With 20 years of experience and a wide variety of certifications in different modalities such as myofascial release, cranial sacral therapy, lymphatic drainage and others, I’ve treated over 30,000 people in the last 20 years. I originally became interested in massage therapy due to a car accident that happened to me about 22 years ago. I hurt my neck badly and it was recommended to me to fuse a couple of vertebrae which I decided against doing. I made the rounds trying different therapies; physical therapy, chiropractic care, and acupuncture, with no relief. Luckily, I found a massage therapist who did a treatment called myofascial release. After 8 treatments, she completely relieved my problem with my neck.
I was so impressed by what happened that I decided to become a massage therapist. I went to massage school at night while still working at my construction job during the day. In 1999, after about a year of going to school, I got my license as a massage therapist. I spoke to the owner of Absolute Health Therapeutic Massage, informing her that I wanted to buy the business. Candace, the therapist who treated me, and a couple of other therapists worked there. She sold the business to me and I expanded it to include 18 therapists and 14 treatment rooms. After 10 years in the business, I decided to specialize in myofascial release.
In 2008, I opened the only myofascial clinic in SW Florida, Therapy on The Gulf, where I practice today. I had a couple of therapists join me who also had lots of experience in this type of therapy. I’ve expanded over the years offering different types of modalities that have to do more with medical conditions such as surgeries, joint replacements, and cosmetic surgeries. I found people were in a lot of pain and had many injuries especially due to sports. Performing myofascial release therapy on these individuals increased their range of motion, their flexibility and their ability to get back to a normal life much quicker.
While traveling the world for about 25 years as an international roofing contractor in foreign countries like China, Africa, the Middle East and Europe, I routinely had massages and bodywork done, finding it relieved most of the aches and pains that I had related to my work. I kept that information in the back of my head not knowing exactly what I would do with it. Since I’ve been a therapist now for 20 years, all those experiences have definitely made my life a lot more interesting and my health is better now than it was 20 years ago.
Though I’m older, I’m in better condition than ever thanks to the many therapists who helped me with a better diet, more hydration (I never drank water at all) and certainly by having therapy/bodywork on a regular basis. I still have a therapy session once a week and recommend this to people to keep themselves in a healthy, balanced lifestyle. The Chinese have a saying that “dis-ease” of the body causes disease. I think the best prevention for most disease is to keep the body in a balanced situation. Having regular maintenance therapy, taking care of yourself the best that you possibly can, eating right, getting plenty of rest, sunshine and exercise; these are some of the best things you can do to stay healthy. This is what I recommend for all of our clients. We try to get to the root cause of why people have injuries and why they have some of the symptoms they have. Many times, it’s something quite simple such as changing your diet or drinking more water that can improve your health drastically.
Anthony Hansen, LMT, founder of Therapy on the Gulf. We specialize in myofascial release, craniosacral therapy, and lympatic drainage. We do aromatherapy massage, pregnancy massage, and other types of massage and energy work. I am also a Qigong and Reiki Master. Candace VanRee, LMT and Teresa Kennedy, LMT are both highly qualified and do the same things that I do.
For further information, please feel free to call us at Therapy on the Gulf, 239-262-8722.