Our Philosophy

 

Dr. J and Ellen see musculoskeletal healing as analogous to a stool that is supported by three legs: massage therapy, chiropractic adjustments, and therapeutic exercises. Massage can loosen restrictions from your muscles and other tissues; chiropractic work can “unstick” joint fixations, allowing you to move freely again; and therapeutic exercises can prolong the benefits of the massage and chiropractic work, helping you to achieve long-term improvements.

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The first two legs of the stool are provided by Dr. J and Ellen, but it’s that third leg—therapeutic exercises—that makes your participation indispensable. Working with you, Dr. J and Ellen are your partners in health.

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James Ian McCrackan, DC, CMT, PNMT

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After ten years as a massage therapist, J was frustrated. He'd help his clients feel better--but sometimes, only temporarily. Why? Because he could feel the spinal restrictions that were preventing muscles from completely letting go. So J became a chiropractor, earning his doctorate in 2013, and now delights in providing his patients with faster and longer-lasting relief.

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Dr. J combines massage and chiropractic techniques to resolve each patient's unique sources of pain and discomfort. He explores chronic and acute soreness by feeling patterns in the body’s tissues. Orthopedic and chiropractic tests then locate, in his words, “the pain behind the pain.” He often warms up a stiff area with myofascial massage to loosen it generally, then uses very specific neuro­muscular therapy to release restrictions precisely. When Dr. J finds a“stuck" joint, he releases it with either a mighty crack or gentler types of mobilization. To prolong relaxation and pain relief, he will often prescribe “homework," i.e. stretches and exercises via personal instruction and YouTube videos.

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Many chiropractors ask you to come in week after week, forever and ever. Some employ dazzling gizmos, never covered by insurance, to pad their income. Some even cut corners with uncertified or unlicensed staff, imperiling their patients. Not Dr. J. Your office visits with him will taper off as you realize your goals via the combination of Dr. J's work and your own. He is a great detective and doesn't give up on his patients.

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Ellen Kruse, LMT

 

Massage Therapy

Ellen’s calling is to help others find their health, comfort, and sense of vitality in their own bodies. She uses a unique combination of specific work, including neuromuscular therapy and myofascial release, with her other training in body-centered awareness, reflexology, mindfulness, energy work, and craniosacral therapy. When more direct methods aren't working, she coaxes the nervous system into calming down so that the other tissues will settle down as well. You walk out feeling great!

 

Her bodywork provides a means of working with the whole self. Ellen can address your stress and pain and help you find that place of comfort where you not only relax but release your pain and feel alive again. Her sessions may appear to be traditional massage, but its depth requires the client’s mindfulness. Ellen’s sessions mostly are done with a mindful quiet so as not to disturb the delicate process, saving verbal communication for the conclusion.

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Coaching

Ellen's dedicated coaching has been described as follows:

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Ellen helps me figure out big and small issues in my life without telling me what to do. She helps me come to my own decisions comfortably while supporting me through my fears and offering other options for action. I so value her positive, nurturing support!

--Sandy R.

 

To contact Ellen, call 847-401-1600 or email EllenKMassage@gmail.com.

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How We Got Here

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In September 1994, J and Ellen had been dating for seven years, and Ellen wanted to get J a special present for his twenty-ninth birthday. She settled on surprising him with a pre-paid hour at the student clinic of the Chicago School of Massage Therapy. While J got his first-ever massage, Ellen chatted up the receptionist. 

 

"Guess what!" exclaimed Ellen when J staggered out of the treatment room an hour later, in complete bliss. "I want to do this for a living!"

 

"Guess what," mumbled J. "I want you to do this for a living too."

 

The next month, J and Ellen took a class from the school on Swedish massage. J wasn't interested in changing careers at that point--he was still content to continue as a technical writer--but as soon as the Swedish-massage class was over, she enrolled in the year-long certification program.

 

And then, something magical happened. 

 

After Ellen was in the program for just a few weeks--weeks of training her body how to touch and be touched by dozens of different people, how to analyze and process all of this data coming in from a sense that most of us use only through our hands--she changed. She seemed...deeper. More aware, both of herself and of the world around her. And wiser. 

 

Well, J thought, I still don't want to change careers, but enlightenment sounds pretty cool. So when Ellen had completed her massage certification, J began his--and a month later, the same miracle began to unfold. He says that he can compare his first month of massage school to what one would experience if, over the course of thirty days, one went from black-and-white myopia to full-color 20/20 vision. Indescribably profound.

 

Of course, nothing is free. The price of J's newfound awareness was the realization that he'd hated technical writing and that he had been drinking six cups of coffee a day just to maintain focus on the drudgery. As soon as J had earned his certification, he began to work alongside Ellen--and married her two weeks later.

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