There is a myth out there that a person who has cancer should not be massage. And I said this is a myth. Many massage schools teach their students that massage promotes the spread of cancer by increasing circulation. This included the school that I attended just a few short seven years ago. This myth of course is carried over into the mainstream with doctors, patients and other health-care providers to believe this is true. If this were true then health-care providers would also discourage exercise and other activity for people with cancer as this increases circulation also.
Since my initial classes, I have found through medically funded research that this myth was based on old understandings of how cancer spreads. Thankfully, for cancer clients newer and new research has shown the benefits of massage. Per research done at the Sahlgrenska Academy at Goteborg University in Goteborg, Sweden, they showed that massage relieves nausea in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Many major hospitals have formed an Integrative or Alternative Medicine department such as Beaumont Hospital in Michigan.
Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy have strong effects on the body such as severe pain, nausea, fatigue and depression. Massage can help lessen those effects and give a client some much needed pain relief and anxiety relief. We all know how devastating chemotherapy is to the body as well as to the soul. If a client can gain benefits from massage such as pain relief, stress relief, lessened depression, as well as increase levels of dopamine, serotonin, natural killer cells and lymphocytes then that is an amazing thing. Plus massage is natural. And for many clients even just the simple act of touch is an uplifting thing.
For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website or follow me on Twitter.
Mobile massage that benefits you through the healing power of touch and helping you escape reality one hour at a time I can help ease pain, lessen stress / anxiety and assist your body on the healing path all through the palm of my hands! As well, pioneering Infertility Massage to benefit the reproductive and digestive systems for women going through Infertility, PCOS, Endometriosis, IBS and other digestive issues.
Thank you for this lovely sentiment. I would like to suggest a clarification. Typically, we in the cancer care field refer to massage, Reiki, yoga, etc. as "complementary" services not alternative medicine. The latter implies in lieu of traditional medical care while complementary suggests in conjunction with. Thanks.
ReplyDelete