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Christina Crapotta, licensed massage therapist in Sacramento

CHRISTINA CRAPOTTA

CERTIFIED MASSAGE THERAPIST  · CAMTC #39170
Helping women heal since 2005

Two decades and thousands of sessions have taught me one thing: women heal best when they feel safe. Whether you're days out from surgery, newly postpartum, or carrying stress and pain, I'll meet you where you are. Your nervous system and your heart heal alongside you, so nothing is rushed and nothing is dismissed.

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Hablo español.

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It started with prayer...

There was a season when my life looked nothing like it does now. I had lost my home, I was struggling in ways I didn't have words for yet, and I felt like I'd lost myself, too. One day I looked up at the sky and asked God to give my work a purpose.

Three weeks later, a woman reached out for help recovering from her second mommy makeover and BBL. She couldn't find the care she needed anywhere in Sacramento, and back then, few massage therapists were comfortable working with a body so fresh from surgery. She guided me, I listened, and I learned more in those sessions than I ever expected. I thought I might never see a client like her again. Then another one came. And another. Within six months, almost a third of my practice was post-op care.

I dove in, researching recovery here and abroad, the culture around it, and what women from different backgrounds need and expect. My client handouts got so long that, somehow, in the middle of living through abuse, I turned them into my first book, Recovery Culture. Years later, I retired it and rewrote it from the ground up: deeper, more layered, and rich with cross-cultural insight. In 2026, it was reborn as Snatched and Swollen.

Beauty in the Breaking

For years, my practice was called Jungle + Grace Massage Studio. I was a full-time professional, a wife, and a parent, cooking homemade meals every day and homeschooling for several years. Then came a painful, traumatic divorce. Almost overnight, I was left defenseless, thrown away, and sleeping on the floor for months in a place that wasn't home. As part of the divorce, I was required to close the business I had built. With a day's notice and no plan, I named my new business Lymph and Scars. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise: a glow up, and a deeper focus on the work I was already called to do.

Two years later, that pain became the catalyst for a new mission. Like so many women, I had to relearn how to live. Surviving abuse affected everything: my severe ADHD, my health, and my hormones all shifted as I healed. It changed the way I see my clients, especially the women. I've never met a woman who hasn't carried something similar. So whatever you're walking in with, you'll be met with deep awareness and compassion. Today, I bring a trauma-informed approach to every session, because I know what it's like to carry more than anyone can see.

Today, my work reaches far beyond lipo, tummy tucks, and BBLs. I care for clients recovering from cancer reconstruction of the breast, thyroid, jaw, and tongue; prenatal, postpartum, and C-section recovery; knee, hip, and Achilles surgeries; double jaw and gut surgeries; facelifts; and even scars from chemo. The weirder the case, the better. Every part of this work reminds me that it's the answer to a prayer.

That's why Lymph and Scars is also a ministry. My deep faith in Jesus, and my belief that He still heals today, is where I draw my strength. I pray over my office and for my clients before I begin my work, and if you'd ever like me to pray with you, just ask. Your beliefs and boundaries are always respected, and my care always follows my professional code of ethics.

The Earlier Years

Long before I specialized in recovery, I studied the body in motion. I earned my BFA in Dance Ethnology, the study of dance across cultures, with a minor in Theatre Arts focused on theatre history, from Loyola Marymount University, including a term at the British American Drama Academy at Oxford University. During my senior year, a serious hip injury put me on crutches for almost a year. Unable to dance, I spent my evenings at South Bay Massage College instead, drawn by my fascination with movement anatomy. That year taught me firsthand what it feels like to be a body in recovery, and I've never forgotten it.

For years, I also worked in the performing arts as an actor, producer, and director, in plays, films, and episodes of NBC's Trauma, before choosing to focus fully on building my practice. That background still shapes my work today. I read bodies through movement, posture, and story.

CREDENTIALS

  • Licensed Massage Therapist, CAMTC #39170

  • 20+ years of clinical experience

  • Certified in Manual Lymphatic Drainage

  • Certified in Third-Degree Burn Scar Technique

  • BFA, Dance Ethnology, Loyola Marymount University

  • South Bay Massage College

  • Author of Snatched and Swollen

Beyond the Table

I'm a proud American Latina with that sazón, and yes, hablo español. Dance has always been part of me. I was on my college ballroom team and spent years in Los Angeles dancing for hours on end: lindy hop, West Coast swing, balboa, shag, Charleston, and blues. Since my divorce, Latin dance has become part of my healing, helping me feel comfortable being held in a partner's arms again. Now I'm happily obsessed with salsa and bachata, and I've fallen in love all over again with Latin culture and the Spanish language. When I'm not working or dancing, I'm hanging out with my cats, Papi Chulo and Valentina.

Thank you for trusting me

Whatever brought you here, you don't have to carry it alone.

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