Originally published in MASSAGE Magazine, May 2023
The Veterans Administration Community Care program has approved Zeel in order to connect massage therapists with military veterans. Zeel is now recruiting massage therapists from across the nation for its Massage for Veterans program.
One day while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, Donald Deleskiewicz, a lance corporal, slipped while climbing into a tank. He fell and landed on his tailbone, or coccyx, an accident that led to years of chronic lower-back pain. Over the 30-plus years since he retired from the military, Deleskiewicz has pursued various treatments, including radio frequency, ablation, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) and muscle relaxers—but none of them relieved his pain.
It wasn’t until Deleskiewicz began receiving massage therapy that he felt real relief. Massage, he said, has improved his flexibility, alleviated his chronic pain and allowed him to reduce his use of NSAIDs.
“Nothing has done what massage has done for me, it’s incredible,” he told MASSAGE Magazine. “I never would have imagined it. It’s helped with my movement and helps with the pain a great deal. I’m extremely grateful to the VA for offering this to me.”
Deleskiewicz receives massage through the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Community Care program—and more specifically, by coordinating sessions through Zeel’s Massage for Veterans Program.
Zee has been approved by the VA as a Community Care Provider in order to connect massage therapists with the millions of military veterans who have been living with pain since leaving the service. Zeel is now recruiting massage therapists from across the nation to work with Veterans.
“Nothing has done what massage has done for me, it’s incredible. I never would have imagined it. It’s helped with my movement and helps with the pain a great deal.”
Retired Lance Corporal Donald Deleskiewicz
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), more than 65% of our 16.5 million Veterans live with chronic pain—one factor that has fueled opioid abuse, addiction, and overdose among Veterans. From 2010 to 2016, 6,485 veterans died from opioid overdose. Mortality rates from overdose increased by 53% from 2010 to 2019 among veterans.
The VA has, for more than a decade, made various complementary and integrative therapies available to veterans, alongside Western medical care, but the new approach by Zeel promises to bring healthy touch to veterans on much larger scale.