About Plumb Line

A plumb bob that stuck around.

Remedial massage for desk-bound bodies on the Sunshine Coast. Five of us now, one converted character home, and a rule that the whole booked time is spent on the body that walked in.

Since 2015

Naomi Whitfield opened Plumb Line in 2015 in a rented room above a physiotherapy practice on the Nicklin Way, three years after finishing her Diploma of Remedial Massage and a run of jobs in day spas where a sixty-minute booking meant forty minutes of massage once you counted the changeover, the upsell and the gift voucher pitch. What she wanted to build was plainer than that: a clinic where the whole booked time was spent on the body that walked in, and where the first ten minutes were a proper conversation about what was actually sore, not a form filled in standing up at reception.

The clinic moved into its current premises, a timber-lined character home on Tallowwood Court in Maroochydore, in 2019, once the client list was steady enough to justify the lease. The building did half the work for her. Wide hallways, dark stained doorframes, sash windows and polished floorboards do not look like a day spa and do not look like a hospital corridor either, and Naomi found that mattered more than she expected. People who were nervous about being touched by a stranger relaxed a little just walking down the hall.

Naomi Whitfield checking a client's standing posture against the plumb bob in the main treatment room — Naomi, still treating four days a week and still doing every new client's first consultation herself.

Where the name comes from

The plumb bob on the trolley.

First year, 2015 Nicklin Way Still on the trolley today

The name comes from an old joke that stuck. In her first year Naomi kept a plumb bob on the trolley, the kind a builder uses to check a wall is true, and she would hold the string against a client's shoulder in the mirror so they could see for themselves how far they had drifted forward of upright. Nobody argued with a straight line the way they argued with an opinion. The plumb bob still sits on the trolley in the corner of the main treatment room, more as a joke and a keepsake than a working tool now, but the name and the idea behind it, that a body has a true position and a good remedial massage is mostly about finding the way back to it, never left.

What it actually does

Held against a client's shoulder in the mirror, string hanging free
Shows exactly how far a shoulder has drifted forward of upright
Nobody argues with a straight line the way they argue with an opinion

How we work

Four things we hold to.

Spend the whole booked appointment on the body that walked in, and start every first visit with a conversation, not a form filled in standing up.

01 The full booked time is treatment time, not changeover and upsell Fixed 30, 60 and 90-minute appointments, so the length you book is the length you get
02 A proper intake conversation before any pressure, every first visit A converted character home in Maroochydore, not a strip-mall day spa or a clinical hallway
03 Say plainly when a technique or a course of treatment is not warranted HICAPS claims processed on the spot for private health extras cover
04 Clean laundered linen and a freshly capped oil bottle for every client The same therapist for standing rebooking clients wherever the roster allows it

The main treatment room at Plumb Line, a plain wooden table draped in cream linen beneath a sash window

The room

A character home, not a day spa and not a clinic corridor.

Wide hallways, dark stained doorframes and polished floorboards. Naomi found it mattered more than she expected to how nervous a first-time client felt walking down the hall.

Credentials and cover

The paperwork.

Every treating therapist holds a Diploma of Remedial Massage and current first aid certification. Certificates are available on request.

Diploma of Remedial Massage held by every treating therapist
Association of Massage Therapists (AMT) members on staff
Australian Natural Therapists Association (ANTA) members on staff
Provider numbers held with the major private health funds
HICAPS on the spot for private health extras cover
Professional indemnity insured
Current first aid and CPR certification held by every therapist

Today

Five of us.

Plumb Line is five people now: Naomi, three more Diploma-qualified remedial massage therapists and a clinic coordinator who runs the desk and the HICAPS terminal. About six in ten clients work desk jobs in Maroochydore, Birtinya and Sippy Downs and come in on a standing fortnightly or monthly booking for the neck, shoulders and upper back. The rest are a mix of local tradespeople, weekend athletes training for the Twin Towns or Noosa events, and a steady handful of pregnant clients referred by two obstetric physios down the road. Every session still runs to the booked length, every new client still gets a proper intake conversation before any oil comes out, and the plumb bob still lives on the trolley.

Who you will actually see

Straight to a person

(07) 5550 0040

The booking line is answered by the clinic coordinator during opening hours. Outside those hours, book directly through the online calendar; a therapist confirms every online booking by the next business morning.

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