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Lupus

Has anyone worked with someone with Lupus? If so what would the contraindication be? I have a client that after working on several times admitted she had lupus. She said that when she let other therapists know she had lupus they refused to work on her.

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Permalink Reply by Emma Torsey on January 18, 2010 at 9:32pm

Lupus is an autoimmune disease.When it is in acute stages, massage is contraindicated.When it is in remission you can go ahead and work on the client.
I always check with the clients doctor before I do any body work.The people I know who have it don't really feel like being touched when they are in a flair up stage,but after that they can't wait to be worked on.
It is really important to let her know that you need to know how she is doing before you work on her.Tell her massage can make her worse when she is having acute symptoms.Always better to be safe than sorry!
Peace,Emma

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Permalink Reply by Jade Rosenberg on January 18, 2010 at 10:37pm

Thank you, I appreciate the info.

Emma Torsey said:

Lupus is an autoimmune disease.When it is in acute stages, massage is contraindicated.When it is in remission you can go ahead and work on the client.
I always check with the clients doctor before I do any body work.The people I know who have it don't really feel like being touched when they are in a flair up stage,but after that they can't wait to be worked on.
It is really important to let her know that you need to know how she is doing before you work on her.Tell her massage can make her worse when she is having acute symptoms.Always better to be safe than sorry!
Peace,Emma

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Permalink Reply by Jade Rosenberg on February 28, 2010 at 11:54am

Thank you all for your remarks, they are greatly appreciated.

Henry Hardnock said:

lupus is very much like fibromyalgia. they have good days and bad. lupus tends to make a cold feel like the flu. their response is that lupus doubles or triples the symptoms of some conditions like a cold. so contraindications are going to be critical to follow.
absolute contraindications is nothing is to be done at all. as in an acute flair up
general contraindication is they may be having a problem in a singular area so you can work everything around it and
conditional contraindication is going to determine what modality you would use on the person.

there is no reason not to work on the person just know whats going on with the person, keep up with your client info and client update notes so you will know from visit to visit whats going on.
get the book "a massage therapists guide to pathology" i think thats the name good stuff.
thanks for listening

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Permalink Reply by Kim Goral on February 28, 2010 at 7:33pm

I worked on a client with Lupus regularly (mostly every week, or every other week) for almost a year and she loved it. She actually really liked deep work, too. She always told me how much better she felt. She ended up having some complications with her health and eventually stopped coming, though I never found out why (though I tried to contact her a couple of times, just to see how she was doing).

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Permalink Reply by Choice Kinchen on March 1, 2010 at 9:06am

Hey Jade...glad you're on this forum. I have lupus and I actually like getting massage during flareups (just don't get them as often as I should). The deeper work is better for me. My problem with lupus (and my scleroderma) is that, with my gastro and lung involvement, I sometimes have trouble laying facedown for very long. You need to find a way to come out my way so you can work on me. For everyone else...we live close to each other and work a lot of conventions together. BTW...post a profile pic.

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Permalink Reply by Jade Rosenberg on March 1, 2010 at 9:30pm

I would love to come out your way and pick your brain while I work with you. I'm leaving tomorrow for a backpacking trip. Be back next week. What day of the week works for you and we'll see what I can do. I'll work on the pic.

Choice Kinchen said:

Hey Jade...glad you're on this forum. I have lupus and I actually like getting massage during flareups (just don't get them as often as I should). The deeper work is better for me. My problem with lupus (and my scleroderma) is that, with my gastro and lung involvement, I sometimes have trouble laying facedown for very long. You need to find a way to come out my way so you can work on me. For everyone else...we live close to each other and work a lot of conventions together. BTW...post a profile pic.