Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities

EP# 239: Healing Hands: Stephen Opper's Journey Through Pain to Performance

• Skip Mauney • Episode 239

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What makes Stephen Opper with Asheville Pain and Performance a good neighbor?

Ever wondered if the pain you're living with is truly permanent? In this revealing conversation, Stephen Opper of Asheville Pain and Performance challenges the notion that chronic discomfort is something we must simply accept.

Stephen takes us through his unexpected journey into medical massage and bodywork, which began with his fascination with Chinese medicine and evolved through his own struggle with debilitating back pain. "I'd been an athlete and a martial artist and a movement artist my whole life," he shares, explaining how his personal experience transformed his professional approach. After suffering a back injury that left him bedridden for weeks and unable to work for months, Stephen had to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about healing. The result? A deeper, more nuanced understanding of pain relief that has allowed him to help countless others find their way back to comfort and function.

Throughout our conversation, Stephen clarifies important distinctions between relaxation massage and the medical bodywork he practices. His work focuses specifically on treating pain and supporting injury recovery rather than providing spa-like experiences. Most importantly, he offers hope to those who have resigned themselves to living with discomfort: "For most people, there's a way out of pain." His own journey from chronic suffering to being "virtually pain-free" stands as powerful testimony to the healing potential of specialized bodywork when conventional approaches fall short.

Whether you're currently struggling with pain or simply curious about alternative approaches to healing, Stephen's perspective may open your eyes to possibilities you hadn't considered. As he wisely advises, "If you haven't got what you need, keep looking, because it's probably out there." Ready to explore what medical massage might do for your pain? Connect with Stephen through his website at AshevillePainAndPerformance.com or call 828-231-5031.

To learn more about Asheville Pain and Performance go to:

https://www.ashevillepainandperformance.com/

Asheville Pain and Performance 

(828) 231-5031



Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.

Speaker 2:

Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So today we've got a very special guest in the studio with us and I'm very excited to learn all about them and their business. And I'm sure you will be too, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr Stephen Opper, who is the owner-operator of Asheville Pain and Performance. Stephen, welcome to the show. Thanks a lot.

Speaker 3:

Skip, glad to be here. Appreciate you reaching out.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Like I said, we're very excited to hear all about you and Asheville, pain and Performance. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us what you do?

Speaker 3:

All right, asheville, pain and Performance is just me. I perform medical massage. I do deep tissue body work for pain relief, injury recovery and just general maintenance A number of different courses of study and things in my background, but I like helping people In particular. I like helping them get out of pain and recover from injuries, but certainly nothing needs to be talking too loudly. I just like getting to work and finding where things can be improved.

Speaker 2:

Very good, very good. Well, how exactly did you get into this business, stephen?

Speaker 3:

Sort of by accident Back. I think it was 97, I went to school and it was a Tweenaw school. Tweenaw is basically the bodywork portion of Chinese medicine and I was just fascinated with Chinese medicine and Chinese culture at the time and thought it would be a good thing to learn. And by the time I finished school I had I had my, my eldest, my daughter, on the way. So I decided I just got educated for this, might as well start practicing it.

Speaker 2:

There you go Well in the pain and performance massage business. What are some myths or misconceptions? I'm sure there are some in your industry.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, there are plenty, and part of that is because there's a lot of different types of massage and body work, so if you're looking for one but you get the other, that can be a little frustrating. I don't think a lot of people understand how profoundly the right type of body work can help with pain and recovery, and so that's kind of an area that a lot of people have a little bit of a blind spot to, and that's what I like to focus on.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. So, and you say body work, does that differ from just massage in general, or is that just another term for massage?

Speaker 3:

That's a good question. Yeah, thanks for asking, because it is. We use the terms fairly interchangeably. Um, massage just tends to give a little bit more of the idea of a nice relaxing um, you know, experience, you know nice music, scented candles, that sort of thing, which is wonderful, but it's a little different from what I do. But the terms are interchangeable. The license is massage and body work. It's kind of just to cover the whole gamut of things. I tend to use the word body work, but they're totally interchangeable terms.

Speaker 2:

Good to know. So does it well, well, a little deeper than that? Does body work relate more to like closer to physical therapy, or is that part of the body work as well?

Speaker 3:

that's how a lot of us use it, and certainly physical therapists can do hands-on and manual therapy, and I'm actually not certain how they tend to refer to it. I don't believe they usually refer to it as massage, but it all falls under the same category of hands-on manual therapy, and so most of us who use the word body work are talking about something a little bit more on the medical side of things.

Speaker 2:

Good to know. So, outside of work, stephen, if there is time outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3:

Outside of work. Well, I love these mountains. I get in them less than I'd like to, but a lot more than if I did live somewhere else, that's for sure, Trying to spend a little bit more time in there this summer. I've also got five kids, three by blood and two stepkids, and they're fantastic. I'm kind of at the tail end of raising them. I've only got one left in high school and the rest are all graduated and they come and go, but they're less here than they used to be. So you know, my wife and I are entering that phase of life where we start having time again, so we're going to figure out what to do with it again, so we're going to figure out what to do with it.

Speaker 2:

Almost empty nest. I'm with you, brother. I got five kids as well. My wife blended family. My wife had three, I had two and, yeah, we love spending time with them and that's always the right answer is spending time with family.

Speaker 3:

That's. That's a lot. There aren't. I haven't encountered too many people in a similar situation. Yeah, that's that. We're in the exact same situation.

