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hello massage nerds today I'm going to bring you a different type of massage I'm going to be talking
about geriatrics massage and shley my good friend and client is here she's volunteered she wants to
be a star so make sure that you leave lots of comments likes let's make shley a star so shley
tell us a little bit about yourself well my name is Charlie whan I'm 88 years old and I've been
coming to Maria for several years now and hope to continue yeah we hope to continue actually she got
a massage yesterday and she's back already and she's going to tell us a little bit more about
you know her history with massage but we'll wait till she's on the table to tell you that so I want
to start off with some of the emotional cons considerations the uh physical considerations
contraindications benefits and uh some of the you know the things that you need to consider
to give a geriatric massage make sure the very most important thing that you need to do is take
a good medical history that's very important you know when they walk in you want to ask
us many questions because they are elderly they might have some conditions that you know are are
contraindicated for massage so make sure you have a a list of their medications make sure you have
a list of any surgeries or any limitations you want to ask them are you able to get on the table
by yourself do you need assistance another thing is I I want to show you you know you need extra
pillows extra bolsters extra blankets for somebody that's elderly you want I always have you know
the extra so this is the the the cervical role I have pillows I prefer to use pillows instead of
bolsters for them for the elderly because it gives them a little more support and they're softer and
the bolsters sometimes don't raise their knees high enough if you put it underneath their um
underneath their legs another thing to consider is somebody with COPD they cannot go prone and
they cannot lay flat supine so you want to make sure and include you know a bolster the the wedge
where they don't you know lean theine all the way flat that's for people with you know with COPD or
um you know that are having to have had a cold or have bad allergies that they can't breathe
right you want to make sure and keep them at an at an incline another contraindication is this
they have fluidas some fluidas is inflammation of the the veins and that can can cause some pain in
the in their usually their calf muscles so make sure you look for the you know if there's any if
there's any swelling or if it's red make sure that if they have ever had a blood clot that they have
a release from their doctor you do not want to work on them if they just had you know a a blood
clot another thing to considers when they have had a blood clo they're usually on blood thinners
and the elderly have you know their skin you know starts getting really thin they lose the Keratin
and anyway um the collagen keratin In Their Skin So their skin is very transparent and if there are
um blood thinners they're going to bruise very very easily and they usually do Shirley is in
great shape let me tell you she still drives she's 88 she still drives here she still goes swimming
she had a has had three knee surgeries and two on the on the the on the left and she just had one
like two months ago and she's already walking and keeps going so she's like the ever ready
rabbit she's not your typical 88 years old okay she's she's uh really in great shape she's still
swimming she's trying to build up her endurance she's still swimming so make sure that you talk
to them and find out where they're at let's talk about some of the emotional considerations there
is such a thing as touch starvation or skin hunger it's also called Skin hunger and it is when an
elderly person is starving for touch you know they don't get you know they usually live alone and
they nobody goes up to them and hugs them you know I try to you know give Charlie a hug every time I
see her or touch her they are starving for that human contact so it's very important to you know
for the elderly to get massages uh Harry harlo did a study many years years ago that proved that
monkeys were separated you probably don't know the story but monkeys were separated from their from
their mothers at you baby monkeys were separated from their mothers and when they were giving the
option or food or touch you know they prefer they went for the touch the cuddling more than
they went for the food so that shows how much you know touch is so important so as massage therapist
what we do really makes a difference because not just the elderly but I think our society
in general is starving for for human contact and touch another thing is that they usually need to
talk you know they don't have very many friends Shirley calls me her friend and we are friends
so it's not a all quiet session we usually gossip we usually gossip and you know we talk about story
she's fascinating she's got great stories to tell I love to talk to the elderly because they really
do have very fascinating stories to tell so it's important to have the conversation and humor is
very important because you know it keeps them young so humor is important and another thing
to consider is Modesty you know they come from a different generation so you want to make sure
that they are draped to their level of comfort and that you tuck them in right and like I said they
might need extra blankets they might need help turning over they might need need a step stool
you know on the table to get up to the table so you need to consider all of these things and make
sure you have a good medical history oh let's talk about the benefits the benefits of massage is they
have a speedy recovery from an injury or from an illness it really helps them to recover faster
when they get a massage it enhances their sleep it improves anxiety and depression so it brings down
anxiety and depression it uh lowers their blood pressure it improves the lymphatic flow and blood
circulation and Joint mobility and when you have an elderly person you don't want to do too much
range of motion unless you do it really carefully and the massage is a lot slower to give their
veins a chance to refill again and you don't want to do no deep pressure no deep pressure um surely
takes quite a bit of pressure on her shoulders and her low back I don't do deep pressure on
her legs unless her thighs really need it so make sure that you consider uh you know their medical
history make sure that you know that you taper it to their needs you can do some basic Strokes also
another thing is if you're working with somebody with alzheimer's it's usually better to do a seed
at massage because they don't recognize anybody and they forget it's better if they can see you
it's good if you can work their hands their feet their arms but with you in front of them
they're more likely to cooperate if they can see you they feel safer if they see you if you're
working with somebody that has either Dementia or Alzheimer's and uh and an elderly massage usually
is about 45 minutes to 50 minutes depending on their needs but Shirley's good she can go
up to about an hour so anyway we're going to get her on the table and like I said we're
going to talk we're going to tell you stories and we are look forward to you enjoying this
[Music] massage