QuestionChris, I am a massage therapy student and would like to know more about massage and diabetes. Can you explain more about it? My pathology book says that is indicates massage as long as the tissues are healthy and circulation is not impaired.
AnswerGreetings Cindy. Massage is indeed fine for clients with diabetes, as long as you keep a few things in mind. The first thing to be aware of and to talk to the client about is that massage can lower blood sugar. This is beacuse as the body relaxes it can begin digestion, including using the sugar that is in the blood. So the client needs to be aware of his/her sugar levels, and if they feel them drop, have some juice or snack on hand for them.
Another important aspect of diabetes is what is called peripheral neuropathy. Excess sugar in the blood over time begins settling around the nerves in the extremities - most often in the legs first - causing loss of feeling. If the clients has peripheral neuropathy, this contraindicates (CI) deep tissue massage, since they will not be able to properly judge the depth of the massage. This could lead to you causing injury, since they are not able to tell you when there is pain. Another facet of this is that they could have sores or cuts on the feet or legs that they are unaware of, wounds that can be a long time in healing. Any open sores are locally CI for massage. As diabetes also inhibits the immune system, infections can be major trouble from these wounds.
In advanced cases of diabetes the excess sugar can also damage blood vessels. This would CI massage, since all that rubbing gets the blood circulating. This would add more stress to a system that is not completely healthy. Exxtra blood being forced into vessels that are damaged could cause further damage, and lead to more problems. In this case, it might be best to get the client's doctor's permission before massaging.
And that is the most important thing. If you are unsure about a client's ability to get massage with any condition, it is better to be safe and get a doctor's okay. Massage is supposed to both help the body and to feel good, and no wants to cause more injury if it can be avoided.
The key to understanding CIs is to both the effects of massage on the body and the specifics of disease. I often find that just reviewing a condition (occasionally I use WebMd) can help you understand how a condition fits with massage.
I hope this helps, Cindy. Please feel free to write back with any other questions. Also, please feel free to rate me on AllExperts.com; both positive and connstructive feed back help me learn to help others better.
Sincerely,
Christopher Hall
