Jan 25, 2016Hands-On Experience
With a win-win partnership in place, the Detroit Pistons use massage therapy to help its players stay at the top of their game. Through this program, advanced massage students gain clinical experience and perspective on working with professional athletes, while the team members’ benefits include relaxation, improved well-being, and rest.
According to an article in Massage Magazine, the program began in September 2015 when Luke Fritz, the son of a Michigan massage school’s owner and director, suggested the partnership to the Pistons’ director of sports medicine. Fritz had a history of working with the NBA team, beginning in 2011 as a massage intern. Following that experience, he continued to work with the Pistons through most of 2015, until leaving to begin the Detroit Pistons Sports Massage Program with the Health Enrichment Center School of Therapeutic Massage.
“Sandy Fritz and I directly supervise the program, working hands-on together with the students,” Luke Fritz told Massage Magazine. “This offers not only consistent, safe, and effective therapeutic massage to the athlete, but also a rich and complex educational environment.”
