A 3-Day Intensive
Course
Caring for Clients with Cancer:
Simple Steps to Safe, Effective Massage Therapy
24.0 CE Hours
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COURSE DESCRIPTION
This intensive course combines the art and science of touch
to create safe, effective massage sessions for clients with
cancer, in cancer treatment and with cancer histories.
 In a
lively, supportive learning environment, we carefully debunk
the long-held contraindication to massage and discuss current
research findings about the benefits of touch for people with
cancer.
Participants learn essential cancer intake questions,
proper follow-up on the client’s answers, and proven
strategies to determine when and how to involve a client’s
physician in decision-making.
We describe concrete massage
adjustments for surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, bone metastasis
and vital organ involvement.
A balanced approach to learning
blends lecture, spirited discussion, and hands-on work with
volunteer clients with cancer.
Music, art and literature by
people who have had cancer help expand our understanding of
the journey.
Massage therapists from varied backgrounds and
massage settings leave with tools that continue to support
them in their work: sample client intake forms, physician information
and permission materials, and summaries of massage research.
Learning Objectives
- List physical and psychological
benefits of massage therapy for people with cancer.
- Summarize and dispel the issues raised by the traditional
massage contraindication for cancer.
- Use communication tools to include the client’s
medical team in making clinical decisions.
- Using the client history form and training manual,
conduct an intake interview to identify key information
for possible massage modifications.
- Describe common cancer presentations, complications and
corresponding massage contraindications.
- Locate resources in massage therapy literature,
medical literature and patient education literature
to determine massage session design.
- List the elements of hands-on sessions such as site,
joint movement, speed, pressure, duration, and contact,
that are modified for different client populations.
- Describe common massage adjustments for surgery, radiation
and chemotherapy.
- Describe and implement common massage
adjustments for a range of client presentations,
from robust to
medically frail.
Topics
- Benefits of Massage Therapy for People with Cancer
- Debunking the Concern about Massage Spreading Cancer
- Communicating with Medical Staff and Client about Contraindications
- Securing Physician's Input on Contraindications
- Permission and Information Forms
- The Decision Tree—Clarifying Contraindications
- Hands-on Adjustments for Cancer, Vital Organ Involvement
and Bone Involvement
- Surgery
- Benefits of Massage for People before
and after Surgery
- Hands-on Adjustments after Surgery
- Chemotherapy
- Benefits of Massage for People during Chemotherapy
- Hands-on Adjustments during Chemotherapy
- Radiation Therapy
- Benefits of Massage for People during Radiation
Therapy
- Hands-on Adjustments for
Radiation Therapy
- Interviewing a Client with a Cancer
History
- Summarizing Research on Massage
and Cancer
- Inner Preparation for Working with
Clients with Cancer
- Hands-on Approaches for Medically Frail
Clients
- Supervised Practice Clinic with Clients
- Case Reports
- Art, Poetry, Quotes and Music by People
with Cancer
Teaching Methods
A balanced approach to learning includes lecture, hands-on
sessions, lively discussion, use of research literature
and a straightforward format that doesn't require constant
note-taking.
It includes a comprehensive course manual with
many resources for continued learning. A highlight of
the course—hands-on
work with volunteer clients on the last day—offers
a chance to practice skills in a supervised clinic setting.
The goal is to fashion hands-on sessions that soothe,
heal, and reduce pain and isolation.
Hands-on practice is artfully mixed with discussion and lecture.
Varying approaches to the work--meditative, cognitive, kinesthetic,
visual, emotional, auditory, intuitive--are honored throughout
the course. A safe learning setting allows therapists to build
lasting knowledge and skills. The 75-page course manual, client
intake forms and materials for the physician assist massage
therapists in their practice, long after the course is over.
This is an intensive course, packed with information. Tracy
makes it manageable by varying her format, teaching style,
classroom setup, and pacing. Tracy is sensitive to students
of all backgrounds and levels, and encourages questions and
discussion. Massage therapists from varying backgrounds give
the course outstanding reviews.
Course Approvals
Tracy Walton is approved by the National Certification
Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) as
an approved provider, #283404-00.
Tracy Walton is approved by the Florida Board of Massage
Therapy, provider # 50-3354.
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