I would recommend Clarity to anyone who is suffering nerve disfunction and pain.
Note - this is a longer than usual review as I want to share my honest opinion so you can decide for yourself whether she is a fit.
I would highly recommend Clarity to anyone seeking clinical massage and/or bodywork. She is one of the best practitioners I have ever had work on my body and injuries in the past 20 years. I do not say this lightly. As a former elite basketball player, amateur elite 5KM runner, and someone who summited all the 14ers in 6 months - I like to play hard and have beaten my body up in the process. Over the years, I have learned that not all massage and bodyworkers (clinical workers) are the same, and there is nothing more disappointing than paying for a service that does not improve your situation when in pain. In this spirit, below is my honest and accurate experience with Clarity. And yes, it is longer than the usual review, but my goal is to lay out my experience accurately and allow you to decide for yourself whether you are a fit for her.
Duration of relationship: 5 months - several times a month and ongoing.
Issue: Unexplainable foot drop, nerve issue, and numbness of the lower limbs yet no pain. As well as the stress from an emotionally taxing recent divorce.
Specialists' Opinion: Surprised since I was so young to have an unexplained foot drop without pain, recommended and treated my lower back disc with an epidural and post-epidural said I would never run again (October 2023) specialist.
Outcome To Date:
(1) My PT has been floored by my progress since working with Clarity - he didn't think it was possible for me to regain so much control of my foot let alone be running anytime soon.
(2) I will be running by April (this brings tears to my eyes).
(3) I am walking 7 miles a day, lifting weights, doing PT, and remaining pain and numbness-free.
(4) Emotionally more balanced and happier.
What Clarity Did that was different:
(1) She really listened to my issues and dissected the problems with me. As she would say - massage and/or bodywork is a joint effort (practitioner and patient). This led her to work on my feet and calves whereas all medical practitioners only wanted to work on my back. This was earth-shattering and life-changing since no PT, Sports Doctor, nor specialist had identified that any other body part except my back was the cause, leaving me with numbness and unable to work out, work, or walk until November 2023.
----- Anyone with my injury will tell you that it is not necessary the primary nerve impingement but the secondary ones that need to be treated. NOTE - my PT now suggests I have Clarity work on the lower limbs, especially the feet to make progress (and for the record after kissing many frogs - my PT is one of the best in town - Mike Miller out of SCL health - if curious).
(2) She meets me where I am at: If you've ever had back and/or nerve injuries you will know that stress aggravates them and sometimes it's not only the movement but rather the soothing and/or emotional support massage/bodywork can provide. Clarity has identified several times where I need a softer more emotional touch and delivered that healing which surprisingly my body responded as well with as if she intensely focused on just the clinical.
(3) Delivered results that I never imagined possible.
I do not say this lightly, Clarity restored hope and MOVEMENT when the conventional health professionals had done all they could. Through a combination of PT and massage/clinical body work I am on the cusp of running, which until recently was impossible. read more