The Massage Geek^® Blog

Here is a video about the history of chair massage. It is surprisingly fascinating!

Thanks to Mark at www.chairmassagecanada.com.

Mark also alerted me to this little tidbit:

FEASABILITY STUDY
The effect of chair massage on stress perception of hospital bedside nurses

Conclusion?
Incorporating chair massage into a nurse’s hospital shift is feasible and a 10 min session reduces the stress perception of the nurse more so than the standard “coffee break”.

Read more about the study here.
See Mark’s blog here.

It is that time of year again in Minnesota when the air becomes crisp and the humidity drops.  That means it is the beginning of the season of cracked skin on our heels, thumbs, and fingers.

As a massage therapist I am vigilant about keeping my hands moisturized and soft.  Which can be difficult since I have to wash my hands frequently.

Here is what I have learned about preventing cracked skin around the fingernails and heels:

Find a good hand lotion and keep using it.  It will keep the skin from getting dried out and hard.  I like  Neutrogena Norwegian Formula creams.  A little goes a long way.

But, once the skin is already dry and starting to harden, the best thing to do is file the skin down.  For example, on the heel you will start to see dry flakes forming in lines on the edge of the sole.  But it is not the dryness of the skin that will actually make it crack open into those painful, bleeding cracks.  That is the result of the hardness of the skin.  Use a file to file down the flakes and any hard skin.  Once you get down to soft skin you can moisturize again.  Use a fingernail file for the skin around the fingernails.  For the feet you will need a special foot file.

DO NOT file wet or damp skin.  Make sure you skin is free from lotion, water, or oil before you file.  Otherwise you will end up filing away good, healthy skin.  The filing should not hurt.  If it does hurt, then you have filed too deeply.

If your heel is already cracked open and bleeding or red, do your best to file down the hard edges on either side.  Then apply an antibiotic ointment, if it is safe for you to do so.  Ask your doctor if necessary.

I have tried MANY over-the-counter creams and lotions that promise soft feet or say that they will prevent or even heal cracked heels.  NONE of them have worked.

This type of cracking around the nails and heels is different from the cracking that occurs in the soft skin in creases between the fingers or between the toes.  I have never had that kind of cracking, so I don’t have any wisdom or experience to pass on in regards to it.  I would guess that is more likely caused by bacteria and excess moisture and would suggest a routine of washing hands thoroughly and then drying hands thoroughly.  I have heard good reports about a cream called “Look No X E Ma” from Four Elements.

I am now officially certified as a Resistance Stretching Trainer, the first in Minneapolis/St. Paul.  Yea!

I’ve been practicing on clients and I attended a weekend training in Chicago with Anne Tierney and Steve Sierra.  They are both excellent instructors and they had several assistants with them as well.  So each student had a lot of one-on-one feedback.  I felt great after a weekend of working out with them.

I have been able to apply the method with great success.  It is very easy to incorporate it into a massage session.  I still would like to have one more practice client….

A few weeks ago I realized that a lot of my clients are fellow massage therapists. In one week I worked on 4 massage therapists, one shiatsu therapist, an acupuncturist, and a retired family physician. I’ll take it as a compliment that other healers like my work and are willing to pay for something from me that they could probably trade for with someone else.

One massage therapist said:

“You are a massage god! You should be famous. I would bet all my money that you are the best massage therapist ever.”

Wow. Am I the best massage therapist EVER?? Well, probably not:

• A, I wouldn’t know because I can’t experience my own work. I can only depend on feedback I get from my clients.
• and B, I know that I am good at what I do. But what I do is not good for every body. Most people really like my work. Some do not.

Here is what makes my massage different from other therapists:

• I have advanced training in Anatomy and Kinesiology.
• I have very good palpation skills (finding things by touch)
• I have high mechanical aptitude
• I have artistic sensibilities

This means that I can quickly identify problem areas based on description of activities. I can find just the right spot that is causing the discomfort and focus on releasing the knot without overworking the areas around it.  All that combined with graceful strokes that make it feel complete and nurturing, not abusive.

I use my mechanical reasoning to move limbs and joints into just the right position that allows me to access the knot. I can work very deeply in areas that other therapists can’t reach or even find. Most of the time I work with my eyes closed. I become so intimately in touch with the muscles that when I open my eyes I am surprised to see the skin over the muscles.

