Specialized, assessment-driven bodywork for people living with complex medical conditions—from children with genetic disorders to individuals navigating paralysis after a traumatic injury or living with cancer.
Drawing on extensive experience with medically complex cases, Dedric adapts each session to the individual’s condition, comfort, mobility, and care needs. Treatment focuses on comfort, easing muscular tension, and supporting movement where possible, in coordination with the client’s medical care team when appropriate.
Treatment begins with a detailed intake and assessment to understand the client’s medical background, current symptoms, and functional limitations.
The focus of care may include improving circulation, reducing muscular guarding, supporting nervous system regulation, and increasing comfort during recovery. Sessions are adapted to respect each client’s current capacity and medical considerations.
This service is provided by the Clinical Director and is intended for cases that require a higher level of clinical attention.
We do not diagnose or prescribe and are not a substitute for medical care and clients are encouraged to continue working with their medical health care providers.
Session length & price
Care Series
Series available for this treatment:
5 sessions × 30 minutes — $395.25 · Book a visit
5 sessions × 60 minutes — $953.25 · Book a visit
6 sessions × 75 minutes — $1,500.00 · Book a visit
Book a visit using the links above and ask us to apply your selected series at checkout. New five-session Care Series include one complimentary eligible add-on per visit, selected with your therapist; schedule any extra time in advance. Use within one year of purchase; unused value then converts to account credit.
A Premier Enhancement to the EK Functional Model™
Massage + Functional Cupping & Gua Sha
Exclusively with Dedric
Focused care that honors the unique organization and function of your connective tissue. Functional cupping uses suction to lift and mobilize soft tissue. Dedric applies controlled, directional gua sha strokes with a smooth-edged natural marble tool, adapting pressure, direction and pace to your response.
Small clinical studies suggest gua sha may help reduce neck and low-back discomfort over the short term. These techniques complement individualized hands-on care, with the goal of supporting tissue glide and more comfortable movement.
10 additional minutes | Only $25
Available with eligible 60-, 75-, 90- and 120-minute treatments with Dedric. Select your treatment, then choose the Premier add-on.
OUR TREATMENTS
Apex: Advanced Medical Massage for Complex Conditions
Provided by: Dedric C.
Available Add-Ons
Enhancements: Enhancements are integrated within your scheduled session time. They complement the primary treatment focus without extending the overall appointment length.
Extensions (+10 Minutes): Extensions add 10 additional minutes of focused work, allowing for deeper experience.
Functional Cupping
Add a few minutes of functional cupping to enhance your functional bodywork. Hydrates tissue, assists in alignment and pain reduction.
Empirical Feet — Targeted Reflexology Reset
A concentrated reflexology and foot knead. Reflexology focuses on mapped zones of the feet corresponding to systemic function. And via the Empirical Knead Functional Model, a foot massage honoring the flow of your arches; with stretching of toes, feet and ankles. Free the feet, free the body.
Aromatherapy
A curated single or essential oil blend applied strategically to support nervous system regulation, breath depth, and session integration.
Selected based on your clinical presentation and desired outcome — grounding, energizing, respiratory support, or deep relaxation.
Designed to complement your primary session without extending time.
Scalp Knead Therapy
Focused work addressing muscle and fascial tension across the scalp, cranial plates, jaw, and temporal region.
Daily activities such as chewing, speaking, screen use, and prolonged concentration often create accumulated tension in these structures.
This extension supports decompression of cranial fascia, jaw soft tissue, and upper cervical attachments — encouraging nervous system down-regulation and postural ease.
CBD Enhancement
Pain and anxiety feed on each other. Physical discomfort heightens nervous-system arousal, which lowers your pain threshold and makes tension feel more intense. Our topical CBD enhancement is designed to help interrupt that cycle.
Approximately 40 mg of topical CBD is applied as a spot treatment to areas of moderate pain or muscle tension, or more broadly to support whole-body relaxation. Early research and client reports suggest CBD may help take the edge off localized pain and ease the anxiety that often amplifies it. More research is needed to confirm these effects.
Add CBD to any Empirical Knead session in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward.
Scope of Practice
Empirical Knead provides therapeutic massage and structural bodywork within the professional scope of licensed massage therapy.
Services are intended to support musculoskeletal function, neuromuscular balance, and structural alignment. We do not diagnose medical conditions, prescribe treatment, or serve as a substitute for medical care.
Clients experiencing acute injury, progressive neurological symptoms, or other medical concerns are encouraged to consult an appropriate licensed healthcare provider.
Any discussion of structural patterns or dysfunction reflects clinical observation within the scope of manual therapy and should not be interpreted as a medical diagnosis.