Hi, I am Melissa Larsen, certified medical massage therapist and owner of Moonshadow Medical Massage. I grew up suffering from back pain due to scoliosis.  I was told that I needed back surgery to straighten it out with metal rods. Instead, I found relief with a combination of medical massage and corrective exercises, which led me to my career as a massage therapist.  The goal in my massage sessions is to relieve tension for pain free movement.

I blend my massage treatments with a structural positioning approach, called Myoskeletal Alignment Technique (MAT). That means, I see how a person’s bones are positioned and that helps me narrow down the source of pain. Bones move because of tendons and muscles.  If your alignment is off, then a particular muscle or a group of muscles are overworking to keep it that way, causing pain.  As a massage therapist, I have seen an increase of “text-neck” and postural ailments frequent among computer users. MAT has been valuable training to correct both chronic and acute issues for this population.