Body Work
Art: Jane Mjolsness
It’s not uncommon to overhear busy Park City professionals talking about their “appointments” — not business meetings, but “meetings” with their massage therapists, yoga instructors or chiropractors.
Few would argue that visits for treatments such as acupuncture, massage or colonics have become increasingly acceptable in this community — and, like a growing number of other holistic approaches, are now considered hip and trendy. Parkite Ellen Kidwell agrees that the “new-agey” approach to well-being is popular, but for her, these treatments have nothing to do with being cutting edge, and everything to do with a miraculous recovery to good health.
Kidwell has been an avid equestrian for much of her life. In 2000, she had an accident while riding her horse that resulted in a broken sacrum. “I went to four different doctors, and each one told me I would never ride horses again,” says Kidwell. “I was devastated, and went to a Doctor of Chinese Medicine for another opinion. That’s where I got an answer I could live with,” she explains.
Kidwell spent the next 12 months working regularly with the DCM, using mostly acupuncture and intense water therapy to rehabilitate her back. “It wasn’t easy, by any means, but both my doctor and I were 100 percent committed to my recovery, and it worked.”
Dr. Marshall Ding is one of the specialists that Kidwell uses for health maintenance now. An acupuncturist for the past 20 years, Dr. Ding has more than 500 clients in Utah. Even so, he says acceptance from the public and from health insurance agencies is slow. “Utah is a very conservative state, so anything out of the ordinary Western culture is hard for people to accept,” he says. “A lot of what I do is to educate my patients about what acupuncture can do for them.”
Massage therapists Linda Fosburg and Deborah McGraw have witnessed the massive growth in the local body work industry. They say when they started practicing massage therapy in Park City over 15 years ago, there were only a handful of massage therapists in town. Now they estimate that there are easily hundreds. “I’ve also seen my clientele change to the point where nearly all of them have standing, regular appointments,” says Fosburg.
McGraw couldn’t agree more. “I think [massage] was once seen as a luxury — a way to be pampered — but now it’s a rehabilitative tool,” she says. Many of McGraw’s clients are involved in physically demanding sports and want to be in the best health possible. They incorporate massage as a part of their routine health regimen.
Treatments that have long been considered taboo or too bizarre to mention are now on a regular health care menu for today’s population. Just ask Loraine Kling, who has been performing colonics for nearly 30 years, long before “cleansing” was vogue. “People are more open to looking for health alternatives when they haven’t found all of the answers from Western medicine,” says Kling. She teaches her patients that no single technique will solve all health problems. She says good health comes from a combination that includes a healthy diet and lifestyle. Over the years, she’s noticed her clientele skewing younger, and she’s also seeing more male clients than ever before.
For local yoga instruc-tors, chiropractors and massage therapists, the news is good: demand seems to be exceeding supply — which equals robust business. According to their clients, the news is also positive: body work and body awareness contribute to a healthy lifestyle.
This “big picture” health care philosophy is one that Kidwell, who again rides her horse regularly in addition to being an avid skier and yogini, now preaches. Originally from a family raised on conventional medicine, she is still amazed about her recovery and how it happened with such alternative approaches. “If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be going to an acupuncturist, I wouldn’t have believed you,” she laughs.
“But when you’ve had a serious injury like mine, you realize these treatments are not fads. You realize what [alternative treatments] can do to heal you.”
Katie Eldridge is the owner of Panic Button Media, a public relations firm in Park City. She is no stranger to acupuncture, massage or chiropractic appointments.
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