Yellowknife (Apr 28/03) - Darlene Robertson moved to Yellowknife with her husband in 1987. When she opened Athletic and Therapeutic Massage Clinic, she became the NWT's first massage therapist.

Since then she has massaged the muscles of everyone from stressed-out office workers to Olympic athletes.

NWT Massage Therapists' Association president Darlene Robertson gets a massage at the end of a hectic week from Krista Vivian. - Kathleen Lippa/NNSL photo

News/North: You guys (massage therapists) have the strongest handshakes of anyone I've ever shaken hands with.

Darlene Robertson: And arms like Popeye. (Laughing)

N/N: There's massage therapy, and there are so many different kinds of massage. What is the difference?

DR: Massage therapy is an art and science of manipulating or working with soft tissue based on scientific principals for therapeutic purposes.

We employ lots of different techniques. We've had to make such a distinction between being a massage therapist, because people would say 'Oh, it's a massage parlour.'

When I started in Edmonton in 1985, most massage therapists didn't advertise in the telephone book because a telephone book is the place where massage parlours advertised.

Those days have long passed. Massage therapy now is very mainstream.

N/N: Tell me about your clients.

DR: A lot of the people we see are people with physical complaints -- whether it's a headache or back pain or neck pain.

What we try to do is find out what the cause of that pain is. If it's acute pain then we try to take the pain away. But getting to the bottom of why that pain is there is what is most important, so it doesn't keep happening.

N/N:Tell me about working with athletes. Did you ever work with someone famous?

DR: I think I have worked at almost every major game. I worked at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, the Commonwealth Games when they were in Victoria. I worked at both Canada Games: winter and summer games.

N/N: Do you like working with athletes?

DR: I don't get an opportunity to work with many athletes much anymore.

N/N: Is it hard to work with athletes? Are they very demanding?

DR: The athletes I've worked with have been extremely appreciative.

N/N: What kinds of problems do they have? When would you be called in?

DR: Mostly pre-event to prepare the athlete. Sports massage -- you do pre-event, post-event and restorative massage, which is dealing with an injury.

The skater, Lloyd Eisler, I remember working with him.

N/N: What was he like to work with?

DR: It was one of my big thrills.

N/N: That was in Calgary, 1988, right?

DR: It must have been a good treatment because the next time he came back he asked to see the therapist he saw before. And I happened to be walking out, my shift was over. I was walking out and I saw him at the desk and I overheard what he said.

And I turned around and came right back and worked beyond my shift.

N/N: What were some of his problems?

DR: Shoulders. He was a pairs skater, so he was lifting. Mostly shoulder work.

N/N: Aromatherapy is one of those areas that people still don't know a lot about.

DR: It's old. It's ancient. It's extremely effective.

But it takes a lot of training. We're actually having a certification course coming up this May 16-20 for the general public. They can contact Aurora College.

N/N: So you like aromatherapy. How long have you been doing it now?

DR: I've been working with essential oils for 10 years now.

N/N: What kind of personality do you need to do this job?

DR: You have to be a caring person. A compassionate person. I believe I'm blessed to do this work. I feel very honoured to do it. I thank my clients every time because of that. I think it's a privilege.

N/N: Why do you say that?

DR: It's not an easy thing initially for people to have somebody else touch them. Am I sounding hokey? (Laughing)

N/N: No.

DR: I just think it's an honour that somebody would allow you to help them. (Massage therapist Krista Vivian appears). And I'm about to go in for my own massage.