Dispatch From Upper Falls - Relaxing By the Falls

My 11 year old daughter and I just went to meet some new neighbors here in Upper Falls.  They have quite a home in quite a location and we had quite a visit.

I first heard that a new chiropractor clinic was moving into the neighborhood last June.  A few days before The Feast of the Falls, we were contacted by a couple who were planning to soon move their chiropractor business to the neighborhood.  They had heard about The Feast and wanted to volunteer as waiters so they could help out and meet some people in their new neighborhood.  They did work as waiters that day but I never met them among the swarms of people at The Feast.

A few days ago I got a call from the Newton Chiropractic and Wellness Center.  They're now open for business in the mill complex at Elliot St and they wanted to get the word out in the neighborhood about  their upcoming Grand Opening events this Friday 11/15, 12-2PM and Sunday 11/17, 2-4PM.

They've been in business for 19 years and have just moved to Upper Falls from Chestnut Hill.  They know that all their existing clients will be coming with them but they're trying to now bring in some of their new neighbors from Upper Falls.  For their Grand Opening they're offering a free gift of a session on their Hydro-Massager which sounded like an impressive and intriguing contraption.  They said, come on by any time and try it out.

Fortunately, I've never had back problems so I have no experience with chiropractors or massage but I was curious about this Hydro-Massager.  As my mother-in-law used to say "I've always been fond of novelties".  I picked up my daughter from her after-school program and we headed down for a go.

Their premises is in the old mill complex (Echo Bridge Office Park) beside the water fall (i.e. the Upper Fall).  Better yet, their premises are nicely refurbished and located on the second floor, looking right out on to the falls.  For those who know the mills, they are just above what used to be the Mills Falls Restaurant.  So throughout their space there's always the muffled sound of the water flowing just outside the building.

We got a tour through the whole place.  Their main services are chiropractic and massage but they've got a number of other related services as well.  They've fashioned themselves as an overall "wellness center".  At one point during our tour my daughter spotted a TV in a small room and asked "what's that room".  They explained that it was used for the Ionic Foot Bath and started to explain.

The explanation began with "this is the only piece of what we do that is plain freaky".  They fill a basin with warm water.  You put you're bare feet in the water.  They insert some kind of electric coil attached to some sort of electronic equipment into the water.  They turn it on and for 13 minutes it pumps negative ions into the water and then it reverses and pumps positive ions into the water for the next 13 minutes.  After a few minutes of the positive ions, all sorts of your body's toxins stream out of the pores of your feet and fill up the water with lots of disgusting particles of various colors.  Based on the colors you can figure out where in your body the toxins came from.  At this point, my daughter was bug-eyed.  It certainly did sound "freaky".

Next we went next door and tried out the Hydro-Massager and that truly was a treat.  You lie down, fully clothed, on a comfortable , soft, black table filled with water heated to body temperature.  You put on some headphones with soothing music, the lights are dimmed and then they turn it on.  A bar of water jets under the surface of the table slowly moves from your toes to your head and back down again.  Once you get the hang of it you can adjust it to only operate over certain portions of your body - say your lower back.  You can adjust the power of the jets and the speed of the movement.  At the end of my 10 minute session I had a smile on my face and was quite relaxed.

Just when we though our tour was over they asked if either of us would like to try the Ionic Foot Bath.  My daughter's eyes lit up.  She was dying to see this in operation ... just not on her so I became the guinea pig.

During the first 13 minutes of negative ions the suspense built.  The machine clicked over and began counting down the 13 minutes of positive ions.  Right on schedule, maybe 3 or 4 minutes into the countdown, the water started filling up with stuff! - black flecks, yellow stuff. He was right, it was freaky and a bit discussing.  At the end of the 13 minutes the water was filled with all sorts of crap.  According to the color coded chart in the guide book my released gunk was primarily a combination of heavy metals and toxins from the liver - maybe it was that glass of wine the night before.

I asked if I should feel any immediate difference and he said no.  It would take a number of sessions before I'd flush out my system enough to notice - sort of like flushing out an old radiator.  When I got home, I asked my wife if she sensed any difference but she thought I was just as toxic as usual.

As for their main services (chiropractic and massage) I can't tell you much except that they've been in business for 19 years, seem to have a good reputation and have a sweet location looking right out on the waterfall. 

So if you might need a good chiropractor or massage or if like me you're just curious about the Hydro Massager or you want to see nasty stuff stream out of your feet sign up for their free Open House on either Friday, 11/15, noon-2PM or for Sunday, 11/17, 2-4PM.