meg mallon - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T10:15:20Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/meg+mallonHealth & Harmony: ‘Shocking’ new therapy beats pain, speeds healinghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/health-harmony-shocking-new-therapy-beats-pain-speeds-healing2014-04-02T14:58:36.000Z2014-04-02T14:58:36.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960497657,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960497657,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="531" class="align-center" alt="7960497657?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Former LPGA golfer Meg Mallon, who suffers from back, neck and shoulder pain, </em><em>receives</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>shockwave therapy from Dr. Erich Menge at Boca Delray Pain & Rehabilitation.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Mallon says the therapy has helped her feel better.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span><b>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</b></span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><span><b>By Paula Detwiller</b></span></p>
<p> Like many retired professional athletes, champion LPGA golfer Meg Mallon of Ocean Ridge is no stranger to orthopedic pain. </p>
<p> “A golf swing is an unnatural movement, so you get a lot of wear and tear on your body,” she says.</p>
<p> Mallon, 50, still has numbness in her left leg from 2012, when she completely herniated two lumbar discs during a golf event in Phoenix. She has sporadic soreness in her neck and shoulders, too, which limits movement.</p>
<p> But she has a new ally these days: a type of therapy administered by her chiropractor that delivers low-energy sound waves directly to the source, or trigger point, of her pain. The result is a focused and precise deep-tissue “massage” that removes soreness, increases blood circulation and restores range of motion.</p>
<p> Mallon’s Delray Beach chiropractor, Dr. Erich Menge, uses an Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) device called the PiezoWave2. The machine — which was invented by the same German company that pioneered the use of acoustic shockwaves to break up kidney stones — creates lower-energy shockwaves that pulse rhythmically through a handheld applicator and into a patient’s body. </p>
<p> The machine makes a metallic click, click, click as the pulses are created. </p>
<p> When the shockwaves make contact with the trigger point in the muscle, biochemical changes are thought to occur at the cellular level that can stimulate healing and relieve chronic pain. </p>
<p> A standard course of treatment is seven to 10 sessions over a period of three weeks. Each 20- to 30-minute session costs $75. The procedure is covered by some, but not all, insurance plans.</p>
<p> “We’re treating shoulders, hips, knees, necks, elbows — any kind of musculoskeletal injury,” says Menge, who owns one of only a few PiezoWave devices being used in Palm Beach County today. Patients who have benefited from his therapy include well-known professional golfers, people with plantar fasciitis, carpal tunnel sufferers and plenty of weekend warriors who just want to keep active.</p>
<p> ESWT therapies have been used successfully in Europe since the 1990s to manage chronic pain. With advances in technology, the method is now believed to be not only rehabilitative, but also regenerative: studies suggest that ESWT can “jump start” the healing process in chronic, non-healing injuries and reintroduce the acute phase of healing.</p>
<p> “A retired gentleman came to me with a swollen Achilles tendon that looked like a pin cushion on the back of his ankle,” Menge says. “He couldn’t walk. His MRI indicates the tendon is frayed. But since he’s been receiving treatment, the swelling is 75 percent gone and he’s walking on the beach again.”</p>
<p> Menge is particularly excited about the PiezoWave’s prospects for treating fibromyalgia, a stubbornly painful autoimmune condition that can flare up and get worse after a regular, hands-on massage. </p>
<p> “I’ve had fibromyalgia patients come through, and this is changing their lives,” he says. “We’re finding that the low-level, focused shockwaves do not trigger the inflammatory reaction that leads to more pain.”</p>
<p> Success rates for treating orthopedic injuries with ESWT range from about 50 percent to 80 percent. </p>
<p> After a recent PiezoWave treatment on her lower neck and upper back muscles, Mallon breathed a (literal) sigh of relief. She could rotate her shoulder again without pain.</p>
