Employee Q&A: Massage Therapist Julie Perkins

Employee Q&A: Massage Therapist Julie Perkins

By Alexis BlueUniversity Communications
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Julie Perkins is Campus Health Service's only massage therapist.
Julie Perkins is Campus Health Service's only massage therapist.

Name
Julie Perkins

Position
Massage therapist, Campus Health Service

Number of years at the UA
7

Favorite part about working at the UA
"Working at Campus Health. It's kind of a close-knit family; a very cooperative experience."

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Many people don't even know she's on campus. But those who discover her often become repeat visitors.

As the Campus Health Service's only licensed massage therapist, Julie Perkins has been helping University of Arizona students and employees work out the kinks for the past seven years.

Perkins, who also works as an independent contractor at Tucson's Focus Massage and Bodywork, offers massage appointments three days a week on campus for UA students and benefits-eligible University employees with insurance through United Healthcare.  

She recently took time to chat about her work with Lo Que Pasa in an interview that might leave some readers craving a spot on the massage table.

How did you get started doing massage?
My first job after college, after my bachelor's degree, was as a bass guitarist in the Air Force. And people would be very tight and sore after concerts or a day of rehearsing, so I would just kind of go down the line and give people neck and shoulder rubs – doing it intuitively, not being formally trained at that point – and they really appreciated it. People would say, "You need to go check that out at some point. You need to find out what you're doing and go to school." I actually became a physical therapist assistant after the Air Force and the last unit in my PTA school was massage.  We had a mock clinic and we worked on staff, and I had a particularly good encounter with one of the staff who had been experiencing a lot of back problems. I began working on him rather deeply, much to the dismay of the head of the department who was teaching that unit. She came up and said, "Julie, he's going to be so sore the next day. You need to tone it down." And he wrote her an e-mail the next day, saying that was the best massage he'd ever had and his back pain was gone. ... After working in physical therapy around town for a couple years I decided to go to massage school (at the Desert Institute of the Healing Arts), and then I learned to work on the entire body with many more techniques.

How much does it cost for a massage at Campus Health?
It is $35 for a half an hour and $56 for one hour.

Are they by appointment only?
On occasion we can have walk-ins if there are openings. In the summertime that's more of a possibility; things slow down. During the regular school year, though, I seem to be booked three weeks in advance.

What's the most rewarding part of your job?
Just helping people feel better. I like being able to assess somebody the entire treatment period, for a half an hour or an hour. In physical therapy sometimes you have to work rather quickly, and I get to take more time in massage. ... It's an honor to be able to work that closely with people and have them trust me.

Where do you go when you want to get a massage?
I have a massage therapist who is the dean of my massage school. Also there are some people at the other place that I work who I occasionally receive massage from.

What are some of the common reasons people on campus come to see you?
Some people are coming in to relieve stress from finals, midterms and the like. Some people have orthopedic issues. Sometimes they're referred from the sports medicine doctors or the other doctors at Campus Health. Sometimes I get referrals from CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services), sometimes referrals from physical therapy.

What are some of the main benefits of getting a professional massage?
First of all, just the idea of human touch. A lot of times people don't receive that nurturing in their hustle-and-hurry world so it's nice to slow down and take some time and have somebody take care of you. Second of all, it brings blood flow to areas locally and that can help kind of jump-start healing to an area. When you have increased blood flow, it's bringing in the groceries and taking out the garbage – you're bringing in increased oxygen and getting rid of carbon dioxide and other metabolic waste. ... Supposedly, back in the day when we had a stressor – saber-toothed tigers chasing us or whatever – we dealt with the situation and then our bodies calmed down. But today, in our current stressful situations, the stress continues all day long and it's nice to have some downtime on the massage table where you can decrease those (stress) chemicals.

What style of massage do you do?
It's eclectic. It's a combination of Swedish massage and deep-tissue work and some things are like myofascial (soft tissue therapy). 

Will you customize a massage for a client's needs?
Yeah, we have a little conversation about what's going on in their body, what's bothering them.

Where do you see most people carrying tension?
Tends to be neck/shoulders, the shoulder-shrugging muscles. People tend to have that computer posture where their shoulders are a little forward and up around their ears, so a lot of times I'm showing people after the massage how they can work on postural things and stretching things so that they don't hurt so much between massages. 

How frequently should someone get massages?
Generally what I recommend is if a doctor has made a referral a person might want to try doing a massage once a week at least three times, and that will give them an idea if this is working for them. Everybody else, I say let your body and your wallet dictate how often you come in.

Do  your friends and family try to take advantage of your skills when you're off the clock?
Not really, but I will give a massage as, like, a birthday present or Christmas present.

How often do you get massages?
Not often enough.

Massages are offered at Campus Health on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. To schedule an appointment, call 621-9202.

Do you know someone who has an interesting job at the UA? Send his or her name and contact information to lqp@email.arizona.edu for consideration for a future Employee Q&A. 

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