A relaxing end to 2017

Michelle Sonnier speaks to the Ville Platte Rotary Club about the benefits of massage therapy
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At its last meeting of the year and last meeting held at Main Street Pizza, Ville Platte Rotary President Wayne Vidrine reminded the club about some important dates coming up in the new year.
On January 3, he along with other Rotarians will be traveling to Beaumont to donate coats to people who were affected by Hurricane Harvey. According to Vidrine, his club in connection with the Beaumont Rotary Club partnered “in Project Warm to provide some assistance to some of the families that had some loss in the recent flooding in that area.”
Vidrine then stated, “On January 9, our speaker will be our Lieutenant Governor who is coming to share some information and direction on Chicot Park. It’s a very important meeting for Ville Platte and for Evangeline Parish. We do intend to spend some time touring the facility.”
During the same meeting, Rotarian Mable Foreman introduced Michelle Sonnier as her guest speaker. “I met this lady through City Hall,” Foreman said. “I would go to the city meetings, and she would talk about massaging and that she was here in Ville Platte. Myself, I don’t like a massage, but I know a lot of people do. I said she would be a good guest speaker for me. It doesn’t matter that I don’t care for a massage because maybe somebody else would.”
Sonnier then introduced herself as the former Michelle Landreneau and the daughter of Mike and Janet Landreneau. She explained that her interest in massage therapy began while in high school.
“I graduated from Sacred Heart, and I was an athletic trainer,” she said. “I always had a passion for rehabilitation and sports massage. That led me to LSU where I graduated with a degree in kinesiology with a concentration in pre-physical therapy.”
“Throughout college, I worked as a physical therapy technician where I learned everything there is as far as rehabilitation,” she continued. “I really just had a passion for relieving people’s pain. I started learning about trigger point therapy that is relieving knots with pressure holds, and I decided to go into massage therapy school after my undergrad.”
Upon finishing school, Landreneau married Kellen Sonnier and moved back to Ville Platte where she opened her own massage therapy clinic called Myohealth Massage Therapy inside the old Lemoine Brothers’ building.
As Landreneau explained, “our muscles are so commonly overlooked or are not focused on especially as we age. We worry about things like our heart and our brain, but our muscles really take a toll. As we age, we lose some flexibility and some strength. These are some things that can be improved with frequest massage therapy.”
Some of the services Landreneau provides are Swedish relaxation massages, deep tissue massages, and trigger point therapy.
She went on to describe other kinds of services. “I also do prenatal massages and infant massages,” Landreneau said. “We all know women who are pregnant benefit from massage therapy. The infant massage is something that is a little bit new. It’s educating the parents how to massage their young children which can help with their bonding, help increase circulation, help ease upset stomachs, and help with their bowels.”
Landreneau also performs sports massages and TMJ massages. “Sports massage is deep tissue trigger point therapy catered to a specific sport,” she said. “I’m well educated on what a golfer needs versus what a baseball pitcher needs. It’s sports specific to help them improve in that sport and keep their injuries at a minimum.”
“TMJ is very common,” she continued. “It not only affects the jaw and neck area but also headaches. Not only will I do an external massage, but I glove up and hit some muscles on the inside of the jaw. Some dentists do that, but I just take a little more time as well as doing a head, neck, and shoulder massage.”
Besides doing a 30-minute massage focusing on the problem areas, Landreneau has sessions lasting an hour to two hours. “An hour is where a full body would start; however, some people just like an hour on their back,” she said. “I also offer an hour-and-a-half and a two hour massage. That’s where you can get your pain relief, a deep tissue massage, and a whole relaxing massage after that.”
Myohealth Massage Therapy is open Monday through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. As Lamdreneau pointed out, “I typically don’t work on Saturdays, but if that’s the only time you can come and you’re in pain, just let me know. I’ll do my beat to meet you.