<p> “It’s not a medication, which can have so many side effects,” she said. “My feeling is, why not try this first before you throw a bunch of pills in your body?”</p>
<p><i>Paula Detwiller is a freelance writer and lifelong fitness junkie. Visit her at <a href="http://www.pdwrites.com">www.pdwrites.com</a>.</i></p>
<p><span><b> </b></span></p></div>Daniel and Mallon hosting Bethesda benefithttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/daniel-and-mallon-hosting2010-12-30T17:00:00.000Z2010-12-30T17:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><a href="http://thecoastalstar.ning.com/profiles/blogs/coastal-stars-meg-mallon-still">Meg Mallon</a> still busy in retirement</p>
<p> </p>
<p>By Craig Dolch<br /><br />Beth Daniel always made a quick impact in golf.<br /> She won the U.S. Women’s Amateur the first time she entered the event, in 1975, and she was named the LPGA Tour’s Rolex Rookie of the Year in 1979. Those moments served as a springboard to a Hall of Fame career in which the Delray Beach resident won 33 LPGA titles — including a major —three Rolex Player of the Year awards and the Vare Trophy three times for low scoring average.<br />Now Daniel is hoping to make a swift impact in something just as meaningful — the charity golf tournament she and former LPGA pro Meg Mallon have taken over hosting for the Bethesda Hospital Foundation. <br /> “I have said that when I stopped playing on tour that it would make sense to get involved in the community I live in.” Daniel said.<br />Daniel grew up in Charleston, S.C., making such an impact in the junior golf there that the top junior golfer receives the Beth Daniel Award.<br />As a pro, she was named Female Athlete of the Year by United Press International, after seven wins, including the 1990 Mazda LPGA Championship. In 2003, she became the oldest winner (46 years, 9 months) to win an LPGA event when she captured the BMO Financial Group Women’s Canadian Open, breaking a record JoAnne Carner had held for 18 years.<br />Daniel retired in 2007, but in 2009 she led the U.S. team to a victory in the Solheim Cup and continues to remain in golf as a commentator on the Golf Channel. <br />The Second Annual Bethesda Hospital Foundation Pro-Am Golf Tournament will be held Jan. 17 at The Falls Country Club in Lake Worth.<br />In the 41 years the predecessor event was held, it raised more than $3 million, helping to build a new heart Institute at Bethesda Hospital that opened in 2009.<br />Among the players scheduled to play are three World Golf Hall of Famers — Daniel, Karrie Webb of Boynton Beach and Nancy Lopez — plus Mallon, Murphy, Webb, Jay Sigel, Michelle McGann, Kelly Robbins, Angela Stanford, Beth Bader, Meaghan Francella, Nicole Hage, Stacy Lewis, Leta Lindley and Karen Stupples.<br />Pending availability, amateur foursomes are $6,000 to play. <br />Spectator parking is available for $5 at the Pinewood Square on the southeast corner of Lantana and Jog roads, starting at 11 a.m. A trolley will transport spectators to and from The Falls. The last trolley leaves from the golf course <br />at 5:30 p.m.</p></div>Coastal Stars: Meg Mallon still busy in retirementhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/coastal-stars-meg-mallon-still2010-12-30T17:00:00.000Z2010-12-30T17:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960313268,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960313268,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="337" alt="7960313268?profile=original" /></a><em>Meg Mallon (left) and Beth Daniel will host this year’s Bethesda Pro-Am Golf Tournament. <strong>Photo by Jerry Lower</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Daniel and Mallon hosting <a href="http://thecoastalstar.ning.com/profiles/blogs/daniel-and-mallon-hosting">Bethesda benefit</a><strong> </strong><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p>
<p>By Craig Dolch <br /> <br />It has been six months since Meg Mallon retired as a professional golfer, but the reality is about to set in when the 2011 LPGA Tour’s schedule soon begins and her calendar isn’t filling up with tournament dates and travel information.<br />“That’s when it’s really going to hit me,” Mallon said. “I’m not preparing to play tournament golf like I usually am. But I know I made the right decision. That’s the good news.”<br />At 47, Mallon knew it was time to step away from the game when she was no longer getting mad about poor shots. Her decision came on the eve of last year’s U.S. Women’s Open, a championship she had won twice among her standout, 18-victory, four-major LPGA career. <br />But it’s not like she’s been hanging out in a rocking chair at her Ocean Ridge home, going through old photos. She thinks she’s actually traveling as much now as she was during her 23-year career.