History of the Pfrimmer Work

Thérèse C. Pfrimmer, a registered massage therapist and physiotherapist from Ontario, Canada, not only created the method of Deep Muscle Therapy, but was her own first patient. Her discovery of this technique in 1946 led to the reversal of her own paralysis. She then dedicated the rest of her life, some 34 years, to research on muscles, training others in her discovery, and aiding in the improvement of a broad spectrum of disabilities and diseases.

In 1946, when Thérèse was stricken with paralysis to the lower extremities, she was diagnosed as incurable. Not satisfied with the doctors' explanation that the human body would 'carry around deteriorated nerves', she set out to prove that the nerves were basically inactive and could be restored. She began by manipulating her own legs and found them to be painful to the touch. Rather than just massage the muscles, she would actually dig into them. Each day her legs became stronger. In three month's time, she reversed her own paralysis! She became determined to find the relationship between her discovery and the obvious cause of the paralysis, her muscles. In her determination to uncover this truth, she began to work as a volunteer on others who were incapacitated.


Deep Muscle Therapy is Born!

Thérèse volunteered at a local hospital and got permission to work on a dying patient named Ethel Brown. Miss Brown was completely paralyzed, with movement only in her eyes and lips. The treatments began in November, 1947, and by March, 1948, Miss Brown was able to sit up in bed and do some exercises. When consultation with the doctors at the hospital offered no explanation for these improvements, Thérèse embarked on a postgraduate course at the College of Swedish Massage in Chicago in an effort to learn more. By 1949, Ethel Brown was released from the hospital, fully recovered. She went on to live a normal life for 29 more years until her death in 1976. Thérèse realized that she had made a medical discovery. The technique of Pfrimmer Deep Muscle Therapy was born!

Thérèse established her first clinic in 1949 in Goderich, Ontario. For the next thirty years she treated thousands of cases from all walks of life, suffering from all types of crippling conditions and afflictions. Her clinic was recommended to people by word of mouth or by doctor's prescriptions. They came from all of the Canadian provinces, from almost all of the 50 United States, and from a great many other countries, even as far as New Zealand and Australia. Thérèse documented her findings in 1970 in her book, "Muscles-Your Invisible Bonds". In her book, she expressed this desire: "There should be clinics of this kind spread throughout so that it would be available to more people." To meet this goal, Thérèse began to teach others her technique in 1971.


Pfrimmer Schooling

Thérèse held her first class in 1971 with two professionals attending. Between 1971 and her death in 1980, she taught approximately 70 students in her clinic in Bayfield, Ontario. Her work became well known as Deep Muscle Therapy, Canadian Massage, and Pfrimmer Deep Muscle Therapy. As her health declined, Thérèse selected a professional therapist and comrade, Mary Kish, to assist her in teaching and to be responsible for inviting future Pfrimmer Instructors. That resulted in the two Master Pfrimmer Instructors, Victoria Ross and Ruthann Hobbs, and the two Pfrimmer institutes in operation today. These are 1) Mary-Jo and John Myers: Pfrimmer Institute for Corrective Muscle Therapy, Ltd (PICMT), and 2) Ruthann Hobbs: Pfrimmer Institute of Indiana (PII).

Be sure to look for the PFRIMMER LOGO to ensure schooling in the pure, original technique of Thérèse C. Pfrimmer.


The Work Goes On

Before her death, Thérèse organized the International Association of Pfrimmer Deep Muscle Therapists (IAPDMT), to protect and promote her work and to support her practitioners. Thérèse Pfrimmer passed away on March 11, 1980. However, she left behind her a trail of satisfied clients who would seek further help from the therapists that Thérèse personally trained through her school. Pfrimmer Deep Muscle Therapists, now numbering in the hundreds, can be found in many parts of the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, and the world. You may visit the IAPDMT web site  for a list of Pfrimmer Deep Muscle Therapists who are active members of the IAPDMT.

We at PICMT are excited about providing relief from pain and discomfort as we expand and bring the benefits of Pfrimmer Deep Muscle Therapy® to people dealing with the debilitating effects of our critical times.

Please contact Pfrimmer Institute for Corrective Muscle Therapy with any special request you might have about bringing the Pfrimmer program to your area.

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