For years, Grayslake resident Diana Wolfe lived with severe pain that took away her freedom to move. But tests by her doctor could find nothing to treat the pain. The Grayslake woman said she did not know where to turn.
Finding a brochure, she went to Vital Points Therapy. Offering alternative treatment options – including physical therapy and acupuncture – Wolfe said she found relief.
"After the first session, that began to release it. By the second session, it was gone," said Wolfe of of her pain. "It's non-invasive. Surgery can be so painful. While [the therapist's] hands are strong and sometimes it gets uncomfortable, it's nothing like surgery, which I've had a lot of."
Vital Points Therapy, which first opened a center in Libertyville and more recently opened a center in Gurnee, promotes itself as providing results that clients can feel.
Occupational therapist Malina Chin started the business and uses her knowledge of oriental medicine to help the body heal, as well as assist patients both emotionally and spiritually.
She has practiced occupational therapy for 25 years.
"We're more integrative," Chin said of Vital Points Therapy. "We grab everything that we know and put it all in one package and help support the body's own healing."
In the past, Chin had worked as an occupational therapist who addressed pediatric, psychiatric, general rehabilitation and women's health needs. But she sought more after a personal experience.
Receiving a cesarean section in 1987, she later developed a hump on her neck and numbness in her arms and fingers. She went to a physical therapist who taught her neck stretches. But Chin found herself correcting the therapist to release the scars. She sought help of a coworker, who – through manual therapy – worked on the scarring and gave her the freedom of movement.
Chin said she likes to offer people another option when traditional medicine does not seem help them. Vital Points Therapy is providing the community with solutions to help them feel better, she added.
"Most people don't have pain because they are weak; most people have pain because something is pressing on a nerve – things aren't moving; there is scar tissue; there [are] blood flow issues," she said. "Those are what we address with our hands. We do manual therapy."
Vital Points Therapy offers hands-on techniques, such as cranial osteopathy, given by Oriental medicine practitioners.
Chin explained that cranial osteopathy is moving bones in the head to give adequate blood flow to the area, adding that the treatment works well for attention deficit issues, headaches and visual problems.
"Everything is connected," she said, explaining how if one hurt his Achilles tendon, the pain could travel up his spine and over the head to cause headaches. "There is nothing that is going to be isolated. If it is isolated, that is a dysfunction in itself."
Vital Points Therapy patients often discover that to relieve pain, Chin may not touch where it hurts.
"It's amazing to me that [she was] called to this side when I feel the pain [on the opposite side]," Wolfe said during a recent session with Chin.
"I see that look a lot," Chin responded with a laugh.
While many treatments at Vital Points Therapy involve moving hands along the body, one of the better known methods of Oriental medicine involves needles. Suzanne Woods performs acupuncture where fine, sterile needles are placed at specific acupoints to address ailments that include anxiety, back pain and fertility. She admitted she is scared of needles and is sensitive to those who also may be.
"When I treat people with needles, I treat them the same way I would like to be treated," Woods said. "But there are lots of other tools that can be used for those who still don't like the needles."
After receiving massage therapy over a year to treat pain due to fibromyalgia, Vital Points Therapy client Kendall Schlosser then was advised to add acupuncture. The Libertyville mom said she is seeing results.
"When they tap into the right spots on the body, it's amazing the results you can have," she said.
The focus at Vital Points Therapy is not only to treat the pain, which can take a couple months to years, Chin said. But it also is to help patients address nutritional needs, as well as their emotional and spiritual health – so long as they are willing.
"My goal is you come to me when you're sick and you're not feeling well. I help you over that crisis," Chin said. "Then as I'm instructing you and you come over time, you're going to learn enough things so that you can take care of yourself."
Wolfe said as she heals physically, Chin has helped her become more aware of her nutrition, as well as how to address her emotional and spiritual issues. She finds herself better able to express herself now, she said.
"Out there in the world, watch out," Wolfe said.
While pain can be a motivator, Chin said people do not like to drive a long distance to seek health care, so she hopes offering the second Vital Points Therapy location in Gurnee will be attractive to clients.
"I'm probably the best kept secret," she said.
Chin added that Vital Points Therapy offers a natural and manual therapeutic approach that may be different from what others accept as therapy. But she hopes that may change.
"What I really need from people when they come is an open mind, a willingness to learn," she said. "If they come with a full cup, it is difficult to educate them. I hope they have an openness and willingness to listen and to feel their bodies."
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