Your Health: medical conditions and the power of the conversation.

Our Massage Therapists at Perpetuity Skin + Spa see clients presenting with medical conditions requiring some form of adaptation to position, pressure, and duration of treatment. For example:

Cancer – The top four cancers being diagnosed in the US today are of the breast, prostate, lung, and colon. Our clients with cancer, or in recovery from cancer, will require a detailed consultation to address their specific needs in the treatment room. In addition to side effects from such cancer treatments as chemotherapy, radiation, multiple surgeries or immunotherapy, these clients are often on medications for many years afterward. Some of these drugs cause enduring bone pain, difficulty breathing or skin rashes. Sometimes clients tell us they had cancer many years ago and they are doing fine now, and they want a deep tissue massage or a hot stone massage. The reality is, as much as we’d love to, we cannot and should not offer those types of massages to clients who have had systemic treatment for cancer or had lymph nodes removed or radiated. It doesn’t matter how many years have passed since the initial diagnosis of cancer, the risk factor for blood clots and lymphedema remains, in addition to hypersensitivity to hot and cold.

In these instances, it is our job to educate the client and make them aware of the need for safe, effective and adapted massage to address their pain, reduced range of motion, and sometimes lingering peripheral neuropathy. As Licensed Massage Therapists, we need appropriate training to recognize that each client needs to be evaluated and a treatment plan agreed upon for our guests with compromised health.

Next: Diabetes – some of our clients with Type 1 diabetes will present with heart disease, chronic kidney disease, obesity, and nerve damage in addition to hearing and vision impairment. Many will be taking medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or, often, anti-smoking drugs. Together, these medications increase the risk of DVT, bleeding and bruising. Massage has been shown to help clients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) by improving circulation, which, in turn, reduces the risk of foot ulcers and peripheral neuropathy. These are all important considerations for your massage practitioners to know about.

Last but not least: heart disease. Those clients with significant coronary heart issues can present with reduced mobility, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Clients taking statins may experience such side effects as muscle-and-joint pain, which can be helped by a massage using the appropriate pressure. Those clients who have had a heart attack or who are recovering from heart surgery, it is common to feel anxious, so having a massage may help the client to relax. This is so important, too, so much return on the investment in a massage. Feeling good does good for your ❤️

Massage therapy can help reduce blood pressure and improve sleep. We are just starting to understand the importance of circadian health, as a profession, as a culture, as the human race. So, improving sleep is a vital part of healing and recovery. Massage is part of the solution for many health conditions associated with our modern lifestyles.

Come see the massage therapists at Perpetuity Skin + Spa and consult with a practitioner who listens with you first, your past, and your present, for your future. To your health, in Perpetuity 💞