Tarsha Long, BSC, OT: OT in Soft Tissue & Myofascial Release
In this post, we will learn about an occupational therapy practitioner who specializes in soft tissue & myofascial release in her rural OT practice. Tarsha Long, BSC, OT is a country girl from the bottom southwest of Western Australia, a beautiful Coastal town called Bremer Bay. She spent half of her life as a townie and the other half on the family farm, where she learned the beauty of hard work. She had a life-changing accident at 12 years old, which left her in the hospital for 6 months and using a wheelchair for another 6 months. This experience taught Tarsha the art of resilience, perseverance, and also how to think outside the box (incoming OT in the making). Tarsha used a gardening chair as a chair to shower independently, she had to re-learn how to climb stairs, and sit to stand independently. Over time, recovered and is now fully functional. She began her studies as an OT at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. She continued professional development with a two-day course in Soft Tissue and O and then proceeded to do her postgraduate work in Soft Tissue OT. Then, the birth of The OT Place happened, her private practice. Tarsha has a passion for helping people manage their symptoms as well as empowering and educating them to look after their bodies to manage them on their own and prevent future injuries or flare-ups via taking a holistic approach to her OT practice. Over the course of the last three years, Tarsha has completed more training in breath work, mobility, lymphatics, and the toxic load placed on the body. Her business has heavily expanded into the athletic and CrossFit space in Australia. She works at CrossFit competitions throughout Perth, and during the winter, works with sporting teams and alongside teachers and office workers as well.
Q & A with Tarsha:
Please tell us a little about yourself, and share some of your favorite occupations.
I am from a small country town called Jerramungup in the southwest of Western Australia. I grew up in town and spent summer holidays on the family farm. Where I learned how to drive, shear sheep, drench and shoot haha. I moved to Perth for high school and stayed on for uni, where I was an Education assistant and then opened up my business in Jan 2018. In my first year of living in Perth, A balcony on a 2 story building collapsed and I broke my left hip, pelvis, and leg. spent 6 months in the hospital and then 3 months in a wheelchair and then on crutches. The year after I had recovered I held the champion girl for athletics and track and field from year 9 to year 12. Which was crazy! During high school, I participated in soccer and made the state team 3 times, but unfortunately kept getting injured in pre-season for state. I have been heavily involved in sports for a long time. My favorite occupations to date, are CrossFit, surfing, camping, and well my work! haha
What motivated you to contribute to this podcast series?
I wanted to share more about Soft Tissue Occupational therapy and the difference it can make in the area of pain management. It enables people to continue to engage in meaningful activities and reduce the amount of medication required, reducing the load on their lymphatic systems. It is such a rewarding area and a major passion of mine.
Please describe the UncommonOT work that you do and the setting in which you work, the population you serve, and the needs that you address.
I work in the Soft Tissue Occupational Therapy area of practice. I serve people with pain and injuries to allow them to keep participating in meaningful activities. The main population that I work with are athletes, office workers, and teachers. I address ergonomic setups, pain management techniques, myofascial release (addressing pathology concerns), stress management, grading, and adapting activities to ensure participation is continued.
What inspired you or drew you to this type of OT work?
I actually fell into this area. I went along on a professional development course while I was working as an Education Assistant/ Part-time Paediatric OT as I was struggling to find work. The course was a Soft Tissue course and OT. Immediately fell in love and continued studying and shadowing fellow OTs in this area. At this time we had a job shortage for OTs. It got to a point, where I decided to create my own job and that is how The OT Place was born.
How did you get there? Can you describe your path?
I would describe my journey as turbulent. The journey was me following the pulls of passion and interest. Through doing this I was always presented with different opportunities, mentors, and people that led me to open my own business.
Please describe a typical day or OT session in your uncommon setting. What OT skills do you utilize?
Oh wow, My day is a mix at the moment between balancing being a CEO, therapist, and outreach to promote this area of OT and my business. A typical day is spent, completing Admin tasks, developing my new online Soft Tissue Mastery to teach other OTs this area of practice, and seeing clients. In my client/therapist sessions, I utilize some counselling skills, checking on my client’s mental health, stress management techniques, and whether they completed their homework from their last session,; myofascial release, and lymphatic work, so treating the symptoms of their pain/ injury, and then some meditation, or breathwork, addressing lifestyle habits such as the benefits of a purposeful walk and provide homework, for example, mobility exercises, breathing techniques, and adapting of tasks that aggravate their issue.
Can you talk about some recent highs (successes) and lows (challenges) of your current role?
The biggest high from this line of work is discharging a client! Having them pop in and show you where they are now! how happy they are, and listening to them and acknowledging how different their mindset is. The low of this current role, and I guess with a lot of OT roles is not every client is willing to do the work. Another low is it is an uncommon OT area of practice and the biggest challenge is educating the wider populations about this area.
How do you continue to learn in order to stay on top of things within your role?
I continue to learn through a Soft Tissue Interest group that I created with another OT, where we hold space for other OTs to learn about this area, share their knowledge and discuss case studies. I also look for tools that I can add to my toolbox. I have recently been learning how to use value cards to facilitate a client to move through the different stages of motivation; I am currently studying to be a mobility coach and a breath work coach, to empower my clients to manage their pain/ injury as well through the use of these skills. I love utilizing a trans-disciplinary approach to health care!
Can you share a little bit about salary and compensation in this setting? How do OT or the services you provide get funded?
Your salary is dependent on how many clients you see, which relies on how well you educate and promote your business and role. The services can be funded through Enhanced Care plans provided by General Practitioners, who provided 5 per year. The other area is worker’s compensation claims and private health.
Any career advice for our followers and listeners on how to get started on this path?
My advice is to follow your passions and interests and use that as your GPS. It will never lead you astray. my advice for getting into soft tissue OT, well as of 10th Jan 2022, I will be running the first intake of my course "Soft Tissue Mastery", otherwise shadow other OTs in the field. There are two other people who run courses in Western Australia, Nicola Wearne at Max health and Roisin through the Australian OT Association.
What’s a common myth or misconception about your job/role you’d like to call out or demystify?
We are not like physio! I am sure everyone has heard that one before. We actually work so well in conjunction with them. I liaise with the physio with several of my clients, they do a lot more acute management and active rehab and strength with the clients. I do holistic, mental health, stress management, alternative tasks, ergo assessments, breathwork, etc.. I take in the whole person and how to best promote the healing journey for the client.
How do we find you, follow you, be in touch with you, and promote your unique work?
Follow me through Instagram @theotplace and @tarshajay (the unorthodox OT). You can get in touch with me through them the best or through my email which is tarsha@theotplace.com.au And ask to join the National Soft Tissue Interest group on Facebook! we hold meeting every 2 months.
My website has my “Soft Tissue Mastery” course details and heaps of information on it www.theotplace.com.au
As always, I welcome any feedback & ideas from all of you or if you are interested in being a guest on future episodes, please do not hesitate to contact Patricia Motus at transitionsot@gmail.com or DM via Instagram @transitionsot
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