Photo by Lauren Thomas
Sometimes the perfect activity finds you. In the case of Dale Montelione Grust, who runs the Center for Therapeutic Massage in New Paltz, a cutting-edge massage tool, CoreStones, found her.
“A couple of things happened coincidentally,” said Grust, who has been a practicing licensed massage therapist in New York since 1983. “My friend, also a massage therapist, had a badly broken leg, and the pain was intense.”
Her friend Jessica Jones lives in Virginia directly adjacent to a soapstone quarry. She happened to pick up a discarded piece of a soapstone core sample left in the quarry, heated it up and, due to its ability to retain heat as well as its soft yet larger surface, she was able to roll it along her broken leg and get immediate relief.
It was a Eureka moment.
When Grust visited her friend, they took a visit to this quarry and found two and a half tons of core soapstone samples that had been left behind. It was a timely find. Soapstone is nature’s most efficient thermal conductor. “It holds heat and cold longer than any other stone,” said Grust.
CoreStones come in several different sizes. Some look like mini-rolling pins. Other circular pieces resembling Pac-Men can go between toes or reach other places that are otherwise difficult to access. “The broad, flat surface is ideal for myofascial release, and turned on end they can be used as a trigger-point tool,” Grust explained, demonstrating.