation bad? Listen to my interview with Steven Sashen, the founder of Xero Shoes, on The Movement Movement Podcast.Underperforming Muscles
Underperforming muscles are the reason you feel muscle tightness.
Underperforming muscles are the primary reason for a ligament, meniscus, and spinal disc tearing, as they serve as the first line of defense for all these structures.
If this is your first time reading that muscles underperform, you aren’t alone.
You can feel when your muscles are tight. But you can’t feel muscles that are underperforming.
So, of course, you attempt to stretch, foam roll, and release muscles because all of those popular tools and techniques focus on what you feel—muscle tightness—not knowing that tight muscles are what your brain calls upon to protect you from injuring yourself even more.
Compensation is cumulative.
Have you had an injury, and part of your recovery was to do common knowledge exercises and stretches? If you answered yes, compensation increased.
Have you had orthopedic surgeries, and did your recovery include common knowledge exercises and stretches? If you answered yes, compensation increased.
Because compensation increases over years, without knowing it, your ability to function to the best of your athletic ability has decreased after every injury and orthopedic surgery.
The good news is your brain has been shown to be plastic. With the right inputs, it’s never too late to sort out compensation from previous injuries, orthopedic surgeries, and exercise.
Jump to Proof That Compensation Can Be Sorted Out At Any Age
Stability Precedes Mobility and Flexibility
First, muscles underperform. Then your brain perceives the threat of instability, and, like clockwork, your brain calls upon muscles to remain tight until stability is restored.
To reinforce my point in the previous sentence, the feel-good feelings of conventional massage don’t last longer than twenty-four hours because your brain doesn’t recognize increased stability at your joints.
Because most practitioners can’t confirm which muscles are underperforming, more often than not, the instability at your joints goes unaddressed.
Underperforming muscles also go unaddressed when joints are hypermobile (laxity and at higher risk for a dislocation).
Your brain’s response to the threat of instability plays out in a way that will feel familiar: Beyond your conscious awareness, your brain signals muscles to tighten to restrict range of motion.
If you have hypermobile joints (EDS), and your immediate reaction to the previous sentence was something to the effect of, “I have plenty of range of motion; therefore, tight muscles don’t apply to my situation,” I’m confident when I tell you that you have restricted range of motion in certain positions, but the vast majority of practitioners haven’t thought to look at those positions at each joint.
In other words, your shoulder and hip joints can achieve thousands of different positions, and most practitioners don’t look at more than ten positions at each joint.
Instead of going against what your brain has figured out for you, I do the opposite of what most experts do: I ignore tight muscles.
Whether you spend your days sitting at a desk, doing yardwork, or competing on the field of play, most of the experts who work with the musculoskeletal system can’t differentiate a tight muscle from a muscle that’s underperforming.
Be honest. Neither can you! With muscles equipped to counteract the constant pull of gravity, you won’t have to think about posture.
Along the same line, with more muscles capable of providing stability, you won’t have to rely on foot orthotics that, truth be told, increase compensation and fragility.
After an expert resorted to using custom-molded foot orthotics to bring the ground up to meet this man’s arches, for ten years, this man’s feet couldn’t initiate shock absorption (aka pronation).
To compensate for the ground being brought up to meet his arches, his feet were forced to roll out, and his lower legs went along for the ride, which increased the bowing of his legs (aka supination).
After ten sessions of addressing the underperforming muscles, his legs were no longer bowed as much as they were at the start of his first session.
What you see in the above image is also proof that increasing the muscles’ ability to provide stability allows for positive neuroplastic changes at any age.
After addressing the neuromuscular piece of the puzzle, I focus on improving the neuromechanical piece.
While we are on the subject of having strong, capable feet to serve as your foundation at any age, sadly, most experts recommend bringing the ground up to meet your arches with external support in the form of a custom molded foot orthotic.
Experts offer you outside support for the arches of your feet, something that undoubtedly increases compensation, because they don’t have the skill set to identify underperforming muscles that are neurologically incapable of providing the internal support that you had before experiencing foot pain.
Become Antifragile Online
As mentioned earlier, most practitioners don’t have the skill set to differentiate a tight muscle from a muscle that’s underperforming.
Take the first and most important step to gaining the leverage that you want to become antifragile as you age.
Schedule an online consultation today!
Your first ninety-minute online session starts at $212. I also have a three-session package.
8 Advantages of Having More Stability
• More mobility (joints)
• More flexibility (muscles)
• More strength (muscles)
• Better results from exercise
• Neuroplastic changes that can only come from increased stability, erasing the threat your brain perceives
• Results that last much longer than twenty-four hours
• Results that allow for antifragility
• Decreases the risk of an injury to your muscles, meniscus, spinal discs, ligaments, and labrum
When I received deep tissue massage in the past, I was underneath a sheet or wearing a medical gown, and the massage therapist used lotion or oil. I noticed you address muscles through athletic clothing; why is that?
Answer: Since the time when I provided deep tissue sports massage at ESPN, I’ve preferred to address underperforming muscles through athletic clothing.
When you wear athletic clothing, you can easily move your hip and shoulder joints without a sheet getting in the way.Because the massage technique that I use doesn’t require sliding or gliding along your skin, there’s no need for massage oil or lotion.
Simple Piriformis Treatment Most Practitioners DON’T Tell You About!
Most Read Blog Posts
What No One Tells You About Releasing Your Piriformis Muscle
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Plantar Fasciitis Has Little To Do With Your Foot
Location
Engaging Muscles Massage
12700 Hillcrest Rd Ste 125 #143, Dallas, TX 75230
Texas Massage Therapy License: MT110566
I have held a license to practice massage therapy for thirty years. For eighteen of those years, I was a nationally certified personal trainer. During that time, I completed thousands of one-on-one personalized fitness training sessions. I went on to teach the biomechanics of exercise to personal trainers, group exercise instructors, and physical therapists throughout New England. Teaching exercise biomechanics led to consulting for The Greenbrier, Canyon Ranch, and ESPN, which evolved into providing deep tissue and sports massage for four years at ESPN.