Who I Am

Orthopedic Massage | Stefania Caldwell | Rockwall, TexasBorn and raised in Italy, Stefania moved to the USA in 2008. She is licensed in the State of Texas as well as Nationally Certified. She entered the massage world in 2001 through her work with horses, studying their anatomy and bio-mechanics, in order to help them perform at their best. Performance horses are athletes, and as such they benefit from regular bodywork massage as much as human beings. They are no different than us. Even the muscles and bones carry the same Latin names.

Most of the time, in order to be able to really help a horse, she had to look at the rider too… any muscle unbalance in the rider directly affects the horse performance!

Stef’s approach comes from the view of the body as a whole. She makes a silent commitment to every client to look for the least invasive and most efficient technique in order to help as quickly as possible.

Every person is unique, in his/her anatomy, stress patterns and pain level. Stef treasures the challenge of every single case as a motivation to constantly improve and study.

Massage and helping people is a passion for her. Knowledge and empathy, patience and determination are her strongest points.

I feel free to say that for me massage is a passion, a constant quest to improve for every single person, in order to offer the quickest possible relief from pain and discomfort. That’s my most sincere and heartfelt commitment to my clients. I like to use the word bodywork instead of massage in order to highlight the therapeutic approach of my work. I feel so blessed and humbled to have been able to help people with some serious issues.

A word from Stef:

Orthopedic Massage Therapy | Rockwall, TXMy interest in the Orthopedic work, started from a personal experience of its amazing results: in my late 20s I got bucked off and fractured my coccyx. After 6 months the pain at the heel strike was still excruciating and only thanks to cortisone shots I was able to go to work everyday. From an athletic active swimmer/rider/jogger I turned into a forced “couch potato” but worst of all was not so much the crippling pain, but the fact that despite the better specialists, diagnostics and numerous different therapies, nobody was able to tell me why I was still hurting, let alone finding a solution! I was definitely starting to fall into depression when my riding instructor in Milan, Sergio Fusi, met the orthopedic bodyworker that in three sessions, 4 days apart, got me back in the saddle. His name is Salvatore, I do not even remember his last name, but his work and approach is not forgotten for sure!!! Than, one day at the barn, I came across Eliana Speziale working on a horse… her techniques really caught my eye, it was like watching Salvatore except on an equine!! It happens that Eliana is the owner of an equine massage school, Equiter, and that day and right there I signed up with her.

Pretty soon after graduating I realized that to really help the horses I had to improve the riders too, since a rider and his horse are like dancers, flowing together and communicating through body contact.. Equitation is all about feel and touch, so if the rider pelvis is uneven his aids and clues won’t be balanced nor able to create balance in the horse. It’s as simple as that and the switch to people just came naturally.

Stefania Lee | Rockwall, TX Orthopedic Massage Therapist