Earley is self-employed as a sports massage therapist, one of 1,000 across the United States. His list of clients includes the U.S. Rowing

"It gives the athletes a mental edge to know that there is someone there to work on their problem. It psyches the team up." — Jim Early, sports massage therapist

Team and the U.S. Olympic Team Handball Team, as well as the athletic programs at Villanova, Georgetown, Navy and Princeton. It is the strength of his hands which keep his athletes pain-free. "A lot of the power actually comes from the torso," he said before he began an hour's worth of work on two members of the Trenton State women's track team. "It comes through the hands. Basically what I do is help the coach and the athlete remain injury-free. It allows them to be more efficient."

Earley explained that that is the difference between regular massage and sports massage. "It is geared more to the athlete," he said. "Regular massage is used for (stress) relief." Earley is nationally certified and is a member of two professional massage organizations. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania School of Massage Therapy, which, he explained, is necessary to be a licensed massage therapist.

His first client, Amy Smith, has been complaining recently about shin splints, which Earley is afraid may eventually lead to a stress fracture. She sits on the table in an L position (legs extended) and giggles nervously as Earley goes to work.

Earley has a brochure, in which massage therapy is defined as "the manipulation of the soft tissue for therapeutic purposes and may include, but is not limited to, effleurage, petrissage, tapotement, compression, vibration, friction, nerve strokes and other Swedish movements." Sounds good to your run-of-the-mill student in kineseology. But what in the world does all that mean?

"It's fairly easy to understand," Earley says, gently moving his first two fingers along her shin. "This is called focus massage. If the athlete has a specific problem, I'll try to work on the area where there may be scar tissue to try to get the blood flow going."

At this point, Smith leans back and grimaces in pain. "You've got it," she says nervously. Earley rubs his thumb back and forth several times along the area on the upper part of her shin, very slowly. He then takes his first three fingers and runs them along the area. This time Smith grits her teeth to indicate she feels the pain.

"There is also pre-event massage," he said. "It's more invigorating. It's designed to get the blood flow going. Post-event massage is used to flush the system of the lactic acids."

Earley also travels with teams, offering runners what is known as inter-event massage between important meets.

Casually, but with a great amount of precision, Earley begins to focus in further. He presses his thumb down a little harder and continues to rub it around the affliction. After five minutes of work, Smith admits that while the pain still exists, it has begun to decrease. Earley changes from the thumb to his first three fingers, in a cupped grip, moving back and forth along the injury.

"It gives the athletes a mental edge to know that there is someone there to work on their problem," said Earley, who noted that most schools don't have the benefit of having a sports massage therapist on call. "It psyches the team up."

While Earley works, he often converses with his clients. He begins to explain where the problem is, and lets Smith know that this is a common injury.

"In track we do a lot of work on the legs, the calves and the hamstrings," he said. "In rowing, we work with the full body. In swimming, we do a lot of work on the upper body, the area in between the shoulder blades."

After about 15 minutes of repetitive running, Earley is finished. He concludes Smith's treatment by rubbing a balm on the area, which has now changed color from pink to red. He advises her not to run the next day. Satisfied and clearly feeling much better, Smith hops off the table. Earley estimates that he has successfully shortened the recovery time that Smith would have needed.

Janet Olchowicz is Earley's next client. She says that she has been experiencing pain in her right thigh. Earley instructs her to lie all the way back.

"I'm going to look for lactic acid blockages," he said. "They are blocking the blood flow. I'm going to try to open the pathways so she can run pain-free." This time, instead of using his thumb or his fingers, he uses his entire hand. Using a mixture of circular and straight hand motions on the injury, he is able to figure out the problem. "I'm trying to loosen the I-T band," he said, pointing to an area directly above the thigh. After another 15-minute session, Earley shows Olchowicz an exercise she can do to speed up the recovery process. He notes that it will hurt at first. "Don't be afraid to hurt yourself. It's good pain," he tells her.

"You know the difference between good pain and bad pain." Olchowicz nods her head and smiles. Both women are much more relaxed then when they walked into the school gym.

As his two clients leave, they make sure to shake Earley's hands, not only to thank them, but to pay tribute to the comfort they are capable of providing others.