Pulse Legacy Archive January / February 2012 | Page 60
ASK THE EXPERT
Barbara Thomley continued
How effective was massage
therapy in providing:
●
STRESS RELIEF: 76% Very Effective
●
RELAXATION: 82% Very Effective
●
PAIN RELIEF: 64% Very Effective and 31%
Somewhat Effective
●
GENERAL FEELING OF WELLNESS: 82% Very
Effective
5.
What can the spa industry do to help medical
professionals embrace Complementary
Alternative Medicine?
Share the results of studies such as this (and nine others)
done at Mayo Clinic and other reputable academic centers
with spa professionals and their clients. This “grassroots”
approach can help build the critical mass needed to help shift
our national thinking away from investing all of our medical
resources into fixing things when they are broken—and starting to emphasize keeping people healthy in the first place.
6.
What other opportunities do you see for spa
professionals to serve recovering patients?
Knowledge! Spa professionals generally recognize the deleterious effects of stress. Sharing that knowledge and the growing
scientific research on the effects of stress with clients can
help them start to discover the importance of managing stress
and the value of modalities such as massage, meditation or
similar services offered at many spas.
COMMENTS FROM
PATIENTS
4.
As far as integrating spa concepts into conventional medicine is concerned, what do you see
are the challenges in this area?
A major hurdle is the current payment structure for medical
care in the United States. Most consumers are accustomed to
having most (or all) of their health care costs covered by
insurance (whether from their employer or from a government
program). The concept that we should invest personally in
our health is still an emerging understanding for many people.
Since a financially strapped medical system is unlikely to soon
embrace adding coverage for modalities like massage, it is
going to require a shift in thinking for more and more people
to see the value of massage, and then be willing to invest in
obtaining massage on a regular basis.
58 PULSE
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January/February 2012
“My pain was reduced by my
massage, it helped more so than
that of my pain medications.”
“This is a wonderful hands-on
therapy that benefits the patient
emotionally and physically.”
“This is an excellent complement to
the standard health care provided
by the doctors and nurses.”