November 2017 Est. 1985 Your Community Newspapper
The Northside Chronicle
Volume 33 Issue 11 - FREE -
Pittsburgh Massageworks brings healing hands & ancient therapy to the Northside
Iva Provias of Pittsburgh Acupuncture and Massageworks attends to guest, Serina Burkart
By Nick Eustis Pain is one of the quintessential human experiences. Fatigued muscles, stress, and conditions like arthritis are often unpleasant and can wear a person down. The battle scars that attach themselves to the human body whether one is living an active lifestyle or participating in cubicle combat. Fortunately, there are people specially trained to provide the special touch much need. Hidden in a courtyard off Western Avenue is Pittsburgh Acupuncture and Massageworks, a peaceful and homey den of therapeutic touch. Co-owners Amy and Ian Green opened Pittsburgh Massageworks this past September, hoping to bring touch therapy to a part of Pittsburgh they believe needs it. “I wanted to stay in Northside. Northside is underserved in terms of bodywork and acupuncture,” said Amy Green. Massage therapy isn’t just a career for Green, it has become an integral part of life -- it is a part of who she is. “I became a massage therapist when I was 19, and I had had family members with serious orthopedic issues. I got to witness up close
Photo by Bettina Jones
what chronic pain does to someone... treatment the pain that had been how hard it makes life,” said Green. bothering me for years had just Chronic pain also influenced disappeared, and I just thought, ‘I’d love to do this,’” Green said. From there, Green completed Lower back pain her Masters of Acupuncture at the causes and risk factors Won Institute of Graduate Studies in Philadelphia, commuting • Age across the state every week for • Fitness level three years in order to achieve it. • Sprains/strains Green’s passion for massage • Pregnancy therapy has also proved contagious. • Rapid weight gain Her partner of 15 years, Ian, was • Trauma inspired by watching her devotion • Occupational risks/hazards to the trade. Leaving his previous • Joint and muscle conditions career as a painter and drummer belike: hind, Ian enrolled at the Pittsburgh o Spinal stenosis School of Massage Therapy himself. o Herniated disk “Amy and I have been together o Osteoporosis for 15 years, so I experienced her side o Spondylolisthesis of what the massage profession was According to the National Institute of Neurological like for so many years that I got really Disorders and Stroke (NISDS) comfortable with the idea. Five years Green’s own career development, ago, I got my degree,” Ian Green said. including her decision to specialOf course, running a massage ize in acupuncture, a practice in parlor requires more than two pairs traditional Chinese medicine which of hands, which is where Tracy revolves around inserting nee- Sutphen and Iva Provias come in dles at special points on the body. to help. Sutphen graduated from “I had an experience with acu- the University of Pittsburgh in puncture that blew my mind. I had See Massage, Page 15 a chronic hip problem, and in one
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