Maureen Abson - Healing Massage An A-Z Guide for More Than Forty Medical Conditions For Professional and Home Use

This book has been written from years of experience in working with and teaching massage and seeks to provide practical information on using massage to treat a range of medical conditions. Massage has been used for thousands of years to treat a whole array of conditions and was traditionally passed down through families as part of everyday life. With the increase in modern medicine two things have happened: firstly the power of massage has been largely forgotten, and secondly, with the increase of a litigious culture, it has been politicized and people have become scared to touch for fear of litigation.

This book seeks to both educate and empower two groups of people: the qualified massage practitioner wanting a ready reference book for unfamiliar conditions, and everyday people wanting to help a friend or family member who is dealing with a health problem.

As a qualified massage practitioner there are very few courses that will cover every medical condition that you will come across in your massage career, or you may have been taught to simply not massage a specific condition when in reality massage would be effective. Cancer is a good example of this; many colleges still teach that massage when someone has cancer is contraindicated, even though the medical research has moved on in this area. This book aims to fill in some of those gaps and to not only provide an easily accessible reference point for the condition but also discuss how to treat someone effectively and safely.

The book is also aimed at empowering individuals to give effective massage treatments to friends or family members. While in many cases individuals will feel happier going to see a qualified practitioner, there may be times when for reasons of finance, life circumstances, or simply client choice this is not possible, and it is perfectly fine to use massage in the home. So long as you are not charging for your services, which takes you into the professional arena, then it is possible to give safe and effective treatments.

There are some conditions that would benefit from daily massage to make a real difference. The tremors of Parkinsons disease will respond well to massage, but ideally this needs to be given daily and not many people can afford a daily professional massage. Twice daily massage to a child with cerebral palsy can have a real impact on the tone and spasticity of muscles but, again, not many people can afford thisbut it can be integrated into the daily care routine given by a parent or carer. The book is therefore also aimed at empowering friends and family members to be able to treat conditions at home.