Massage Therapy Resources
Here are the top picks for the massage therapy community that I highly recommend. -Lin
PURE PRO MASSAGE PRODUCTS
Welcome! I am Dianna Dapkins, President of Pure Pro Massage Products. I started Pure Pro when I was a student at the Muscular Therapy Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the winter of 1992.
As a massage therapist myself, I know the importance of the products you choose for your clients. Equally important is how these products enhance your own health and well-being! I had tried every massage product on the market and yet my sensitive skin continually developed painful sores from the artificial fragrances and additives. While I soothed my clients, I irritated my own skin. I realized that if I wanted my clients to enjoy the benefits of high quality, effective, and non-irritating products, I'd have to make them myself.
As a therapist, I valued using oils, lotions, and creams that soothe and nourish the skin, all enriched with the finest quality ingredients. As a manufacturer, I vowed to never use chemically derived water dispersing agents, food grade ingredients such as canola oil, or artificial fragrances. I wanted to make each massage oil, essential oil, massage lotion and cream as pure, natural, and gentle as possible.
All Pure Pro products were created for use in my own medical massage practice. Muscular Therapy is a form of specific, injury management work that requires precision touch. I needed lighter textures that I just could not get from the heavier, oilier products that other brands offered. Since I mostly treated clients suffering from chronic pain I also needed an effective way to relieve their soreness between treatments and the soreness from deep tissue massage. I consulted herbalists and naturopaths to see what could be done, naturally. Arnica Therapeutic Concentrate is the result of over one year of formulation and testing. Just a few drops of Pure Pro Arnica Therapeutic Concentrate worked into the injury site eased this muscle tenderness and gave the client a way to work on painful areas at home.
From the start in 1992, Pure Pro has distinguished itself by adhering to our values of quality, purity, efficacy, and education. Each Pure Pro product you try is the result of my own hands-on experience combined with feedback from thousands of professionals like you.
Pure Pro products provide you with the most gentle, yet powerful tools available to help you promote physical healing and stress reduction. Our products are available via our website, catalogue, select training institutes, reputable therapy supply stores, and our own factory outlet store in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Because we are a therapist owned company, every product you see on our website has a track record for effectiveness. I want every Pure Pro product to exceed your highest expectations. I invite your questions and comments on how to get the most out of our products. You can contact me any time or call me toll-free at (800) 900-7873, Monday through Thursday from 9am to 5pm. Eastern Time.
HOBACARE: THE ORIGINAL JOJOBA COMPANY
We’ve redefined jojoba!
And it all began with humble roots.
Our jojoba oil company for skincare and more was founded in 1994 by Bob Butler. With a modest start, he initially sold jojoba at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, Massachusetts. Bob’s wife, Sally, also became an integral part of the business. After lots of growth and changes throughout the years, Bob and Sally sold the company to a cooperative of jojoba farmers in Israel in late 2018.
Today, The Original Jojoba Company is the best producer of the highest quality jojoba extract in the world with our HobaCare products: HobaCare, HobaCare Organic, HobaCare Baby, and HobaCare Baby Organic.
We’re proud to share how we do things differently than anyone else.
Starting with farm-direct production
Other companies source jojoba from around the world, singularly focused on finding the lowest cost. Not us. Alongside our farmers, we’re a small vertically integrated company that harvests our jojoba directly from a single source: our farms. Without a middleman, we’re there from seed planting to HobaCare bottling.
Our farmers lead our co-op. Collectively invested in innovation and sustainable practices, our farmers discover, share, and implement the ways to produce jojoba that’s best for our workers, the environment, and for you.
We are the only company in the world producing a First-Press quality jojoba where we emphasize quality over quantity in our specifications for pressing the jojoba seeds. Because we only press the best from the seed, HobaCare Jojoba feels light on the skin, absorbs quickly, and has virtually no scent – far superior from all other jojoba on the market.
Our premium HobaCare jojoba oil products for skincare and more are nontoxic, nonallergenic, noncomedogenic, and compatible with all skin types. It’s why customers of all ages alongside skin care professionals, massage therapists, and manufacturers rely on our HobaCare for the very best jojoba.
Not only are we passionate about producing our HobaCare products, but we’re also enthusiastic jojoba educators. We invite you to visit our Jojoba 101 Library or our HobaCare Blog to learn more.
You can also reach out to us directly with any questions; we always love to hear from you!
BELLATOUCH MASSAGE CLOTHS
I have been using a silky type of cloth to massage my (clothed) patients in my hospice massage work for years, as well as for chair massage. I wasn’t quite happy with the cloths I had on hand – they bunched up, didn't glide well, were too small, and kept coming apart. One patient, Cathy, who had ALS, loved the way the cloth felt and said it was a “beautiful touch”. She encouraged me to make my own professional versions of the cloths, so I did! I have named them BellaTouch. I am donating 5% of all profits to ALS Society, to honor Cathy’s memory. I try to support those who have lost a loved one from a terminal illness - all BellaTouch products are hand-made locally by Jody, a single mom whose husband passed away from cancer in 2019, and the beautiful pictures of all BellaTouch products were taken by Molly, whose mom (my friend Sue), died from melanoma in 2004.
BellaTouch products are made from a polyester blend. I use all compostable packaging and mailing envelopes. BellaTouch products are completely washable in the gentle cycle, and can be hung to dry, or put in the dryer “fluff” cycle. They can also be ironed using the cool setting.
MEDICAL CONDITIONS AND MASSAGE THERAPY: A DECISION TREE APPROACH BY TRACY WALTON
With this book's streamlined, innovative approach, you'll learn how to manage and assess medical information in order to determine massage contraindications. Its central tool is the Decision Tree, a simple flowchart that helps you break down complex medical issues into small, easy-to-manage parts in order to determine the optimal massage therapy approach for clients who have specific medical conditions. Medical Conditions and Massage Therapy is divided into three parts: Part I provides a framework for managing massage contraindications, Part II discusses medical conditions by body system, and Part III addresses special considerations for cancer and medical treatments. Decision Trees are provided for each of the 58 medical conditions discussed in the book. You'll also learn how to use the Decision Tree approach to manage any medical condition. Conditions in Brief, which appear in a table at the end of each Part II chapter, offer concise information and interview questions for 140 additional medical conditions.