You should come to see me if you:

• have old injuries that have been bothering you for years.
• have chronic headaches
• have an unexplained pain that doctors suggest is all in your head
• are completely dissatisfied with other therapists who just don’t work deep enough and keep missing the good spots
• depend on a strong and efficient body for your livelihood (musician, dancer, athlete, performer)

One thing that I really love about my job is being able to validate people’s pain. I can say “Yes. Your head hurts because you have a big knot here in your left shoulder.” Many people with chronic pain are made to think that there is no explanation for the pain and that it is all in their head. But when I work on them I can exactly touch the spot that hurts. I can feel it, measure it, describe it, predict a referral pattern, and trace the boundaries of it. I wouldn’t be able to do that if it were all in their head. You can imagine how relieved they are when another person can validate the pain and identify the source.

By touching a body, we touch every event it has experienced. For a few brief moments we hold all of a client’s stories in our hands. We witness someone’s experience of their own flesh, through some of the most powerful means possible: the contact of our hands, the acceptance of the body without judgment, and the occasional listening ear. With these gestures we reach across the isolation of the human experience and hold another person’s legend. In massage therapy, we show up and ask, in so many ways, what it is like to be another human being. In doing so, we build a bridge that may heal us both.

Tracy Walton,
“The Health History of a Human Being,”
Massage Theray Journal, Winter 1999

A few weeks ago I posted a blog on the definition of massage and outlined what I thought to be the three overall categories of therapeutic massage based on desired outcome.  Well, after seeing Dara Torres with her trainers I had to create a new category.

So here is the new list:

Four Types of Therapeutic Massage

1. Relaxation Includes Swedish, Full-body, Fluff-n-buff, etc.
2. Corrective Includes Deep Tissue, Clinical, Medical, Orthopedic, etc.
3. Conditioning Includes Sports Massage, Resistance Stretching, etc.
4. Energetic Includes Shiatsu, Reiki, etc.

The new category is “conditioning.”  A Conditioning Massage is one that seeks to improve the texture, flexibility, and strength of healthy soft tissue with the overall goal of enhancing performance and endurance.

Wow!

The Olympics are so much fun to watch. I’m especially interested in the career of Dara Torres as she and I are the same age. The difference is that she has an exquisitely sculpted body. While I don’t. NBC aired a feature of Dara Torres receiving a massage and stretching routine from two trainers. It was waayyy different from a relaxation massage and different from the corrective massage that I do. Perhaps I will have to add a fourth category to my list of massage types.

Would the new category be Sports Massage? I just taught a class on Sports Massage and it didn’t include anything like what I saw being demonstrated. The trainers were literally mashing Dara’s muscles with their feet before some stretching. I did some research and discovered it actually is called “mashing” (!) and “resistance stretching.”

Currently, the type of corrective massage that I do is best suited for athletes who have chronic issues with old injuries. I do my share of mashing and it’s good stuff.  I sent an email to the trainer who developed the protocol, Bob Cooley, asking about training and certification in this method. I can’t wait to hear from him!

Here are some links and articles about this type of massage/stretching:

• Olympic Swimmer Credits Trainers With State Ties
• Dara’s current trainers
• Bob Cooley and his story
• The Today Show video
• Training Secrets of Dara Torres A great article with very practical tips for even the most modest athlete.
• Dara Reveals Her Secret Weapon This link was recommended by a reader of my blog.

I did a quick search on YouTube.com for Bob Cooley and also for Dara Torres.  Both searches resulted in a few good videos.

Are you an athlete undergoing intensive training in the Minneapolis area?  Would you be willing to let me practice this technique on you?  Send me an email!

Speaking of massage therapy for cancer patients, this article appeared today:

Massage therapist works with cancer patients

This past week I stumbled upon an interesting website called Yedda.com. It is a free site where people can share their information and expertise. Just ask a question and someone else answers! And you can answer other people’s questions in your area of interest.

I did a quick search for massage-related questions and found this one from hotkit22f. The response I submitted is below.

Question submitted by hotkit22f:

Massage Problem
Why is it that massage tharapists require cancer patients to have a Dr’s note before they will give them a massage? I went to get a massage and was turned away when they found out that i have had cancer in the past and I didn’t have a Dr’s note.

My Answer:

Hotkit, I am so sorry that happened to you. I hope you have received a massage by now!

There is no reason to turn away a client who has been diagnosed with cancer in the past or who is currently receiving treatment for cancer. You should have been able to get a massage that day.

