The city's reputation as a crossroads was never more evident than at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on Sunday, where a massage therapist from Illinois could rub shoulders with a firefighter from Wisconsin.

Massage therapy tables set up at the Javits Center were a welcome sight to muscle-weary rescue workers like firefighter Jamie Czerneski.

While a therapist worked on his aching legs, Czerneski, 26, said he had been aiding the rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center for the past four days, working almost non-stop.

He had met a businessman on a flight to Philadelphia, where both stopped on their way to New York. The two decided to hook up to drive to the city, and the businessman offered Czerneski his Park Avenue apartment to stay in during the volunteer effort.

"The people in New York have just been amazing," Czerneski said, emerging from the massage table, then taking a few steps. "That's good.

Oh, that's so much better."

Michele Carlson, who had worked on Czerneski, said she has treated people who have been injured at the site of the disaster as well as those who are hurting after sleeping on floors and inside cars for days.

"There is a lot of soft tissue work that needs to be done for stress and fatigue," said Carlson. She said she needed to be here volunteering despite the fact that she was grieving for friends who were in the towers when the disaster struck.

"The body breaks down on a lot of levels: mentally, emotionally, physically," she said.

The group of massage therapists are organized by the Swedish Massage Institute in New York. There are other similar posts at the Chelsea Piers and in the Stuyvesant town area.

Tracy Jones, a neuromuscular therapist and social worker, drove here from Illinois two days ago, saying he had to do his part. He said massage services are needed to to keep emergency workers on their toes.

"These people are tired, fatigued. They're losing energy and they're sore," said Jones. "It's still really dangerous down there, and people can get hurt. If you feel fresh, coordinated, and strong, you're less likely to make a mistake."

Volunteer Peter O'Grady drove here with a friend from Michigan, pledging to do anything he could in the relief effort. But sleeping on the ground for two days aggravated a chronic back problem for the tattooed barber who wore a yellow hard hat emblazoned with the phrase "tunnel rat."

O'Grady, like many other volunteers, said he didn't know how to help, even though so much needed to be done.

"Basically, it's just a patriotic thing to come together with the rest of the country," he said.

　　From Healthy.net