Speaker 2:

Yep, that's right. So a question can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger in the end?

Speaker 3:

Oh sure, you know. One is, you know, just as relates to my work was, you know, having a back injury. And it kind of happened in a couple phases. You know, I first injured my back when I was 22. And it was, ironically, just a couple weeks before I was finishing school for body work, weeks before I was finishing school for body work, and even though I was, you know, going to school, you know, for this I hadn't really had, I'd been an athlete and a martial artist and a movement artist my whole life, you know, and that was part of how I got interested in just the body and how it functions. But I never had any pain. That, you know, didn't resolve itself in a few days. And so when I was 22, I sprained my back pretty good and it wasn't catastrophic, but it just didn't resolve itself in a few days. And so when I was 22, I sprained my back pretty good and it wasn't catastrophic, but it just didn't go away. It was every night, falling asleep for years, oh man, my back hurts. Every morning waking up, oh man, my back hurts. And then usually if I got warm, I was okay, you know, for for most of the day.

Speaker 3:

And you know, and that was a long process of finding different people to try to help me, seeing what works, seeing what didn't work, and I got to a good plateau where I was mostly pain-free, but a few. You know, two or three times a year I would do something and I couldn't get out of bed for a couple of days. And you know, in retrospect I couldn't get out of bed for a couple of days. And in retrospect obviously that means there's still a lot of work to do. But it took a lot of work to kind of get to that point and I thought, well, maybe this is maybe I just have to accept this.

Speaker 3:

And then one day I decided my back was flaring up and I said I'll take my own advice. So I went to go see somebody for help and I walked in with back pain and walked out with disc bulging on my spine and so that was a whole other level of pain and just dysfunction. Things just didn't work. It's one thing to push through pain, but when things don't work you can't do anything about it. So I was basically bedridden for three weeks, couldn't work for about six months and then I could only work part-time for about six more months. And you know, it was ironic because I'd been doing body work professionally, helping people with their bodies, studying the body.

Speaker 3:

I'd been, you know, moving in my body and teaching people movement practices, you know moving in my body and teaching people movement practices, and I knew I had issues, and that's part of why I did, you know, so many therapeutic movement practices, but I didn't realize how close to the edge of a cliff I was standing, and then I kind of fell off the cliff and so what it did, you know, at the time I wasn't exactly happy about it, but I had to kind of almost go back to the drawing board and say, ok, some of the things I know are correct and some of them are clearly incorrect. And for a while, you know, I was just trying to figure out which was correct and incorrect. What did I understand correctly and where were the big blind spots I'd been missing, and so I learned a lot from that experience. Were the big blind spots I'd been missing, and so I learned a lot from that experience? You know, happy to say my back is in better shape now than it has been since before.

Speaker 3:

You know the injury. You know I'm virtually pain free. We all have our kind of weakest link, but you know, most days my back doesn't bother me in the least. But I had to really kind of reevaluate a lot of what I thought I knew, and so ultimately I'm grateful for what I've learned because of it. At the time I wouldn't have willingly gone through that for some knowledge, but in retrospect I'm incredibly grateful for the knowledge I gained from that.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's good news that you're paying free virtually, and of course, we're all, like you said, not not paying free, but especially around my age. But but that's great and and and I I'm sure serves as motivation for you to help others to deal with the same thing.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. And you know, especially once you know, I started making it out the other side and going, oh, this can actually heal, this can keep healing, this can heal beyond where I thought was an acceptable plateau. You know, and so that has allowed me to see you know, that for most people there's a way out of pain. Sometimes, you know, sometimes, honestly, all we can do is diminish pain, and often there's a way completely out of pain, and so it takes persistence. But it's, having seen it both in myself and in others, I have a lot more faith in that process. Awesome.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Well, stephen, if you could think of one thing you would like our listeners to remember about Asheville pain and performance what would that be?

Speaker 3:

Well, I guess the first thing would just be to remember that I'm here and available and very happy to help people with, you know, body issues they want to improve with. I'm in the Asheville area. I know some of you all are a little farther, but not just me. Like I said, there's great practitioners of all sorts and sometimes if you're working with somebody and it's not giving you what you need, there's other folks to try. You know. There's, I know, incredible people who are really good at helping some folks, but they can't help everybody and unfortunately that's that's. That's true for all of us. And so you know, like I was saying, I kind of foolishly accepted living with a good deal of pain and discomfort, and it was years later that I actually got the help I needed to get all the way out of it, and so I just want to remind people that the same is true for most of us. You know, if you haven't got what you need, keep looking, because it's probably out there.

Speaker 2:

Keep looking. The solution's out there and one of them is Asheville Pain and Performance. So for those of us listeners who are interested and are in pain and need help and, by the way, we do have listeners all across Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, so we're not that far away how can they learn more about what you offer?

Speaker 3:

You can go to my website, which is AshevillePainAndPerformancecom, and I've got some write-ups and things that describe a little bit about my background and my approach, and you're always welcome to call or text me at 828-231-5031.

Speaker 2:

Very good 831-5031. Very good Well, stephen, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us and our listeners all about what you do, and thank you for what you do for getting people out of pain. That's something that a lot of people live with and I think you're right they don't realize there's opportunities there to change that. So thank you so much for that and we wish you and your family and all five of your kids and your business all the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Skip. I appreciate the time and opportunity.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, absolutely, and maybe we can have you back on the show sometime in the future that'd be fantastic, all right.

Speaker 1:

Thanks so much thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnp try-citiescom. That's gnp try-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.