FIRST IN THE AREA
Capital Region Calmare & Massage celebrates ribbon-cutting ceremony
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » Laura Brown, licensed physical therapist and massage therapist, celebrated the ribbon cutting for her practice’s new location on Thursday.
Brown, who also holds a state certification for a Women Business Enterprise, is the only licensed Calmare therapist in the capital region.
Calmare, which gets its name from the Latin word for “calming,” is a neuropathic therapy practice that is very popular in Europe but is only just starting to get attention in the US. It is a non-invasive, non-narcotic treatment for pain caused by inflammation. It uses a gentle electrical stimulation “system disrupter” process to reset the pain signals going to the brain. The practice is FDA-approved and currently in use at places such as the Mayo Clinic and John Hopkins University.
“There are no side effects,” Brown said during an explanation of the Calmare process. “The worst thing that could happen is it doesn’t work, but 80% of patients have reported success. And we know if it works during the first session. This is everything we’ve ever wanted in pain control.”
A typical Calmere treatment involves daily sessions lasting an hour each.
On average, it takes ten sessions for the process to be fully successful.
If a patient happens to be in the 20% that does not respond to the treatment, Brown will turn to the “other tricks in her bag,” including networking patients to other specialists and professionals in the pain management field.
Until Brown opened her Clifton Park office, the nearest Calmare center was in Long Island. The number of Calmare practices available in the country is less than 100. Brown is confident that this method will help countless people in more ways than one. If patients can get rid of pain using Calmare, they won’t have a need for painkiller medications.
“We need this stateside,” Brown said. “This is my way of cleaning up the opioid epidemic. I’ve found that when people know about Calmare, they’re grateful for it. If pain can be prevented without strong, addictive painkillers, it’s unacceptable to me that people should continue to suffer.”
At the ribbon-cutting for Brown’s new office, Capital Region Calmare and Massage, she received an outpouring of support from the Capital Region Chamber. In addition to town officials, Chamber ambassadors came to welcome Brown to the community.
Brown also received citations from representatives
for Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh and State Sen. Jim Tedisco.
“Today we’re celebrating another wonderful addition to the Clifton Park family,” said Pete Bardunias, senior vice president of Community Advancement with the Capital Region Chamber. “It’s been a heck of a year, but things are still happening. It’s important for us to celebrate that.”
Brown said that she chose Clifton Park as her new base of operations because the town “is turning into a kind of mecca in the Capital Region for health care.”
“If you need it, Clifton Park has got it,” Brown commented. “It’s a wonderful place for any new business to start. I’m so proud
and thrilled to be bringing Calmare here. For such a large community, it still feels like close and tightknit. I’m looking forward to all the people that are going to be helped.”
Brown’s sister, Cathleen Bonville, gave a testament for the Calmare system. Bonville is not just Brown’s sister, she is also one of her clients, and has firsthand experience with Calmare. Recently diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease, Bonville’s right side of her body was affected by tremors and rigor, causing a disfigurement as her right arm stiffened into what she called “claw hand.”
In addition to the aches and throbbing pain from her arm being forced in that
position, Bonville also suffered from great emotional pain as she tried to hide her condition from the world. When her sister told her about the Calmare treatment, Bonville drove four hours from her hometown of Westville, just below the Canadian border near Quebec, to try it.
After one session, Bonville’s arm was swinging freely again and the pain was gone.
“I was losing my life to hiding my condition, and Calmare gave it back to me,” Bonville said. “You don’t have to live with the pain. Give Calmare a chance.”
Brown says that to determine if the Calmare system is right for your pain management, she is happy to talk to prospective patients
on the phone about it, but the best thing to do is get a doctor’s prescription for the treatment. That way the process is vetted as a plausible treatment option.
“People will be able to do things like pick up their grandkids, go down the stairs, or get out of bed without pain,” Brown said of her practice. “We’re giving
people their lives back.”