Stephanie Leest was born and raised in Wallingford Connecticut.
Currently Ms. Leest is the only medically based massage therapist located in Charleston South Carolina, that has proven her skill set. She holds herself to high standards and expectations and takes patient care very seriously.
she has played an integral role in creating an environment where medical massage can be integrated into insurance as well as most medical office settings.
In her free time she enjoys reading medical journals and researching laws. She has volunteered numerous hours to the research of medical massage as well as consulted with multiple surgeons, doctors and lawyers within the community to help create a better circle of care and rehab for the citizens of Charleston SC. as well as across the nation.
Her passion for massage came at an early age. During family gatherings Ms Leest would offer to massage family members to aid in the reduction of back and neck pain. This passion followed her throughout her school years. Laughingly stating "I think sometimes the only reason why I had friends or was invited to sleep overs was because I would massage them."
Massage therapy for Ms. Leest became a life source for her during some of her most difficult times in life. In 2014 Ms. Leest was diagnosed with brain tumor. With the treatments of massage therapy, reflexology, cranial sacral, reiki, and aromatherapy her health significantly turned around. It was during that time Ms. Leest chose to take her masters in clinically applied aromatherapy. she used this knowledge to not only treat her tumor but also successfully treated her 3 children as well as neighborhood kids with everyday common colds, aches and pains. Once the second MRI was completed and Ms. Leest was cleared of her tumor she knew immediately that she wanted to go into the massage therapy field to enhance her skillset in aromatherapy, reiki, reflexology and cranial sacral therapies.
While Ms. Leest was in clinical massage therapy school, she placed herself way above the rest. She not only overcame many learning disabilities related to the recovery process of the diagnosis of the brain tumor, but also her on going battle with mental health issues that she has had since she was a child, as well as surviving multiple abusive situations. ON December 18 ,2016 Ms. Leest graduated making the Dean's list as well as high honors and passed her board exams to become a LMT.
In the past Ms. Leest has successfully treated the following pathologies.
Diabetes, cardiovascular issues, corrective procedures for the back, neck, spine,
hip, knee, shoulder replacement! scar tissue mitigation. neuropathy, stroke recovery, mental health as well as mitigating the symptoms of fibromyalgia, early onset of Parkinson's disease, and MS.
The highlights of her career are,
overturning double neuropathy around for a military member who had no feeling and very little use of his lower anatomy.
spinal work that turned around ED for multiple male patients.
countless success stories of helping patients get off walkers and out of wheel chairs.
Currently, Ms. Leest was hit with another life changing event. In relationship to her past, she currently is studying herself and her recovery from a major back, neck, spine and brain injury, that also destabilized her mental health. With the help of massage therapy, cranial sacral therapies, mental health therapies and early on chiropractic care Ms. Leest continues to make strides in a positive direction!
In her studies, she has found helping others through their battles, has helped her not only in her professional life but her personal life as well. There isn't a day that would go by that Ms. Leest's eyes wouldn't light up to a new challenge. She enjoys sarcastic banter with doctors and lawyers especially when it comes to treatment plans as well as diagnosis.
Her future plans consist of building a holistic hospital setting where treatment is provided by eastern and western meds. working with families especially children!! and most importantly working with those who are paralyzed.
I'm hoping to be able to treat a whole family and be there for their service animals as well !! STUDY STUDY STUDY the nerd !!