Therapists - Are We Hurting Clients?

Comment

Comment by Boris Prilutsky on August 25, 2010 at 2:29pm

Dear Julie .
I am taking the liberty to comment on most of the part of your post .I do believe that your post giving the opportunity to clarify a lot of issues of the subject .
You saying .:”Hurt really needs to be defined....”
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I believe that the concept of deep massage have to be defined because a lot of our colleagues absolutely confusing between concept of deep massage and vigorous leading to injury pressure.
I'm offering my video clip where I am discussing this concept. My hope it will be helpful to clarify this definitions. http://medicalmassage-ceu.com/CLASS/Lesson1.htm#lesson1A
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you saying: I love deep tissue because i have such bad scoliosis and can't actually feel my back muscles sometimes. I need really deep work to start waking them up. People can do the deepest work on me and it doesn't hurt on my back.
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just an advice. If yours scoliosis more than 25° you should be very careful .treatment provider should be person experienced enough, and I would advised to talk with your doctor about doing panoramic x-ray on spinal column . Important to do it few times during a year in order to compare this x-rays and to see if any progress in scoliosis increase is happened.
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you saying :But yes I do think that many just don't speak up when it does hurt. There is also the thing where it isn't really hurting when it is being done but then it hurts the next day. I don't think you can figure that out.
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I believe that this is our professional obligation to talk to the clients and to get understanding in regards of communication including about pressure .in such a case you will not activate pain analyzing system and will do clinical/therapeutic work .

Best wishes.
Boris
PS BTW Ivar is not a Russian name. But wrongdoing do not belong exclusively to some group.

Comment by Viktor Bek on August 23, 2010 at 12:35am

Pain is information ignored long enough
- body is offering communication - essential for survival and self preservation:

I am not made for this - I don't like this - do / change something.

If we choose to ignore it will become louder - until it can not / will not be ignored

Our job is to empower clients to be in charge and recognize communication for what it is
so they can share it with us
we are just here to help them heal themselves.

I love smart clients who are willing to tell me exactly what is going on,
our sessions are fast, productive, satisfying.

Any time I made assumptions - I was wrong.

All we ( clients and MT) need is listen.

Comment by Julie Onofrio on August 20, 2010 at 10:03pm

Hurt really needs to be defined.... I love deep tissue because i have such bad scoliosis and can't actually feel my back muscles sometimes. I need really deep work to start waking them up. People can do the deepest work on me and it doesn't hurt on my back. I did have one massage once by a guy named Ivar from Russia who had no concept of depth and actually did try to cause pain. He did get me into pain. He thought his role was to just work as deeply as he could.

But yes I do think that many just don't speak up when it does hurt. There is also the thing where it isn't really hurting when it is being done but then it hurts the next day. I don't think you can figure that out.

people don't speak up because of the power differential - transference. They think we should know what we are doing. They think it should hurt. People don't even speak up when asked. they want to be nice and not hurt your feelings or whatever. It happens all the time I am sure. I am not sure what we could do to change that except keep trying to talk to people. I also think if it is causing pain while we are working that the transference process is increased. Pain does interesting things. It can make them go into shock almost. I have had it happen to me personally just this week even. When people are in pain they are not thinking straight or thinking at all in some cases.


Julie

Comment by Daniel Cohen on August 19, 2010 at 11:21pm

What modality is it that you do for no pain? Pressure can cause pain. Ever hear a client go "Ah... That's a good pain"? Don't confuse brief pain with injury. A painful trigger point can get a quicker release sometimes than a cortasone shot. Hurting means injury IMHO. That is very different than brief pain followed by relief of the pain that brought them in. How about a healing crises or painful rebound/unwinding. Pain is not the same as hurting/injury.

I have had massages that injured by MTs who just don't have it right. But that is injury, pain I have endured in a massage that in a few minutes relieved my tendonitis and brought back my strength. Let's keep our terminology straight.

Comment by Gloria Coppola on August 16, 2010 at 9:46pm

We are hurting clients when we don't represent ourselves within our scope first of all. We can cause problems aka hurt clients when we don't know what it is we are doing or how. Too often MT's attempt to apply techniques they think they know how to perform when the have not mastered them. They sometimes don't even know the function of the muscles in relation to the technique. Now, let's throw in the contraindications with the medications they may be taking that numb them out and they keep saying "deeper, deeper"....and does the therapist know they shouldn't be doing that? Some don't unfortunately!

So although they may be inflicting pain, they are hurting them by causing other problems (postural distortions, etc) by not utilizing techniques appropriately and efficiently.

As for PAIN, I do not believe in the Pain method personally. I have learned Less is More. Yes ,there may be 'tenderness' but no one should walk away with bruises. I have personally experienced that many years ago from a "Skilled" practitioner who literally made me cry even when I asked for mercy. I WOULD NEVER do that to anyone and did not find it beneficial for my body at all. So , I do not understand why anyone in any fashion would want to hurt a client. Not my style.
Slight discomfort is different than pain in my opinion.
Boris, et al thank you for your posts too!

Comment by Craig A. Wilson on August 15, 2010 at 10:32pm

What gets me is what I hear from my clients,"Oh we went on a crusie and thought it would be nice to get a massage. When we got done we hurt more the when we went in." That is the main reason why people are scared to get a massage not that it feels weird to them but the simple fact they were either hurt before while getting a massage or they have others talk them out of it because they still think that it is not a,"Natural healing method." So in my community I put myself out there and help explain the affects of massage,and how it can ease away stress,tention,etc. that they might feel.Try to make them understand that massage done the right way can be a soothing relaxing experience.

Comment by Boris Prilutsky on August 15, 2010 at 9:09am

Dear Frank.
I am thankful that got opportunity to read your post. Almost 20 years I am practicing in America and couldn't understand why our guys inflicting pain and in some cases injuring clients instead to heal.your statement explained a lot to me .I mean make sense.
"Yes, there are some therapists whose mission is to cause pain on the table for the simple fact they believe that if it doesn't hurt it is working"
it is shame to me too.thank you for post .
Best wishes.
Boris

Comment by Frank J on August 14, 2010 at 1:32pm

Hurting?!?! it depends on the content in which you mean. Yes, there are some therapists whose mission is to cause pain on the table for the simple fact they believe that if it doesn't hurt it is working. On the flip side they tell their clients the same so their clients feel the same way which to me is a total shame. Now, depending on the clients situation there may be some pain during and after the massage but the initial pain/discomfort they were having when the came to see us should subside. I am speaking from a client and therapist point of view.

Comment by Nate Ewert on August 12, 2010 at 12:02pm

I have performed rehabilitative massage most of my career, and I have learned that sometimes discomfort happens. The thing to remember is it is about the benefit out weighing the burden. A few minutes of facilitation a pain response to alleviate headaches for a month might be deemed worth it to a client who suffers everyday.

Comment by Travis Alligood on August 10, 2010 at 8:12pm

The very first thing I learned in school is NO PAIN !

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