MARCY PRENDERGAST
LMT, FAKTR, Prenatal Certified
BACKGROUND
Marcy is from the Midwest originally, and grew up near Cleveland, Ohio. She was into sports from a young age, and some of her earliest memories are cheering on the Tribe at games with her parents and older sister. She was involved in basketball, volleyball, softball, and soccer in middle school, lacrosse in high school, and crew as an NCAA Division I athlete in college. It was in high school and college that Marcy had her first experiences with sports injuries, and she has spent her fair share of time in the athletic trainer’s office recovering after practice and competitions. Marcy’s passion for physical activity is part of what led her to move to Colorado after graduating in 2014. She enjoys escaping to the mountains to hike, climb, and snowboard. Practicing yoga was her preferred form of exercise, until she was introduced to Crossfit by her sister. Her first WOD was at Crossfit Wash Park, where she met Dr. Goodman and other members of the Wash Park Chiro Team!
EDUCATION
Marcy earned her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of Dayton. She minored in French, and had an incredible experience studying abroad and living with a host family in Angers, France. This bolstered her passion for international travel and cultural exchange, and shaped the path that she took after graduating. Marcy took on a research internship in Auroville, India through her university’s engineering department. After graduating, she also had the opportunity to move to Zaragoza, Spain, where she lived with a host family working as an Au Pair and taught English at a local school for a year. Her Crossfit gym in Spain, Base Rocalla, became like a home away from home : ) Upon returning to the US, Marcy got certified in TESOL, then taught English to international students online. Though she was passionate about teaching and loved seeing her students progress, she had realized during her year abroad that this was not the career for her long term. She wanted to draw on her passion for physical activity and get into a realm of working with the body as well as the mind.
WHY ARE YOU A MASSAGE THERAPIST?
After meeting Dr. Goodman at Crossfit Wash Park, Marcy decided to give chiropractic care a try to help recover from sports injuries. She was extremely happy with the experience - not only how her body felt after treatment, but also how welcoming and helpful the Wash Park Chiro Team was from the moment she stepped into the office. When a front desk position became available, Marcy was eager to become a part of the team! This gave her a unique perspective to explore different body work disciplines and find one she was passionate about. While working at the front desk, Marcy went to massage school at Aveda Institute.
AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST
Though the instruction at Aveda Institute was spa focused, Marcy benefitted from having an educator who also had a clinical background, working out of a chiropractic office. She also took advantage of the incredible opportunity to train under the LMTs and acupuncturist at Wash Park Chiro while she went to school, and was incredibly grateful to learn from them and receive honest, constructive feedback while she developed her skills. Marcy specializes in Deep Tissue, Trigger Point Therapy, Flame Cupping, ART, and Pin and Stretch/Passive Release Techniques. She is also a FAKTR Certified Provider, incorporating IASTM with movement, load, or resistance to work through positions that provoke a patient’s pain. She enjoys working with patients to find the root of their pain and dysfunction, and get them feeling and moving better, and back to doing the activities they love. She has also grown to enjoy treating prenatal patients after benefiting greatly from the care of her colleagues during her own pregnancy.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO DO IN YOUR FREE TIME?
Marcy is all about trying new things. Travel makes her heart happy, and she enjoys experiencing different cultures, trying the local food, and meeting new people (though she will tell you that she is incredibly socially awkward). She was fortunate enough to meet people from all over the world in the comfort of her own home through her ESL teaching position. She also has a special place in her heart for the bonds she makes with her massage patients while treating them, and derives genuine joy from getting them out of pain and back to the activities they are passionate about. She has an ever-growing list of national parks and US cities that she is dying to check out (not to mention the even longer list of international destinations, with over 20 countries checked off so far). When she is not working, she is usually moving! Yoga and Crossfit are her main forms of activity, but she also goes hiking, climbing, and snowboarding, and is open to other challenges, like that time she tried surfing (mostly unsuccessfully). She even tried mountain biking once, but was admittedly terrified. Marcy is also totally fine with being lazy on occasion, and spends a lot of time reading, sitting by a campfire with friends, and watching movies/series. These days, her main form of physical activity is running around after her small human. She loves to spend her spare time hanging out with her fiancé Ben, baby Graham, and dog Oly.