Dale Newman has elbowed his way into the industrial health care industry in a big way, using deep tissue massage techniques he’s perfected to treat workers’ musculoskeletal injury pains at their work site in minutes.
Newman’s skilled elbows make the difference, providing the industrial strength, pin-pointed pressure that needs to be applied to tight or sore muscles to restore their vitality.
“People think of massage in terms of spas with cucumbers and rocks,” Newman said, “but that’s more for relaxing. Our trade-marked Deep Tissue Intervention massage technique was developed for industries with assembly line workers and employees who often need to leave their production work when they injure their muscles at work,” Newman said.
He based his techniques on three medical studies within the massage industry. His approach has been proven to relieve pain and increase range of motion in only a few minutes.
For instance, when an employee experiences pain on an assembly line and has to stop work, Newman’s licensed massage therapists use their body mapping, anatomical and analytical skills — plus the workers’ ‘body language’ as they demonstrate the motions that cause their pain — to determine the location of the pain. Then deep tissue massage “intervention” therapy is applied in a private area near the assembly line, using a portable massage table. No clothing needs to be removed.
“It’s highly effective and gets workers back on the assembly line with only our perfected 15-minute sessions we’ve developed especially for this program,” Newman said. “The workers love it and so do the employers because our intervention allows workers to return to work immediately.”
Newman’s Industrial Massage Inc. has accomplished more than 61,000 on-site “interventions” over the past four years, experience that sets it apart from any competitors. In fact, no other company provides this service, he said.
The hardest part of marketing Newman’s massage therapy concept is getting business owners to get past their mental image of spa-type massage treatments, said Joel Starr, former owner of The Flying Pig and Tailgater Joe’s in downtown Everett and Newman’s Director of Business Development.
What gets contracts signed, he said, is when employers realize that Newman’s program not only helps injured workers recover and return to work quickly but also that companies can pay for the program with less money than they would spend if an employee was off work for an extended time and claims were filed with Washington State’s Department of Labor and Industry.
“Plus, these are incidents that don’t show up as L&I claims so they don’t lead to increased L&I charges to the company for a large number of employee injury treatments,” he said.
It also helps to reduce a newly documented workplace problem called “presenteeism,” meaning lost production from workers who hurt too much to perform at their full capabilities, losses that are estimated to be more than double the costs of absenteeism and treatment, he said.
“I’ve known Dale for 12 years. I’ve watched him create what I think is a very important business that, in itself, is a part of health care reform,” Starr said. “After a year of working with him, I’ve been impressed enough to never look back on my 33 years in the food and beverage industry. That’s why I made this career change.”
Fees for the firm’s services are negotiated with each client, Starr said, because each situation is different. Presently, the company is treating hundreds of employees each week at various companies, most of them Fortune 500 firms.
Newman, a former U.S. Marine Corps cryptologist and Snohomish County Corrections Officer, formed Industrial Massage in 2004. He’s been a member of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce since 2001, a co-founder of Snohomish County Young Professionals Leadership Council in 2007 and vice president and co-founder of the Everett July Fourth Foundation in 2005. He was honored by the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce as its Small Business Executive of the Year 2009 and KING 5 TV chose his business for a 2009 Best of Western Washington award in 2009 in the massage category.
“As a massage therapist experienced in sports medicine, I’ve worked with Olympic athletes and extreme fighters who get injured at the Comcast Events Center’s shows,” Newman said. “I strongly believe this company has one of the answers to lowering health care costs, preventing more severe injuries and improving wellness programs at businesses.”
Industrial Massage Inc.’s offices are at 1515 Pacific Ave., Ste. B-1, Everett; 425-717-1017. For more information, visit Newman’s Web site at www.industrialmassage.com.
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