Gayle MacDONALD - Hands in Health Care: Massage therapy for the adult hospital patient

Contents

HANDSPRING PUBLISHING LIMITED

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EH34 5EY, United Kingdom

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Website: www.handspringpublishing.com

The first edition of Massage for the Hospital Patient and Medically Frail Client by Gayle MacDonald was published by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins in 2004.

First published 2021 in the United Kingdom by Handspring Publishing

Copyright Handspring Publishing Limited 2021

All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

The rights of Gayle MacDonald and Carolyn Tague to be identified as the Authors of this text have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Acts 1988.

ISBN 978-1-912085-54-5

ISBN (Kindle eBook) 978-1-912085-55-2

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

Notice

Neither the Publisher nor the Authors assume any responsibility for any loss or injury and/or damage to persons or property arising out of or relating to any use of the material contained in this book. It is the responsibility of the treating practitioner, relying on independent expertise and knowledge of the patient, to determine the best treatment and method of application for the patient.

All reasonable efforts have been made to obtain copyright clearance for illustrations in the book for which the authors or publishers do not own the rights. If you believe that one of your illustrations has been used without such clearance please contact the publishers and we will ensure that appropriate credit is given in the next reprint.

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Gayle MacDonald with Carolyn Jauco-Trott

Angela Secretan

Cindy Spence

I entered the massage therapy profession in the early 1980s. At that time education programs were short and informal. We had no textbooks specifically for massage therapists. We entered the field ready to give high-quality Swedish massage to healthy people and not much else.

Back in those days we were taught that: Massage and cancer dont go in the same sentence (a verbatim quote from my first pathology teacher), and we received no education whatever about working in health care settings. The thought of working with other than perfectly healthy clients was alien and terrifying. No one I knew at that time intended to build a career in working with clients with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. And the thought of working in a hospital or hospice? Inconceivable.

Fast-forward a few decades and my, how things have changed! Massage therapy in hospitals and other health care facilities is a fast-growing specialty. Scientific research demonstrates that our work offers significant benefits for patients in settings from pre-op suites to post-surgical rehabilitation, and beyond. Outstanding education for working in this environment is available now, from a variety of talented practitioners and teachers education that can easily be based on this important text. Most importantly, the people who most need skilled massage: the sick, the frail, the medically complex, can now have access to our work.

It has been my pleasure and honor to know Gayle MacDonald for many years. She and I were among the first authors to write and publish texts specifically for massage therapists, and oh, we have some stories from the old days! Gayle is one of a handful of massage therapists from that era who was willing to push back on the common wisdom about who was safe to receive massage, and as such, she was a pioneer, bravely exploring new pathways for massage therapists to work with medically complex patients. Its hard to explain how courageous that was: she was challenging a deeply held tradition that kept massage therapy firmly separate from conventional health care. Ironically, she did that by reminding us of a time when compassionate, educated touch (as opposed to skilled but hurried task-related handling) was an integral part of caring for sick people.

I remember when the first edition of this book, titled Massage for the Hospital Patient and Medically Frail Client, came out in 2004. I read it with gratitude, and then gave it to a student who had an opportunity to create a hospital-based massage therapy program. Then I bought it again, and passed it on again. I have used it to inform my writing and my teaching, and I have waited impatiently for a new edition.

With Hands in Health Care, Gayle MacDonald and Carolyn Tague have cemented a legacy in the massage therapy field. This beautifully written text is grounded in current research, but it is rich in the grace and compassion that inspire us to serve people who are in need. I love their thoughtful voices, along with their many examples of practical application of basic principles. Reader, you are in for a treat.

Thank you, Gayle and Carolyn, for helping to open this pathway for massage therapists. Thank you for reminding us where we came from, and showing us where we can go next. Our profession is better for your contribution.

Ruth Werner BCTMB

Author, A Massage Therapists Guide to Pathology: Critical
Thinking, Practical Application

Waldport, Oregon, USA
September, 2020

Massage has a long tradition, thousands of years, in many cultures around the world. In the late 1700s, French missionaries returned from China and brought home a variety of clearly described massage techniques. These techniques still carry their French names, although they were classified originally in China. Later in the 1800s, these became also known and taught in Sweden, from where they were imported to New York in the mid-1800s, acquiring the name Swedish massage. Until the early and mid-1900s these techniques were still taught to, and often practiced by, nurses or physical therapists in medical settings. Then massages became more and more relegated to alternative medicine or luxurious spa culture. Now, in the past two decades, massage has gained renewed interest in the healing professions and even become a topic for medical research. And with its growing support from studies published in high-impact medical journals, it is (very slowly) finding its way again, from complementary treatments reserved for those who can afford it, into major hospitals. So it is the perfect time to have here in hand a comprehensive book on the topic of massage in the hospital setting, written by experienced practitioners, who can explain these techniques to other massage practitioners and health care providers.