No Matter How Hard Life Pushes You Down, Keep Getting Back Up.
Contraindications
Contraindications have been mentioned previously in this blog. It is essentially any reason that a person should not perform massage for risk of health or safety. Contraindications can be localized or general. A local contraindication is localized to a certain body part so if someone has let’s say a broken toe. Don’t massage the toe. Or, depending on how bad the fracture or sprain is, you may not want to massage the foot. This is something you can talk to the client about if need be. A general contraindication means do not massage the client under any circumstances. These are more common to any types of blood disease, kidney disease, liver disease, cancer or anyone undergoing chemotherapy, etc. But basically, if it can be spread through the bloodstream, do not massage them. This also can count for if a client has cold or flu. While they come to a massage therapist as a form of comfort, it can delay them healing naturally and can worsen their symptoms because massage spreads things around through the bloodstream. Some massage can be done if using proper discernment. Lymphatic drainage can technically qualify as a type of massage. But it’s extremely superficial. Barely touching the client at all. And what this does is it frees up blood and lymph from a localized area. Lymphatic drainage can actually be used for the legs if someone has varicose veins or lymphedema. Lymphatic drainage should not, however, be done unless properly trained. If you are brand new to the field, it may be best to let the client know that this is not in your area of knowledge and you would feel more comfortable if you avoided the area or used extremely light pressure. Remember to trust your instincts.