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The “war on cancer” began in 1971 with the signing of the National Cancer Act. Since then, dramatic technologies have been created in cancer detection and care. Smart drugs that target only the cancer cells are being developed, radiation machines are becoming more refined, causing less damage to surrounding tissue, and each year since 1993 the survival rates have improved.
When the National Cancer Act was signed, the only concern was to cure the disease. Scant attention was paid to the physical, emotional and social issues created by the toxic treatments. The aim was to keep people alive. Now, more than three decades later, the vision of cancer has changed. The focus has broadened to include not only eradication of the disease, but also to improve the quality of life, particularly since many varieties of cancer are being managed as a chronic condition, as with diabetes and heart disease. Cancer survivors, numbering nearly 10 million in the U.S., not only want to be cured from their cancer, they also want to live well.
As part of enhancing quality of life, cancer patients have turned towards complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), also referred to as integrative medicine. These therapies include such interventions as exercise, prayer, aromatherapy, acupuncture, guided imagery, massage, diet, and nutritional supplementation. When used as alternative therapy, these modalities are used in place of allopathic care or in conjunction wit hit to promote a cure. When used in a complementary fashion, these therapies are used alongside mainstream medicine, usually to ameliorate the side effects of the curative treatments and to improve the quality of life.
Consistently, massage is reported as one of the most popular complementary modalities. Multiple studies show that approximately 20% of cancer patients use massage. In one study a group of breast cancer patients the use was as high as 53%. Massage helps people heal; it moves them towards wholeness. For a day or an hour, they forget about cancer.
Some patients believe that CAM therapies can prevent a recurrence of the cancer. But, to be sure, massage is not a cure for cancer. It is a complement to the treatments being used to cure the disease. These curative treatments are notorious for their side effects such as, nausea, fatigue, weight changes, or immuno-suppression. Touch therapies lessen the severity of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, making the process easier to tolerate.
Patients are leading the way in the use of CAM therapies. Health care providers are in the process of catching up to this consumer driven trend so that they can advise their patients about the safety and efficacy of therapies such as massage. Many nursing and medical school curriculums now include basic training in the area of integrative medicine. Online education is even available.
Over the past 20 years, massage has been making slow, steady progress as a complementary therapy in hospitals, hospices, cancer wellness centers, medical spas, and chemotherapy and radiation oncology clinics. The American Cancer Society and the National Caner Institute advocate massage and manual pressure as ways to relieve pain without medicine.
Pioneers in the massage field have worked with oncology patients for more than two decades and have given the profession a large body of experience and wisdom to draw upon. Massage therapists are no longer required to guess or just intuit how to safely administer massage in the oncology setting because the needs of people with cancer histories are clearly known. Bodyworkers can now be given clinical training in how best to adjust their touch techniques for cancer patients.
Two of the side effects of cancer and its treatment, pain and anxiety, are clearly improved by massage. Scientific research data on the effect of massage on fatigue is hopeful but not yet conclusive. Studies on the effect of massage on nausea have shown mixed results. However, what is clear is that by making the right adjustments, the benefits of massage can be enjoyed by nearly all persons affected by cancer.
In order to massage cancer patients, it is often thought that advanced training is needed. Just the opposite is true: the ability to work with this special population should be part of a basic curriculum and should be taught to all therapists who use manual interventions. Because the lifetime cancer risk rate is so high – 40% in the U.S. – all touch therapists need to have a fundamental understanding of how to administer bodywork to cancer patients.
Students of massage should be taught from the start that bodywork for people with a history of cancer is extremely beneficial. Advising students at the start of their training that cancer is a contraindication for massage plants the seeds of fear. Sometimes, therapists who have been instilled with apprehension during their formal training, turn cancer patients away. An attitude of trepidation is injurious to patients and practitioners. It is harmful to patients because it denies them access to a service that is beneficial and further stigmatized an already branded group.
Bodywork is unique in its ability to simultaneously provide healing in many areas of a patient’s life. Skilled touch can increase quality of life, lend emotional support, and decrease pain and other physical discomforts. Receiving comforting, attentive bodywork reminds the patient that the body can still be a sure of pleasure. As they relax, pain, fatigue, and nausea diminish. Touch reminds them they are still lovable and worthwhile. For a moment, this person who may be disfigured, lonely or without hope, feels whole again.
People who are seriously ill look for hope wherever they can find it. This is one reason that people with cancer are coming in huge numbers to CAM providers. Cancer patients have become the bridge between complementary care practitioners and conventional allopathic health care providers. Each side must now walk onto the span created by the patients and learn what the other has to offer, so that complementary and conventional medicine may work together to better serve people’s lives.
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