New massage therapist comes to Lincoln

Sherry Kaup, a licensed massage therapist, recently opened The Celtic Touch Massage Therapy at her home near Lincoln.

Kaup and her husband Robin are new to Lincoln, having moved here from the Willamette Valley in Oregon last November.

Kaup, who has been a massage therapist for about 12 years, said she got her Montana license "the minute we knew we were moving."

In addition to offering Asian, Swedish, trigger point and deep tissue massage, Kaup is also a medical massage therapist.

As a medical massage therapist, doctors can tell her what needs to be worked on or fixed and it allows her to bill insurance companies. "It's different than physical therapy," she said. "It's a lot less painful and a lot more comfortable usually."

"My biggest joy in doing massage is in improving a person's lifestyle and their ability to cope with pain. It improves their quality of living," she said.

Kaup said she got into massage therapy after her own experiences being "beat up" by a massage therapist who helped her with back and jaw issues. "She worked on me enough and proved to me it could make a change."

Kaup works out of her house on Stonewall Creek Road and plans to keep the business at home. It's more than just a cost saving move. She feels their property also offers her clients with some additinoal benefits. "When summer hits and people can use the back half, it's very therapeutic out there." She said they can come have a cup of tea, sit outdoors and enjoy the surroundings.

"Right now I'd lose them in the snow drifts," she joked. Clients can also check out her other business, Lady Irish Antiquities, an antique business she also runs out of her home.

Kaup and her husband have always collected antiques, but she said they really got into it in the last ten years. "When (Robin's ) father passed away we inherited a massive quantity of antiques. When as they sold we had to start hitting estate sales and auctions to supplement. it just become and obsession."

Kaup said the names for her businesses stem from the fact she's fourth generation Irish.

Although the Kaups came to Lincoln from the Willamette valley, they're used to small towns. The couple originally hails from Joseph, Ore., a small community in the mountains of eastern Oregon near the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

"We liked the people when we came through," she said. "He wanted to retire and we were so tired of the politics in Oregon, we just wanted to get out."