Event Information & Blog

While, in fact, we have cancer cells in our bodies all the time, it is just unfortunate that a rogue cancer cell runs rampant and latches itself onto a healthy cell which in turn is engulfed by the cancer cell and the hypertrophy of the cell begins bringing the cell to its new home(s) through the lymph system. Don't get me wrong, I know that Doctors would shudder when they hear this simplistic view of cancer, and many factors do affect cancer – for example, environment (internal and external), genetics, and various other factors. Still, massage, when indicated, is not one of them.

If a person can use a washcloth pressure to shower/bathe themselves, they can receive the same pressure with the massage strokes. Their activities of daily living (ADL) are not at all curtailed, and the massage will provide some much-needed relief. "Massage does not increase lymphatic circulation any more than any of a number of day-to-day activities. If increased circulation led to increased spread of cancer cells, doctors would warn patients against any activity, which they do not." (http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php/article_id/278/Massage-and-the-Cancer-Patient) Therefore, when a Licensed Massage Therapist works on a person diagnosed with cancer, they should voice what areas they are to work on and if tolerance for milder strokes is needed and permissible.

There are many hospitals of noteworthy notoriety "Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City, Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and Geffen Cancer Center Research Institute in Vero Beach, Florida are just a few." (http://www.alternativesmagazine.com/36/swarington.html), which have been using integrative medicine (massage therapy, reiki, aromatherapy, and reflexology) in consort with typical treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.