After 30 years as a professional massage therapist, Gary Miritis has seen the benefits of Emu oil day in day out for years. And as I discovered, he can also help you overcome your fear of pain. Sort of.

Gary Miritis’ name is known around sporting circles as the person you see when you have Osteitis Pubis – a painful inflammatory condition of the pubic symphysis (the joint between the right and left pubic bones of the pelvis). Although Gary treats all injuries, Osteitis Pubis is the biggest injury his clinic treats.

I visited Gary, not because of Osteitis Pubis, but because I get migraines from time to time. When I made my appointment I was told that my remedial massage ‘may hurt a bit.’ Needless to say I felt slightly nervous! I’d heard stories from people leaving some massage therapists’ tables only to feel worse than what they did before they went in. I thought about cancelling my appointment but felt the tell tale sign of a migraine coming on and tried to put my fears aside.

A few days later I found myself in the waiting room of Gary’s Mount Waverly clinic surrounded by autographs from elite sporting clients he has helped recover from injury over the years. Suddenly I wasn’t so nervous.

Gary has been a massage therapist for 30 years specialising in Deep Tissue Massage – his clinic, Miritis Massage, performs 3 types of massage: remedial, sports, and relaxation.

Together with fellow Massage Therapists Darren Fulton and Adam Scammell, Mirits Massage treats many elite sports people including Cathy Freeman, Craig Mottram, Harry Kewell, Sonia O’Sullivan, Donovan Bailey, Chris Judd, Luke Hodge, and Anthony Koutoufidies (to name a few) as clients past and present. Added to this impressive list is the experience Mirits Massage has had from representing Australia at 3 Olympic Game, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and many other International and National Sporting events.

Soon I was laying face first on the massage table nothing to worry about I told myself people do this every day and have far worst injuries. Gary started the massage. I’d be lying if I said the first minute wasn’t painful. I had to remind myself that the end results of the massage was going to be worth it.

 ‘Will the pain last long?’ I asked him.

 ‘Actually, once your muscles loosen up it’ll probably hurt less.’

I willed my muscles to let go and accept the ‘torture’. During the half hour session I asked Gary the benefits of massage. ‘Well, the goal of the therapists is to fix your injury in the shortest possible time with a minimum number of visits. You may be a little sore after your massage, but your muscles and joints should feel relaxed and free.’

‘I’ve heard people say they feel like they are bruised after a session.’

 ‘It’s normal for some people to experience a bit of a "bruised" feeling for a few days after a remedial massage. But most of the time the majority of people feel a definite improvement in their soft tissue injury when they get off the table.’

I was hoping I’d be one of those people.

I decided to keep talking to him so I had something other than pain to concentrate on. ‘What has been some of your career highlights?’

‘Well, being Cathy Freeman’s personal masseur for her entire career is up there. I also got to represent Australia at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and the World Championships – that’s been amazing too. But I also get to meet many people, all types of people.’

‘This might be a silly question but does it ever hurt massaging people day in day out?’

‘Well, I have arthritis in my hands.’

I guess that answered my question.

‘But it is helped by massaging in one way because we use Emu oil for all of our treatments. I guess you could say it’s a positive side effect. I also use the capsules to help my condition and that’s been a huge relief.’’

I knew Gary used Emu oil for remedial massages but I didn’t know it was used for everything. ‘We’ve been using Emu Spirit Oil of Emu exclusively since 1995 for everything and everyone. It really helps the massage, particularly because it penetrates right through the skin.’

 In between me telling Gary ‘You know, this doesn’t actually feel too bad’ and ‘On second thoughts I take that back,’ I asked Gary to explain why he had continued to use Emu oil. ‘Without a shadow of a doubt, in my opinion, it’s the best oil in the world. What makes it unique is the texture, the purity and of course it’s a natural anti-inflammatory substance.’

 ‘In treating most injuries, the major contributor is inflammation. We knew Emu Spirit had been proven through the TGA, so the anti-inflammatory properties of Emu Spirit’s Emu oil [gives us] a big plus.’ Gary adds that ‘one of the biggest advantages of using Emu oil compared to other types of massage oil is reduced recovery times for injuries and the low irritation factor on the skin.’

Well, all I knew was that my muscles were beginning to become irritated with me. At this point I would have preferred to run 10km than feel my muscles become loose. Before I knew it Gary told me ‘That’s it, all done.’

That’s it? It felt like it was over too soon. Which was weird, considering how many times I had wished the session would end. I walked out of the treatment room and rolled my neck around a few times. My muscles actually felt better than when I first walked in. For all my complaining, the massage didn’t feel anywhere near as bad as I thought it would. I thought about it a bit longer – it didn’t hurt as much as I perceived it to have done.

Gary smiled at me. ‘The next time you have one, it probably won’t hurt anywhere near as much.’

Next time? Would I dare?

‘Ok. See you then.’

I’ve now seen Gary a few more times since this visit and I am happy to say that a) remedial massages no longer hurt b) my migraines are practically gone. And no, I didn’t experience the feared bruising people had warned me about. I actually had one of the best nights’ sleep I had had in a long time.  

If you’ve been contemplating massage to treat an injury or any other complaints I recommend you have one as soon as you can. As Gary told me ‘In the long run, the best thing to do is to consider massage as a preventative measure rather than wait until you’re injured. Think of your body as a car: you service your car every so many kilometers, you don’t wait till the lights come on the dashboard. Do the same with your body.’

Further Information:

Remedial massage is used to treat:

• Headaches/migraines
• Neck and shoulder pain
• Tennis & Golfers' elbow
• Scoliosis, Sciatica & other back pain
• ITB complaints
• Knee pain
• Shin splints/Achilles tendonitis
• Foot pain/sprained ankles
• Various other injuries

Virtually all injuries involving muscles, ligaments or tendons, including sprains and strains can greatly benefit by massage.

Miritis Massage: www.miritismassage.com/