When I was in massage school, we were told by our instructors to not work on anyone who has cancer or anyone who is pregnant. They drilled it into our heads that a therapist had to be specially trained to work with those populations and that we shouldn’t work on them at all with out permission from the doctor. The instructors were very competent to teach and certainly well-meaning, but misinformed. The result was that most students became scared to touch anyone with a special condition.

The instructors had assumed that since massage increases blood and lymph circulation, it could therefore increase the chances of the cancer metastasizing. The current understanding is that massage should not increase the risk of metastatic cancer. The blood and lymph already flow through the body at a very fast clip. A massage is not going to increase the speed or distance covered by any particular cell in the stream.

Most people assume that “doctor knows best” and even “doctor knows everything.” Massage therapists do not want to put anyone at risk or be blamed for negative outcomes. So they may require an MD to sign off on the treatment. But the truth is that 99% of doctors have NOOO idea what massage is, what it does, and what the different types of massage are. Even fewer will know if massage is indicated or contraindicated for a certain condition.

The massage performed may vary depending on the type of cancer and the stage of development. At the very least, the therapist could have given you a light relaxation massage. A lighter pressure massage poses no more danger to the body than tossing and turning in bed or giving someone a hug. We certainly aren’t going to stop hugging people with cancer!

The obvious contraindication is massage on the tumor itself. Massaging the tumor could break it up and release cancer cells. (Who knows?! In five years we may realize that is wrong too!)

I am very fortunate to have a contract with the local university hospital to provide massage therapy to cancer patients WHILE they are receiving their dose of chemotherapy. It is quite a trick to maneuver around the wires and tubes, but it can be done! The patients are very appreciative. It really does bring some solace to the situation and soothes the worn out nerves.

About a year ago, during a routine massage on a healthy female client, I found a lump on her neck. I told her what I found and moved on to massage other areas. It turned out to be a malignant tumor and I am sad to say that she will not be with us much longer. I just visited her in hospice this week to provide one last massage.

One of the experts in this field is Tracy Walton. I defer to her on all points.

Look for future posts on The Massage Geek Blog on these topics:

• Massage Tutorial for MD’s
• Indications and Contraindications for Massage
• Massage and Nerves

Ran across this article today on WashingtonPost.com:

How well do you know your Massage Therapist?

The article is about the lack of government regulation of some medical professions that fall under the heading of “Complementary and Alternative Medicine,” or “CAM” for short.  Examples include acupuncture, naturopathy, massage therapy, and many more.

I’m really glad that people are discussing this issue.  I live in Minnesota, a state that does very little to regulate or support alternative therapies, especially massage therapy.  The only thing that Minnesota requires of a massage therapist is that they disclose what kind of training they have had, if any, and tell clients where they can file a complaint with the State.  The State does not require them to actually have training… or insurance… or a clean work space… or a background check.  This means that the letters after a therapist’s name like CMT (Certified Massage Therapist) or LMT (Licensed Massage Therapist) have no meaning in Minnesota.  There is no regulatory agency that oversees the use of those credentials.

In other words, the following people can legitimately call themselves a professional Massage Therapist in Minnesota and use LMT or CMT behind their name:  sex offenders, pedophiles, rapists, convicted felons, parolees, prostitutes, etc.

Extreme examples, I know.  Some municipalities recognize a problem with that kind of laxity.  So they have taken it upon themselves to create city regulations.  I chose to locate my office in St. Paul because they do require a license and they do background checks and they do site inspections.  It’s not cheap  (~$300).  But I happily pay the fee each year for their seal of approval. Unfortunately, if I want to do a massage at someone’s home in Burnsville, I have to get a Burnsville massage license (~$10).  If I want to do chair massage in Minnetonka, I have to get a Minnetonka license (~$1,000).  But I can do anything I want in Minneapolis.  No requirements there.

There is an active group of massage therapists in Minnesota trying to create statewide regulation.  Here is their website:
Alliance for Licensing Massage Therapists (ALMT)

If you are looking for a massage therapist in your area, please make sure they are licensed.  In addition, here are some acronyms to look for:

NCTM = “Nationally Certified Therapist of Massage”
NCTMB = “Nationally Certified Therapist of Massage and Bodywork”
website

ABMP = “Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals”
ACMT = “ABMP Certified Massage Therapist”
website

AMTA = “American Massage Therapy Association”
website

In a future post, I will discuss the bias embedded in the words “complementary” and “alternative.”

Sincerely,

Lynn K. Patricia, NCTMB, ACMT
Professional Member of AMTA