Does
massage
spread
cancer?
By Drew Hume
It is unfortunate that many still fear
massage and touch because they
believe it to be contraindicated for
cancer patients. Misunderstanding, poor education and the aggressive therapist have led to this
perspective pervading modern
culture. The truth is, massage and
compassionate touch have a very
important role in cancer recovery.
Now, does this mean that manipulation of the soft tissue cannot lead
to the spread of cancerous cells
throughout the body? No. But notice, how I didn’t call it massage?!
The reason I don’t is because the
force required to induce metastasis is beyond the scope of what
should be considered massage.
Aggressive disruption of the soft
tissue creates significant damage,
and this is not something we’d be
doing in a treatment with cancer
patients. At least, it’s not something we should do when working
with cancer patients.
Treating people who have cancer
is quite different to working with
people who don’t. The focus of
our work is different and with an
appropriate amount of pressure,
due consideration for the location,
type and stage of the cancer, massage can be incredibly supportive
to any and all cancer-treatment
regimens.
Tumors that have yet to pierce the
basement membrane of its local
tissue cannot metastasize as a result of appropriate massage pressure. In order for cancer cells to
spread, they must either do so on
their own or they must be disrupted with pressure that is beyond the
scope of practice.