What can I expect

License #22440

Valerie Ford, LMT CLT

What Can I Expect?

Functional Manual Therapy at Stellaria

What is your illness policy? If you are scheduled and feel any symptoms, I ask you to cancel and I will do the same. There are no fees for clients on treatment plans who have a rare late cancellations due to illness. Multiple cancellations without 24 hour notice within a one year period will be charged at the regular session fee.

What do I wear? For your session please wear loose shorts and a loose t-shirt or tank top. You may bring them and change at the start of your session if you need to. I may ask women to receive treatment without a bra on since the band interferes.

How long are sessions? Most sessions are an hour although some people working on complex issues book longer sessions. First sessions are 75 minutes to give us time for paperwork and more discussion of your situation and to plan treatment. I don't charge for the extra 15 minutes. Most zoom sessions and pediatric sessions are 40 minutes.

How many sessions do I need? Everyone is different, it depends on your body and what is going on with you. Treatment tends to be a series of appointments (3-12) spaced between 1 and 6 weeks apart depending on if you need treatment for acute symptoms (like pain or lack of function) or are working toward longer-term treatment goals. Some people continue to come a few times a year as a tune up.

What are your fees? I charge $150 per 60 minute session in my clinic. Zoom sessions and pediatric sessions are shorter so are prorated to $110 for adults and $100 for pediatric sessions. Longer sessions are $225 for 90 minutes and $300 for 120 minutes. I accept payment via cash, check or credit/debit card. I can also process payments with your flexible spending or HSA cards.

Do you take insurance? I no longer bill for insurance, however I will upon request provide a superbill style of receipt that you may use to request reimbursement from your insurance company.

If you are pursuing reimbursement, please call your insurance company to verify that under your policy they will pay a massage therapist to work with you and if you need to provide a prescription or have the request for treatment preauthorized. I bill as code 97140 manual therapy for most work, or as code 97124 for massage specific benefits. If I am billing out of network, as we see if your insurance pays, I collect payment from you for the visit and reimburse you or credit your account when payment is received.

I've been told to look for vagus nerve therapy. Do you do it? For vagus nerve patients, I mix the mechanical work — freeing the nerve pathways especially along esophagus and stomach at one end to the brain Nuclei and exit points at the cranium at the other — with autonomic nervous system techniques to calm your whole system. Many people have trauma histories of one form or another and they can especially benefit from the mix of therapies I do. Frequency Specific Microcurrent (FSM) is helpful for both mechanical and systemic kinds of therapies and I routinely integrate it into sessions.