Massage Tailored for Cancer Patients

Services for Patients and Families in High Demand

Before being diagnosed with leukemia, when Shirley Colton's neck and back would tighten from stress, she would get a full-body massage.

Recently she was excited to learn she can still receive the massages as a cancer patient - through the newly expanded massage program at M. D. Anderson's Place of wellness.

Cancer patients are allowed to receive massage because specific medical guidelines are followed, says Ki Y. Shin, M.D., assistant professor and section chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the cancer center's Department of Palliative and Rehabilitation Medicine.

Safe practices

Shin's role in the massage program expansion is to help create best and safe practices to maintain patient health and safety.

A major precaution massage practitioners take, for example, is to not touch areas where a tumor may be present. "We want to avoid direct manipulation of a tumor to help prevent pain and or other complications," Shin says.

Special needs of cancer patients also include:

• A light touch (no deep massage) to avoid flushing out chemotherapy treatments
• A light touch or no touch around radiation-treated areas, where the skin may be burned and already sensitive to developing possible infection
• Protection for patients who are highly susceptible to infection (Massage therapists can wear gowns, masks and gloves while massaging these patients to prevent exposure to infection)
• Avoidance of sensitive areas for patients with special medical conditions such as blood clots or lymphedema (a chronic fluid buildup in a limb after removal of lymph nodes during cancer procedures such as mastectomy or lumpectomy)

"Manipulating tissue with massage can sometimes cause the swelling from lymphedema to worsen," Shin says. "Care also has to be taken in patients at risk for blood clots so as to not move clots through the body."

Prior to all massages, patients are screened about their individual medical conditions and cancer treatments, says M. D. Anderson massage practitioner Sat-Siri Sumler, who has worked with cancer patients for the past 12 of her 20 years as a massage therapist.

Touching cancer

Massage has been a very positive experience with many benefits, according to feedback from patients and family, she says.

Many have said massage has helped them deal with:

• Pain
• Depression
• Stress

"There can be a physiological response to touch," adds Place of wellnessDirector Laura Baynham-Fletcher. "Aside from it being good for overall well-being, there is some literature suggesting its effect on heart rate, respiration and pain intensity."

Shin adds that massage can also decrease some of the effects of cancer treatments such as fatigue and pain.

Expanded services

The popularity of massage at M. D. Anderson has led to its current expansion.

"We wanted to be able to serve more patients and family members," Baynham-Fletcher says. "We have a very high demand for massage."

"There's definitely a need," confirms Sumler, who sees about 40 patients and family members each week.

The expanded program will include more staff, longer hours and, for the first time, full-body massage services in a new massage room. Currently, chair and foot massage, which are free services, are offered at the Place of wellnessfor a limited number of hours. Full-body massages will have a fee that has yet to be determined.

Several times a week, practitioners also offer massage in clinic and intensive care waiting rooms and in treatment areas. This includes inpatient visits to M. D. Anderson's Palliative Care Unit. Massage is available once a week at the Rotary House International, an upscale hotel that is connected to M. D. Anderson and dedicated exclusively to its patients and their families. Practitioners also make periodic "house calls" (doctor-approved massage visits) to patients' rooms throughout the cancer center.

The expansion of services will help even more people deal with the physical and emotional challenges of cancer, staff say.

The healing touch massage offers is very important emotionally, Baynham-Fletcher emphasizes. "It helps cancer patients know they are touchable and cared for in a compassionate way."

Human connection

Sumler is teaching an upcoming massage class to show family members how to safely massage loved ones with cancer. For many patients the only touch they received is through medical treatments.

"Some people would say it's just so wonderful to be touched and to have it not be for a diagnosis or a procedure," Sumler says. "They also commented that massage helped them feel better about themselves. It helped them feel whole again."

Shirley Colton expressed this last sentiment just five minutes into her first massage: "If I was a cat, I'd start purring right now."