Massage & Elderly Patients: Addressing Soreness & Potential Risks

Question
I have been massaging my grandfather for 5 months now and he just complained of soarness after the massage the last 2 times i worked on him. He is diabetic and has had tripple bypass surgery (4 years ago), the only thing that I can think that I have done diff. is that I worked a very little bit of deep tissue on his IT band because he complains of leg pain and I thought maybe if I am able to loosen that up it will give him more ROM. Could that cause him to hurt? Also if you have any good tech. that would work well with him I am open to hearing them. I am going to continue my soft touch for now and try to get him to exersize some ( he seems to refuese to do this)  

Answer
Hi Sarah,

Ok so here's the thing. With a diabetic you have to use lighter pressure because they will bruise very easily.  Since your grandfather is older you also need to take that into consideration. Older people are more fragile so it helps to ease off on your pressure.

As for the IT band.  The IT Band is mostly tendon which means it will not loosed up as fast as a muscle does.  You need to use a lot of prep work and a very slowly get deeper and into stripping.  Even for the entire massage you are doing on your grandfather I suggest using a pain scale and starting out with relaxation massage.  You should be able to feel the muscle tension beneath your fingers and be able to tell the difference between the mucsle fighting back and the muscle loosening.  

The pain scale is numbered one to seven.  Seven is the most painful. Do not ever exceed a seven.  Get your grandfather to tell you when you reach a seven on him (his pain tolerance).  You may go deeper when he says it has gone down to lets say four and when he tells you it has gone numb. Very slow application is the key and make sure to finish off your treatment with a short relaxation massage at the end.

I hope this helps you out a bit. Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

Zira