Airway Heights’ Ambrosia Clinic adds massage therapy, reflexology care

By CARA LORELLO

Staff Reporter

Services are expanding at Airway Heights’ Ambrosia Clinic to include massage therapy and reflexology—the technical term for foot care.

Certified reflexologist, Carla Needham, has a more catchy term for her business: “Tootsies.” The new massage therapy arm of the clinic, “Tranquility Touch,” is being run by Needham’s daughter, Brandie Pettis, a licensed massage therapist and Airway Heights resident.

The mother-daughter team actually began services in October at Ambrosia Clinic, located at 10408 W. Highway 2, inside the same strip mall as Starbucks Coffee just outside Airway Heights.

Pettis, a graduate of Spokane’s Apollo College, originally entered school with plans to run her own massage therapy practice out of her home. The Ambrosia Clinic setting is much more to her liking, she said, minus her three youngsters at home.

“This place is exactly what I had in mind,” she said.

Needham commutes to the Ambrosia Clinic every other week from Moses Lake for consultations, Wednesday through Friday, and sometimes Saturdays when there’s enough bookings.

The venue’s back-door only entrance is marked with a sign, but plans are underway to put a bigger sign on top of the roof so commuters and nearby shoppers have a better visual. Those plans, Needham said, are temporarily on hold with snow having just been cleared from their roof.

Opening shop at the start of last year’s holiday season, followed by a series of crushing winter storms, she added, got business off to a sluggish start. They expect that will change once weather subsides, and people learn of their new available services.

“With our business, we hope to attract customers whose focus is long-term, overall health and not have it be just a one-time, spa treat sort of thing,” Pettis said.

Treatments at Tootsies include a reflexology (foot massage), and an aqua-chi (water) footbath. Customers can get one, or both for a special discount.

For those not familiar with reflexology, the practice “in a nutshell, is stimulating reflexes through the feet, as a holistic treatment for the whole body,” Needham explained. The practice can also include hands and ears. Where reflexology defers from massage therapy is the holistic emphasis, she added.

“MT is good for the body too, but people usually use it when they’ve got an injury or recovering from some kind of accident. Both are hands-on,” Needham explained.

There are about 7,000 nerves in the human foot, and when reflexes are stimulated through touch, it sends a message to the brain alerting the rest of the body to begin its healing process.

The aqua-chi footbath acts as a “toxins flush,” energizing red blood cells that are excreted through the pores of the skin. “People carry so many toxins in their body at any given time,” Needham said.

A combination of both treatments lasts about 1-½ hours.

At Tranquility Touch—by appointment only—Pettis’s full body massages and hot stone therapy detox take the same amount of time. One treatment followed by the other usually produces the best results if a customer wants to get that “all-over good feeling,” Needham said.

Customers can also request a combination reflexology and MT package, and the clinic is currently offering a $10-off first visit special for any or all services now through March 31. Gift certificates are also available.

The clients Needham and Pettis want to attract will seek out services long-term, as one element to an overall healthcare regimen.

“The focus should be preventative care, not just recovery. Treatments are the tools for your body to heal itself. We’re just the facilitators,” Needham said.

For further inquiries about Tootsies Reflexology at Ambrosia Clinic, call 989-6440. The number for Tranquility Touch is 954-2850.

Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]