Massage and illness

When you are sick, you shouldn't get a massage. It can be put as simple as that. In worst case it can complicate matters further and do damage, and in best case it will just not be pleasant to you. For some illnesses and problems massage is not advice since it can be harmful. For other conditions a partial massage or a certain massage type can be recommended in smaller quantities.

If the massage therapist notices problems and conditions she might recommend the client to see a specialist or doctor to get a medical opinion if it's safe to massage. If not, then the client will have to wait until the issues have been settled and treated.

Situations where any massage can be harmful:

• Active state of contagious diseases
• Acute skin conditions and diseases
• Cancer without doctor's approval
• Cardiac arrest and other heart related problems
• Severe diabetes without doctor's recommendation
• Fever
• Inflammation
• Hepatics
  
• Lice
• Significant recent injury
• Recent surgery
  
• Under influence of alcohol or drugs
• Certain medical drugs

Situations where local massage can be harmful:

• Abnormal lumbs
• Acne and like skin conditions
• Blisters
• Fresh bruises
• Cysts
• Herpes outbreaks
• Inflammations
• Open wounds
• Shingles outbreak
• Skin rashes on a small area
• Spina bifida (split spine) and other spine conditions
• Swollen lymph glands
• Unhealed burns and abrasions
  
• Warts

Situations where referral to a doctor might be necessary:

• Severe pain
• Significant fatigue
• Inflammation
• Lumps and changes in skin
• Oedema
• Unstable mood and strong changes in mood
• Infections
• Bleeding or bruising
• Nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea
  
• Fever

These lists are far from comprehensive but meant to give an idea of what sort of conditions you should pay attention to when considering a massage. If you are in doubt if a massage is appropriate or potentially harmful, get your doctor's evaluation and respect his recommendations. Wait the time asked, avoid the type of massage, and fully inform the therapist about your conditions and what your doctor has said.

Source:
The Concise Book of Muscles

Massage treatment plans

Treatment plans are not used or needed for general relaxation and wellness massages. But if there is a physical problem that needs to be addressed and if a client returns complaining about the same issues time after time, a treatment plan can be very helpful. It not only helps the therapist be organized and guided, but also helps educate the client so they can take an active role in their recovery and commit to improving health and well-being.

A treatment plan doesn't isn't only applied to a series of sessions, but can also be used to determine how a single session will take place and what areas to focus what style of massage and treatment on. The later is usually a quick mental assessment based on the conversation with the client and the first impression when starting the massage.

Treatment plans can take many shapes and include different elements. It is not only the therapist planning how to treat a client and what type of massage to give, but often giving the client things to do. This can include stretch and strength exercises, advice on posture and work habits, even food and general health advice.

When a treatment plan is put together it will often work in different phases addressing the problem at hand and changing as the muscles are normalized and problems are reduced. At first it will usually be rather intensive and often a massage is suggested and to the end a general monthly maintenance and wellness massage is recommended.

Before any treatment plan is laid out, it is important that the therapist speaks in depth with the client. All problems must be discussed beforehand. The first massage session will help the therapist assess and examine the reported problems and most likely find others related to it. After the session the therapist will determine the best treatment plan and present this to the client along with homework to support the massage the most possible.

A treatment plan can change over time and be adapted to each situation. It can turn out that a problem is more serious than first assessed and the plan needs to compensate for this. It can also be that normalizing certain muscles and postures take shorter time than anticipated and the plan will be modified accordingly. Or it can be that other problems occur during the timespan and must be taken into consideration as well. The plan is a guideline meant to aid both therapist and client in obtaining the best health and wellness.

If a therapist makes a treatment plan can be very individual. For some it is an regular occurrence, for others only in certain situations. For massages which are not medical creating a treatment plan or not is no indication of the competences and capabilities of the therapist. If you are interested in a plan and homework to improve your health and wellness, do discuss the matter with your therapist. Together you can find what will be the best for you.

Signals sent via the massage environment

When decorating a treatment room and other areas a client might enter, it's important to consider what signals that might be sent. One thing is the subconscious signals via colours, plants, music and scents which affect our emotional state. But there is also the more obvious signals to take into consideration. The types of paintings, statues, religious symbols etc.

Before starting to decorate a massage room you must consider your client base and what type of people they are. The decoration must be appealing to them to have them feel secure, safe and return for more appointments. The decoration must not be offensive to the clients in any way, or they will certainly not return for further appointments.

With the international and multicultural world we live in, it is especially important to give a neutral expression. Unless of course you know your clients will only belong to one group and none from other groups will come. Then you can cater your decoration to suit and fit the group.

Traditional religious symbols are easy to recognize and avoid. A therapist should never impose his or her own religious and spiritual views upon the clients, unless such is obvious from the name, type of massage offered or announcements. A massage therapist is a health professional, even when not officially recognized as such. The same rules apply to massage therapists as to doctors, nurses and dentists. You keep your views, philosophies and religions to yourself and speak generally about matters if they are brought up by the client.

It's also good to keep in mind that many new age and eastern symbols can be offensive to traditional western religions. Some Christians might find the use of crystals and talk of energy and divine love offensive, while a pagan would find a prayer on the wall offensive. There is even the question of cultural norms in regards to how you dress and speak to the client. Some cultures do not allow for a man to see a woman undressed, or finds it inappropriate to shake hand or have naked shoulders.

Even as innocent things as paintings can cause discomfort and be offensive. Typical new age paintings in a very conservative society could cause things to become awkward. Dali's surrealism could offend other groups, pictures of holy places or religious symbols offend those of opposing beliefs and so on.

