« Following My Mid-Term Evaluation II | Fingertips Home | This Week's Health-Related DVD Releases (March 23, 2010) »

March 20, 2010

Puzzle Pieces

Sometimes working with people is like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. For example, a client comes to you for a massage who has back pain, but they cannot tolerate laying on their stomach. What do you do? It requires that you be creative working with them, whether you choose to place pillows underneath their hips and chest or work with them while they are lying on their side. Adaptability and creativity are necessary in order to provide the best service to meet the needs of the client.

People's skin, hair, and nails can provide a lot of information about their general health. Nails, for example, can give information about about the body's oxygen transport system. Clubbing, seen in patients with cystic fibrosis and a number of other disorders. It is most often found in heart and lung diseases that cause a lower-than-normal amount of oxygen in the blood. Another condition called spoon nails or koilonychia can indicated an iron deficiency anemia or other serious conditions. If a client asks you, "why do my nails look like this?" send them to their doctor. And remember to wash your sheets in hot water with bleach. Separate them out from your other sheets if you think they contain a serious contagion.

Massage therapists are trained about a wide variety of http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/guide/skin-problems-treatments-symptoms-types are generally told to avoid working over skin that is affected. If you'd like to bone up on your knowledge, there are plenty of on-line resources for skin conditions and hair.

Sometimes I have patients that I work with who cannot exercise for long without having to stop and rest. This requires a treasure hunt for clues as to the source of the problem. Are they in pain? Where? What can we do to alleviate their pain so they can build endurance with their exercises? Are they developing claudication? Does it come and go or does it stay even at rest? If it stays, they need to be seen by their doctor right away. What if a patient can't catch their breath. It's time to observe: Are they pale and sweaty? Are they wheezing? Do they start coughing? Are their lips turning blue? Questions should follow: Do you feel tightness or pain in your chest? Are you feeling dizzy? Are you having trouble catching your breath? Do you have a history of smoking?

This may sound like a lot to expect out of a massage therapist, but if you work with people, you need to know the signs and symptoms of stroke, heart attack, deep vein thrombosis, and other life threatening conditions so that you can call for help should they occur in your practice.

Posted by linda at March 20, 2010 9:10 AM