Photo: www.hardballtalk.nbcsports.com, www.wbez.org
Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with Masa during the off-season. As a professional athlete, the health and well being of my body is paramount to my success, and while training with Masa, I have been able to make significant strides in so many vital areas of my overall conditioning. Not only has he helped me substantially increase my flexibility, but he has decreased a number of body soreness issues that seem to plague me during the baseball season. Through Masa’s one on one treatment with me, I have been able to limit injury and he always gets my body back to feeling well in a much shorter time than anyone I have ever worked with. Whether you are an athlete trying to increase your performance, or just trying to keep your body feeling healthy and well, I would highly recommend Masa and his staff at Performance Integration!
Curtis Granderson Jr. – Professional Baseball Player and Founder of Grandkids Foundation
Photo: www.insidemnsoccer.com
I really enjoyed my time rehabbing with Masa. He is very intuitive and listened to what I was saying to find my problems. He instilled confidence with just enough drive to get me back in shape. After two Hip surgeries I returned to play Professional soccer at the age of 38.
Tony Sanneh – Retire US National Team soccer player and current CEO of The Sanneh Foundation
Photo: www.chicagonow.com, www.wgntv.com
After having Tommy John surgery (UCL tear in elbow) on July 16th, 2015 I wanted to learn about my body and figure out what caused this to happen. Even though knowing it’s a lot of things that could’ve caused it. Working with Masa and simply working on my breathing and repositioning my body really helped my body become more flexible. Working on hip and shoulder mobility has helped make throwing for the first time 8 1/2 later, easier. I’m excited to continue to work with Masa throughout the rest of my career. Masa helped me really understand my body and I’m still learning from him. I can’t thank Masa enough!
Blake Hickman – Professional Baseball Player
Photo: www.uicflames.com
Masa was my athletic trainer at University of Illinois at Chicago. He did unbelievable work for our Basketball team as well as many other teams over the course of my four years of athletic eligibility. His knowledge and understanding of the way the human body works and methods of training and recovery are outstanding. His constant drive to learn more and better himself has really shown in his knowledge of performance and recovery in sports. I was very lucky to have Masa as an athletic trainer through my college career. He has helped me through concussions, shoulder injury, hip pointer, knee pre-hab, broken finger recovery and many other sports injuries. I am to this day grateful for the great work he has done, as I continue to play professional basketball in Germany with a healthy body going into my fourth professional season.
Jessica Miller – DJK Brose Bamberg Professional Basketball Team
Photo: Cleveland Cavaliers
It is a privilege for me to write a testimonial for Masa, a great mentor and a close friend of mine. He guided me from the beginning of my career as a novice athletic trainer to where I am now. I have faith in his professionalism as well as his honest and sincere personality. It is without a doubt that his outstanding skills and in-depth knowledge of human body shall yield the best result for the clients. I strongly recommend Performance Integration to anyone who is looking to improve/restore their body function for better sports performance or quality of life.
Yusuke Nakayama, PhD, ATC, PES, CES – NBA Cleveland Cavaliers Assistant Athletic Trainer/Performance Scientist
Masa is a talented and passionate practitioner. I have had the opportunity to both work with him and be a patient of his. Many times in the past, Masa helped me complete my running goals even after injuries occurred during the training process. He used gentle manipulations and muscle activation techniques to correct my imbalances. He also spent much time and effort teaching me postural exercises that improved my everyday life, including breathing education and pelvic floor activation. As a co-worker, he was someone I always looked up to for his knowledge, his dedication to professional development, and his passion towards the field of sports medicine.
Kristi McCracken MBA, ATC
It’s such a pleasure training & working with Masa. He’s helped me tremendously in dealing with an injury that took me out of training for several months, and I know I’m working from an even stronger foundation now as I start back up again. I really appreciate his diverse background and he draws on so much great experience from his experience as an athletic trainer, he understands the human body and he understands athletes. I can tell Masa is paying attention to my individual needs & issues, and progressing or adapting as appropriate for ME rather than simply following a formula. I can’t recommend Masa enough not just for rehabbing post-injury, but dealing with compensations or imbalances to prevent future injuries from happening. Plus, he always greets me with a big smile and is a great guy to be around!
Jane Belanger – Personal Trainer, Triathlete
Photo: www.uicflames.com
Masa is very gifted at what he does. I was injured in 2009 with an ACL tear and it was the worst experience of my life. After multiple surgeries, Masa helped rehabilitate my knee and complete my collegiate goals of becoming the player I was again before my injury. He used creative techniques to improve gain my muscle mass and strength back in my legs again. I will forever appreciate him for that and will definitely will be back. I have to pain in my knee at all today. Thanks Masa!
Bree Hinkle – Former Division I UIC basketball Player
Photo: www.uicflames.com
Masa was the athletic trainer for the women’s basketball team at the University of Illinois-Chicago when I met him. I worked closely with him on a daily basis in an effort to rehabilitate my knees, both of which had ACL reconstruction surgery. I could not have asked for a better athletic trainer throughout my four years at UIC. Masa treated me with kindness, patience, and encouragement, and was well liked by EVERYONE on all athletic teams at the University. I would highly recommend him to anyone.
Ashley Hluska – Former Division I UIC Basketball Player