You have to be critical of what you decorate with. Often things like nature scenery, plants and flowers are safe and universally accepted as pleasing to the eye and mind and non-offensive. Lack of statues, religious symbols and writings is another.

This of course takes away a lot of your individuality if you can't put your personal touch on the place where you work. It is important though to put yourself in the shoes of the client and try and predict and understand what can cause them issues. Then find a subtle way to decorate. And in an inoffensive manner to add your touch to the place and give it the energy and symbolism you wish to convey to your clients.

If you are uncertain, then don't do it, or ask your clients for feedback. It can be as part of a general feedback asking them to list what they like and enjoy about your massages and place, and what they would improve if they could. Let the decoration be a small part of a generally inquiring form for customer feedback and use that as an indication if your decoration is appealing and pleasing.

Related articles:
Décor and Room, Setting the Mood, and Colours and Moods

Strength exercises

When doing strength exercises it's important to strengthen the entire body and all muscle-groups. The muscles work together and supports the skeleton by keeping it straight. Training only one area of the body will create imbalance and distort the natural alignment. That said, it is important to strengthen those muscles which are weak and strained so they can perform their function ideally.

Dumbbells are a good way to strengthen individual muscles and increase balance and range of motion, they are easy to use and get started with at home or at the office, with no need to take more time out of the schedule than some 20 min a day. Workout machines are good for greater muscle-groups, the drawback is the dependency on a gym or expensive equipment and that it is harder to target specific muscles which need training. Finally there are a range of exercises which can be done with no equipment at all, squats, push ups, lunges, sit ups and so on. Since many of these involve the whole body moving they are good for balance and endurance as well and can get your heart racing.

There are many websites available giving advice and instructions on strength exercises, below are my two favourites which I use several times a week:

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/dumbbellexercises.html - good page for dumbbell exercises. It has descriptions and animated illustrations which makes it easy to do the exercises yourself. The site itself has several fitness programs and advice, though membership is needed for some of it. Certainly worth exploring and my favourite for dumbbell training. There are more than 20 exercises, so I find it good to break it down into portions, saving one for each day of the week. This way I give certain muscles a chance to rest and recover while others are trained.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnt65CBU5RE&feature=related - Burn with Kearns, a free Youtube video showing some very effective strength and cardio exercises. In the video are displayed sledgehammers as a tool to train with. I've found dumbbells can be used for a number of the exercises in lack of sledgehammers. Following this video and you'll be panting and sweating as if you've been out running, all the meanwhile strengthening your muscles. I've found these to be good warm-up exercises and good for increasing my range of motion, my flexibility and loosening muscles that have gotten tense or sore. Burn with Kearns is also a very good method to burn bodyfat and replace it with muscles.

I combine the above and have come up with a nice cross-training exercise series which allows me to train all my body. I can focus on certain problem areas when its needed, or do a general cross training and cardio exercise. I aim to do about 20-30 minutes training every day, if I do not have other physical demands that day, such as massage or cleaning. I also try to give my body a rest and chance to recover by keeping two days free of work-out. I train to stay fit and strong, to make my body serve me longer, so there is no need to push myself so hard it is no longer fun.

Strength training is for your general health and for your well-being. Keep this in mind and do not allow it to become a sour habit. Find the methods and training that suits you and commit to it and you will soon find yourself with increased energy, better body understanding and acceptance and pride in doing something good for yourself.

Related articles: Importance of Strength Training and Postural Distortion.

The importance of strength training

It is important to keep our body in shape and use it regularly, especially with the sedated lives many of us live with computers, cars, television and other modern comforts. It is generally recommended that we do at least half an hour of exercise every day merely to maintain our bodies. If we want to counter the stresses to our bodies, it is important to build our strength as well as endurance.

Strength training can help you avoid many of the pains and discomforts which comes from excessive time spent in front of the computer and at the desk. For many people who suffer from tense shoulders and sore backs by the end of a day, a regular routine of strength training can practically eliminate the pains and help you maintain a healthy posture.

A routine 3 times a week for half an hour can create amazing results and be the first step to a life where tense and sore muscles after a work day is history only. Combine the strength training with cardiac exercise such as brisk walking, biking, running or swimming to obtain the best conditions for your body and your health.

It is important to strengthen the muscles which are lengthened and weakened due to postural distortion in order to help the body move back to a balanced alignment where the bones support the weight, and not the muscles.

Apart from countering pains and problems from computer use, there are many physical benefits to strength training, among those are:

• Increased Metabolic Rate - muscle mass burns more calories than fat. So merely by being stronger, you'll use more energy and it can be a good supplement to a weightless program.
• Bones are strengthened and the training can prevent osteoporosis and delay the deterioration of bones which comes with age.
• Increased strength and endurance which benefits the overall performance level and enables us to engage longer in all sort of physical activities; playing with the children in the park, gardening, dancing, housework and so on.
• Many injuries happens because the muscles are not strong enough. Training can prevent a wide range of injuries coming from ordinary living.
• When our muscles are stronger our balance is improved. The muscles main function is the keep the skeleton aligned and make sure we can stand and sit straight without falling to one side. With training the muscles gain strength which increases their control over the body.
• Strength training is an exercise just like running, swimming and walking is. The same benefits apply, like decreased risk of heart related diseases, lowering blood pressure, decreasing cholesterol etc.
• Flexibility is increased with strength training

To add to this, a regular training routine will make you feel better about yourself. Not only due to the exercise and getting better sleep, having less stress and be more energized, but also make you feel more satisfied with your body and how it looks. It is easy to begin a program; the investment is small and you can start right in your own home.