<br />Mallon has been busy buying a home to renovate in her native Michigan; she has played in a couple of Legends events; she assists the LPGA Tour in various capacities — she will be the captain of the U.S. Junior Solheim Cup team; and she hopes to someday start an American junior golf academy.<br />Moreover, on Jan. 17, she and LPGA Hall of Famer Beth Daniel host the Bethesda Pro-Am Golf Tournament at The Falls Country Club in Lake Worth. Starting last year, Mallon and Daniel took over a tournament that was run by Bob Murphy and Laurie Hammer for four decades at Delray Dunes Country Club.<br />“Bob was ready to move on, and for Beth and myself, this is a great opportunity to give back because for both of us, Bethesda is our community hospital,” Mallon said. “This is the first time we’re going to hold the tournament on Martin Luther King Day, and we hope to make that our permanent date.”<br />Mallon has plenty of personal reasons to give back to the medical community, because her family has endured several tragedies in the last decade. Her father died of a heart attack in late 2005, four years after her mother suffered a disabling brain hemorrhage (her mother was recently placed in hospice for the second time). If that weren’t enough, Mallon’s older sister, Tricia, lost a long battle with a rare form of abdominal cancer in 2009.<br />“Big family, big love, big problems,” said Mallon, who put her career on hold several times to assist with her family.<br />That devotion likely cost Mallon a chance to earn Hall of Fame honors (she is five points short of the automatic number of 27). Mallon, whose last win came in 2004, could also get in the Hall of Fame through a vote from the veteran’s committee.<br />“I would think she would have a chance to eventually get in the Hall of Fame,” said former LPGA President Judy Dickinson, who chaired the committee that drew up the Hall of Fame criteria. <br />“There are a number of players who had great careers that were cut short either by injuries or things in their family. The thing about Meg is she was a heckuva player. You don’t win four majors unless you are a very good player.”<br />As accomplished a player as Mallon was, her peers always say she was an even better person. <br />“She was one of the most well-liked players on tour,” Dickinson said. “She was extremely fan friendly and terrific with the sponsors. She gave all the ways you can give.”<br />Former LPGA pro Dottie Pepper also praised Mallon’s tenacity and personality. <br />“I suppose her biggest impact was her ability to always grind out a round or a tournament when her game wasn’t firing on every cylinder,” Pepper said. “She always had a ‘glass half-full’ attitude and I loved the fact success did not change her one bit.” <br />Mallon moved to Ocean Ridge in 1999 — not far from where she won her first LPGA title in 1991, the Oldsmobile LPGA Classic in Lake Worth. The shift proved to be beneficial for her career, as she won half of her 18 titles in the next six years.<br />“I went on to have the best years of my career after I moved here,” she says. “I don’t think that was a coincidence.”<br />In addition to the two U.S. Women’s Opens, Mallon’s other major titles were the 1991 Mazda LPGA Championship and the 2000 du Maurier Classic. She also played on eight Solheim Cup teams.<br />Mallon was recently elected into the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame; it will mark the fourth time she has been inducted into a hall of fame (she’s also in the Ohio State University Hall of Fame, the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame). <br />She’s not ready to ruminate yet, however.<br />Mallon said her biggest priority is to work with the LPGA to start the American junior golf academies. Having been with the LPGA during its heyday of the 1990s and early-2000s, Mallon knows the tour needs assistance by finding younger stars.<br />“We have great programs in place such as the First Tee and the American Junior Golf Association, but there are gaps where we lose the kids,” Mallon said. “They find reasons not to continue in the game. We’re trying to fill those gaps, and that’s something I have a lot of passion for doing.” <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960313291,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960313291,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="360" alt="7960313291?profile=original" /></a><strong>1/17 - 2nd Annual Bethesda Pro-Am Golf Tournament is held at The Falls Country Club, 6455 Jog Road, Lake Worth. Play begins at 12:30 pm with a shotgun start. Admission is free for spectators. 737-7733, Ext. 5600. </strong> </p></div>