Massage And Breast Cancer and breast health issues

Comment

Comment by Eeris Kallil CMT on October 28, 2009 at 9:07pm

Bill- I hear you. If they are going to make some laws we might as well get involved. I thank you for doing that!

Comment by Eeris Kallil CMT on October 28, 2009 at 9:01pm

wow, great news Theresa! I am always willing to work on cancer survivors for a lower rate and sometime give a session for free- its a great gift that we can give to our communities!

Comment by Theresa Tucker, LA, LMT, CMLD on October 28, 2009 at 8:03am

I am a little slow on adding comments. But here is my great news. I have done 4 lectures this month on oncology and massage with two hospital setting group, one church, and one with American Cancer Assoc. I have had 4 booking from these lectures and also booked 2 with chemo therapy patients(these two I am giving as bono but that ok because it will give me the rep, I am looking for). So, please do not give up. The director at American Cancer Assoc knows that the docs will give in with time or they will never here the end from me.
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Comment by Bill Curry on October 20, 2009 at 8:26pm

Hello Eeris - What a nice unusual name. I like it! So, here's the scoop. Cheryl Chapman (teacher of Breast Massage - also an oncology nurse) back in 2003 was responsible for a bill in the legislature that in effect removed the word breast from the areas not to be worked on. That is the short version. This paved the way for schools to offer it with the states approval. As long as the person has had a 500 hour course and has been certified as a massage practitioner or therapist, and has completed a breast course in a state approved school, and the course has passed the educational requirements, then it is legal. The term used here is, "As long as it is within the scoop of practice". Signed consent is not mandatory, but I recommend it. I was in the group that was responsible for the passing of the Massage Licensing Law, passed Jan 13, 2008. We are in stage 2 of 3 stages of the implementation of this bill as we speak. My best guess is, the bill will be implemented by January 2010. I have had some negative feed back regarding the passing of this bill, but it was going to happen with or without me there. So I decided to get involved. This way I had some input, and was able to help make it a bill we all could live with. I myself believe in less regulation the better, but if it was going to happen, I didn't want anyone taking our rights away, and dictating what we can and can't do. The reason I tell you this, is that I am up on the law to a certain degree regarding massage. Thanks for calling attention to the article you mentioned below. I have this link on my web site. Great article!

Comment by Eeris Kallil CMT on October 19, 2009 at 8:33pm

Hi Bill welcome and thank you for sharing. I agree Healthy breast massage is not practiced much because of all the taboos that we have to deal with. I think therapists also should check their state regulations for breast massage. Things got stricter in the last few years. Correct me if I am wrong- I think that it is now recommended/required to have a signed consent from a client before doing breast health massage.
Here is an article I found about breast massage. www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php/article_id/115/Breast-Mas...

Comment by beth rosentreter on October 18, 2009 at 4:41pm

Eeris,

Yes I am still interested in possibly hooking up with you friend.. You can give her my e-mail address b_rosentreter@yahoo.com and we can communicate that way... I still have not gotten any responses out here. I can not beileve that the response to what we do is not very favorable. I know that If I was going thru cancer I certainly would want any relief I can get.

So please pass my name on to anyone that can be of help... I greatly appreciate it...

Thanx a bunch...

Comment by Bill Curry on October 18, 2009 at 2:41pm

Hi - My name is Bill Curry, and I have been doing massage since 1990. My very first paying client asked me to include the breast area as she had multiple problems have large breast. I said my wife would not like me to do that, and said sorry. When I told my wife of the situation she said, "You're a professional aren't you"? I said yes, then she said, "Your not going to do anything else are you"? I said of course not. So she said, "do you know what to do"? I was stunned. My wife was encouraging me. So she explained that women have their issues and who was going to address them. Certainly not the doctors, nurses, husbands or boyfriends. She said she like it when I gave her her massage, and I was totally professional when doing her, and she had relief with her massage since she had large breast with fibro problems and other complications. She thought that everyone should be able to experience this. I thought she might be a little crazy, but then I talk to my instructor (Dr.) who tough me, and she said, "Oh yeh, about 20% of the women I do have that included with their massage". I couldn't believe I was hearing about this. I asked why she didn't teach it in class, and at that time it was unheard of. She said that she might just as well hang a red light in front of the school. She said people were not ready for it in the real world. So, we went over a few techniques and that is where I got my start. After that, the women that I started with was so pleased at the non sexual relief she had that she told a few of her friends. The next thing I knew I was getting busy. Apparently, men were afraid to go there, and I think that the average man would have trouble doing it. I also noticed that women were not doing it either. It seemed that when I would talk to other women massage practitioners, they all felt uncomfortable with the whole idea. The one lady said she just couldn't bring herself to do it. When I spoke about it with my clients to find out, why me? They told me that somehow, it felt natural. I also heard said, that a normal massage would never be the same without having the breast included.
Since 2000, I now work in an oncology unit part time (one day a week), and 2/3s of the women I do have it included as part of a breast maintenance routine. Over the years I have found breast cancer, and have refereed them to a doctor, and although I never diagnose, I always will discretely ask when there last mamo was, and tell them I think it is time to get checked again, that something doesn't feel right to me. I know what is wrong, but I cannot tell them that. I have found that, DCIS feels like a thread under a table cloth, and that invasive Ductile Carcinoma feels like a small mass out of context (look for changes), and the differences between lumps and lymph nodes. You get the picture. There is a lot more I can share, but at the moment I need to get ready to do a body scrub and a massage at 6:30. So I will leave you with this. On my web site, I have a lot of links and information for both the client that does not want the breast area included and for those that do. Self breast exams links and other good stuff.
BillCurryMassage.com
There is other information that I did not put on my web site, but will share later. For instance, did you know that there is an Oncology massage organization?
Be Well!
Bill

Comment by Barbara Coughlin-Martin on October 16, 2009 at 6:48am

Hi Carol, thank you, the site you referenced is a goldmine of information to share with patients and oncology nurse colleagues. I am not a lymphedema specialist myself, but as an RN, LMT I always ask clients who has had treatment about lymphedema awareness, and It surprises me that so many women say they are not told much about precautions and management when they are initially discussing treatment plans for breast cancer.

Comment by Mary Lou Ross on October 14, 2009 at 2:23pm

Thanks for the site Carol and the stats too. Nice to have a site with some real stats we can use when talking to Dr.s and their RN's.
Mary Lou

Comment by Carol J McDaniel on October 14, 2009 at 10:40am

The best resource for LyE related topics I have found is http://www.lymphnet.org and they have published positional papers on risk reduction etc. Factors that associated with high risk of LyE are irradiation of the axilla (scarring prevents fluid flow), incision oblique rather then transverse, infection in the arm, and excess weight.
The last statistics regarding rates of post surgical LyE (Dr. Bruno Chikly):
Radical mastectomy with no radiation 3 in 10
Radical Mastectomy with radiotherpy on chest 1 in 3
Radical Mastectomy with radiotherpy on axilla 6 in 8 (radition causes micro scarring preventing lymphatic flow)
Modified radical mastecomy no radition 18 in 81
Modified radical mastecomy radiotherapy on chest 2 in 14
Modified radical mastecomy radiotherapy on axilla 37 in 66
partial mastectomy (lumpectomy) and axillary dissection with radiotherpy on chest 11 in 48
partial mastectomy (lumpectomy) and axillary dissection with radiotherpy on axilla 21 in 48

hope this helps.
CJ

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