Licensed practitioner: 'Massage should never hurt' - Chinook Observer

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LYNDA LAYNE PHOTOS

Licensed massage therapist Paul Estrella uses his fingers to demonstrate how Precision Neuromuscular Therapy (PNT) can shorten and then lengthen and loosen up tight muscles and tendons. PNT, he said, particularly helps, “older people and people with injuries.” He has been using this method for 7 of the 11 years he’s been doing massage.

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Estrella is deeply involved with the community, including membership in the Rotary Club and volunteering to teach a ukulele class at the Ocean Park Library one night a week. His uke students played Christmas carols at a holiday Rotary party Estrella hosted at his home in Ocean Park.

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Directly behind the house is a small farm area, home to some Silkie chickens. Here, Estrella, left, and Browning show how docile their hen Poof is when she’s picked up.

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This Silkie hen readily eats from a person’s hand. Zephyr Inn clients often enjoy their time with the chickens, from petting and feeding them to helping collect fresh eggs.

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This appropriate chicken coop sign came with the property, when Estrella and Browning moved here from the Portland area.

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OCEAN PARK — From the outside, the two-story home on 272nd looks like a residence only, but inside, it houses Paul Estrella’s home-based business, Zephyr Massage Therapy. In the expansive downstairs area there is his office, plus a relaxing private room with a massage table, a restroom and an adjoining sauna complete with a shower.

Recently pointing out the process, Estrella explained that there are two entrances, one with stairs to the front door and another outside entrance with easier access for clients that might be experiencing some mobility problems. It is toward the back of the house on the west side.

Inside, Estrella stopped at his office. “This is where they would come first, into the office. We would sit and do all our paperwork and I’d get their information. Then, if they want to use the sauna, they can get it up to 160 degrees.”

Estrella has been a licensed massage practitioner (LMP) for 11 years. “My main goal is to do Swedish massage,” he said, adding, “I also do deep tissue and also sports massage therapy. Every massage therapist has a specialty and mine is movement therapy.”

This, he said, “is based on what they call Aston Patterning. or Precision Neuromuscular Therapy — PNT.,”

Who benefits most from PNT? “Older people and those with injuries,” he said. “If you’ve had broken bones or injuries, things like scar tissue issues, it helps get your bones, muscles and tendons released. Tendon, bone and muscle get so fibrous, they hold like a rock.”

Often, an area of the body loses range of motion and just doesn’t move. What Estrella does with this movement therapy is to first shorten the muscle and then massage it so it’s not hurting. “And then I elongate it. I stretch is out so it’s freely movable.”


Pain has no gain


Even with deep tissue work, where an area has locked up, Estrella professes, “Massage should never hurt. If you come out with pain or bruising, that means the massage therapist went too fast and was too quick in getting into the muscle. I can do deep tissue without causing any pain.”

According to Estrella, PNT helps the area’s range of motion by proper and patient elongation and stretching. And he’s seen it work on all ages. His clients have ranged in age from 7 to 98. He advises checking with a doctor first, if there are any restrictions, but overall, he said, “I’ve helped broken arms, broken knees, fractured ribs and I know all about scar tissue and what you can and can’t do.” He’s worked on backs and shoulders too, and he reiterates the process of “shortening the muscle first, so we can actually massage it. Then I elongate it and stretch it out.”

Whatever the area, he is careful to warm up the muscle tissue before actually working on it.


Becoming part of this community


Estrella and his partner, Brad Browning, aren’t here temporarily Browning said. “We plan on being here another 20 or 30 years.” They have fallen in love with all the perks of living in this coastal area.

Joining the Rotary Club was one of Estrella’s first priorities. He has also been teaching ukulele classes one night a week at the Ocean Park Library, on a volunteer basis. In December, his uke group played Christmas carols at a holiday party he hosted at his home for the Rotary members.

Browning and Estrella have thought a lot about giving back to the community. For Estrella’s massage sessions, he is giving about one-third off the price of a one-hour massage. “It’s for peninsula area residents only,” Browning said. That makes treatment more affordable and a good client/therapist relationship can be formed.

Working with fitness instructors, physical therapists or other professionals is certainly in the realm of possibility while Estrella is working out a massage therapy design.

Paul Estrella is on Facebook. He can be messaged through there or called at 971-246-3416.


Elsewhere in their home…


The upstairs at 2420 272nd Street has three bedrooms that are used as B&B rooms for clients who book through Airbnb. (See sidebar.)

Overall, Estrella and Browning love where they live and are happy with the roots they’ve established here.


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