A healing touch

Oregon Massage & Lymphedema Clinic opens in Masonic building

By Barbara Adams

The Estacada News, Dec 19, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Oregon Massage & Lymphedema Clinic, 366 South Broadway Suite 210, is now open in the second level of the old Masonic building. Massage therapist Tamara Nielson offers a wide variety of massage techniques for overall health.

Barbara Adams / Estacada News

When Tamara Nielson puts her hands on a patient’s shoulders, she moves with experience–as a massage therapist who has suffered pain and found a natural, soothing way to work through it and heal.

Nielson, 46, developed lymphedema after being treated for cancer in 1994. She was raising five children and working as a paralegal when her legs began swelling. “The doctors told me to go home, sit in a chair and put up my feet for the rest of my life. I was 33,” she said.

But Nielson led an active life and did not accept the advice. So she went on a quest to find a diagnosis and treatment. She searched medical journals at the library, and through her work learned about lymphedema, which is “a chronic swelling of protein fluids in your tissues,” Nielson said. “Because, when they remove lymph nodes or give you radiation, your lymph nodes can no longer draw fluid out of a limb.”

She found a clinic in Ballard, Wash., that treats lymphedema. “A form of massage therapy is how you treat it–that’s how they treat it in Europe as part of your after-cancer care,” she said.

Now she is a licensed massage therapist specializing in lymphedema, chronic pain, and working with cancer patients. She recently opened Oregon Massage & Lymphedema Clinic in the Masonic building, 366 South Broadway, Suite 210.

But massage isn’t just for people suffering from chronic pain; massage is a natural and pleasant way to take care of your body. As Nielson begins her career as a massage therapist, she’s also constantly learning and educating herself on the many forms of massage and the wide variety of ways it can be used.

Helping mothers form deep relationships with their babies is another area Nielson is interested in. It’s called baby massage–Nielson will work with the mother to show her how to massage her baby, and how it helps increase the mother-baby bond.

Massage also can break the cycle of pain for people who suffer from chronic pain, Nielson said. For individuals who’s work involves trauma, such as firefighters and police officers, massage can aid in recovery.

Nielson is offering a half-price special for first visits, and for those who purchase two massages up front will receive their third massage for free. She’s also networking with a variety of health insurance companies.

To make an appointment, or to learn more about Oregon Massage & Lymphedema Clinic, call 503-318-6799.

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