What We Do
We were first established in 2004 in Ottawa’s west end. Our mission is to provide excellent collaborative service and results while empowering our clientele in achieving their health goals. To help you return to play whether that’s sports, playing with your kids/grandkids, leading an active lifestyle or living pain free. We take those suffering from chronic pain due to physical trauma from restriction to freedom. That physical trauma can be from an injury, fall, motor vehicle accident, surgery, birthing child(ren), etc.
How We Do
Return to Play has decades of experience applying their excellent manual skills to treat the young to the young at heart and anyone in between for their acute injuries like sprains and strains to chronic pain like in your back or neck. We use different modalities like Craniosacral Therapy (CST), Visceral Manipulation, Cupping, Soft Tissue Release, Myofascial Release, Ultrasound, IFC, EMS, etc.
We also treat concussions using CST although CST is not limited to just concussions. It can be applied to many different issues and is a means of releasing deep fascial restriction. Did you know that sometimes chronic pain can be caused by unhappy organs? That can be addressed by visceral manipulation. This treatment approach along with CST is very gentle but don’t underestimate the impact that those subtle changes make in the body. Freeing restriction opens you up to movement. That local release can have a global impact.
Why We Do
Why is fascia so important? It is the connective tissue that covers and connects everything in your body. Your body wants to move globally but also within, your tissues need to be able to move with each other and beside each other. Restrictions or adhesions will limit that ability resulting in limitations to movement and function. We will help calm your central nervous system and give your body a sense of freedom.
Let Return to Play Therapy help kick start your journey towards a more pain-free life of activity and enjoyment. Let us help take you from restriction to freedom. Let us help you return to play.
What to Expect
Kathleen will typically greet you as you come in and she'll direct you to the treatment room. She'll then go an wash her hands and join you. If this is the first visit or a new injury, a thorough history taking will take place. If this is not the first visit, an update from the previous session and any events that have happened since the previous treatment will be asked. If your visit involves the lower body, you may be asked to change into shorts or a t-shirt/tank top for an upper body issue. Kathleen will determine what ranges of motion should be observed and then some orthopedic tests to verify what she'll use to gauge changes post treatment. Something not typical of an Athletic Therapy or Massage Therapy session is that Kathleen will use an "arcing" technique to determine what areas of the body she'll address in the session. Kathleen will stand at your feet, place her hands on your feet to "tune in" to your body. This is painless and only takes a minute or two but will be unusual for most. After this, she'll share what the treatment plan is and get your consent (written if it's the first massage appointment or verbal otherwise). Treatments are typically gentle so as not to stimulate the Central Nervous System (which is usually overstimulated) however some techniques will cause discomfort but she'll let you know of those ones and you have control over the intensity, she'll adjust as needed. Discomfort can be part of certain releases however pain is not, we want to avoid reciprocal tensing in the body. After treatment is done, rechecking ranges of motion or retesting will occur to validate changes in the tissues. Then together we'll determine if a follow-up is needed and when.
Meet Our Team
We are a team of professionals that are passionate about getting you back to living and loving your life.
Kathleen De Jesus-Gauthier
CAT(C), RMT, DipSIM, BScHK Athletic Therapy, Massage Therapy
Kathleen lay motionless on the pitch crying. It was spring of 1998 somewhere in Holland, kick off had just happened but Kathleen’s playing on the tour had just ended. This was the moment that could have either made her or broken her as an athlete, and as a person, but her journey was just beginning.
Kathleen De Jesus-Gauthier became a Certified Athletic Therapist in 2004. She has a Bachelor of Science in Human Kinetics, Honours, from the University of Ottawa in 2000, and a Diploma in Sports Injury Management from Sheridan College in 2004. She achieved high academic standards graduating Magna Cum Laude and the Silver Medal recipient for the highest GPA of the program, respectively. Immediately after graduating, she began working with Rugby Canada with the National Senior Women’s team. She reached one of her goals of when she was selected to be part of the team that competed at the World Cup in 2006 finishing 4th in the world. In 2014, she returned to school at Algonquin College in the Massage Intensive Course qualifying for the Dean’s List each semester. In 2016, she became a Registered Massage Therapist.
Tearing her other ACL in Holland just after rehabilitating from the previous ACL reconstruction surgery brought her to tears, not because of the pain but because she knew she would face another year of rehab. That decision to proceed with another surgery, another round of rehab, molded Kathleen into the therapist she is today. She understands and can empathize when something like an injury or pain stops one from doing what brings one joy. She understands the mindset needed to come back from torn ACLs and go on to play for Canada. She understands that easier rarely means better, and that hard work can lead to the most gratifying outcomes and experiences. Her hard work mentality translated to her athletics and brought her back to high level rugby, being a Rugby Canada U23 Women’s team member in 2000. This attitude of achievement and persistence even saw her take the field for the Algonquin College Women’s Rugby team while she was completing her Massage Therapy Program in 2015 and earned recognition as the MVP of the team.
Finding different and effective ways to get clients moving and enjoying life is what drives her professionally. She has taken courses in Craniosacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation, Soft Tissue Release, and Dynamic taping to further diversify her ability to treat the needs of her clients and set herself apart with her unique skillset. Personally, she’s driven by raising her two sons and being part of a close-knit family that keeps her busy, but also keeps her grounded. She enjoys cycling, puzzle games on her phone and watching movies. She recently found a new passion, pickleball!
That young woman who had laid on that field in Holland made a choice. She chose to push herself towards the goals she set for herself and not be held back by fear or discomfort. She decided the path that was before her was going to be the one she made for herself, and she has now built a business structured on the same philosophy and she looks forward to working with you to help you find your path to recovery.