On a More Serious--And Non-Sex-Related--Note (For Once)

So I'm a bit nerded up because I've stumbled across a couple different massage therapy avenues that I didn't even realize existed and that I'm totally and completely interested in looking into some more.

One of them is "Trauma Touch Therapy." