A Softer Courtroom Touch
Most lawyers don’t promote their soft touch, but Steve Wetzel sees his as a courtroom advantage.
Nearly half of his clients are people who have suffered injuries in cars, on skis, on foot. Broken bones are easy to prove with X-rays. But muscle tears and other soft tissue injuries aren’t. They’re microscopic, forcing juries to judge on circumstantial evidence.
“You can’t see soft tissue injuries without dissecting muscles or ligaments,” says Steve, whose office is in Coeur d’Alene. “Massage therapists can tell about a person from the feel of the muscle.”
So Steve, who’s 44, enrolled in Coeur d’Alene’s American Institute of Clinical Massage to delve deeper.
Lingering neck pain nudged Steve to a massage therapist five years ago. He’d crashed on a motorcycle in 1972 and the pain steadily intensified over the years.
His massage therapist showed him how to hold his head to relieve the strain on his neck. She explained how his muscles worked and taught him exercises and stretches. He was intrigued and dabbled with massage at home.
Science had fascinated Steve since he was an insect collector in 4-H. Massage awakened his interest in anatomy and physiology. College required too many prerequisites for taking a massage class, but the massage institute required only one: Introduction to Massage Therapy.
Steve started the 100-hour class a month ago, along with several nurses and other health professionals.
“It’s definitely more than learning to give a back rub,” he says. “The anatomy and physiology is coming at me a lot faster than I expected.”
He had to learn all of the bones and systems of the body. He spent half a day in Washington State University’s cadaver lab watching dissections and seeing the human body as he’d never seen it. He began to understand muscle strains and whiplash.
“It was absolutely amazing,” he says. “I saw muscles, the spine, the size of nerves.”
He’ll visit the lab again and learn about muscles and joints - all to qualify for the anatomy class he wants next. Everything he learns will help him present a more solid case to juries and improve his retirement years.
“A good portion of us Baby Boomers will have to work well into retirement,” Steve says, smiling like a man who has it all figured out. “I’m toying with the idea of retiring in a resort area, giving massages …”
Basket bucks
The Coeur d’Alene Public Library Foundation’s idea for its big fundraising party Friday belongs in a book, if it’s not in one already. Auctioning off gift baskets, or crates in some cases, based on book themes is pretty creative.
Guess which books inspired these auction items: a bird bath, golf bag, mountain bike, fishing raft, little red wagon, cat basket and aquarium.
“A Tisket, A Tasket - A Literary Basket” will start at 6 p.m. at the Coeur d’Alene Inn and costs $15 per person. The price, of course, is pre-auction but includes some decent entertainment and appetizers. Stop by the library for tickets.
Food for thought
Shakespeare would have approved. The top-notch Idaho Shakespeare Festival will perform “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the Post Falls High gym Thursday and asks nothing but a donation of food for its work.
The low price is thanks to the high school, the Post Falls Arts Commission and companies that sponsor the state’s Shakespearience program. The fun starts at 7:30 p.m.
Exhibitionist
Remember Terry Lee, Coeur d’Alene’s reluctant artist whose impressionistic paintings recently netted him $18,000? You can find his work at The Gallery, 507 Sherman Ave.
What have you forgotten that’s come back to haunt you? Confess to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; send a fax to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo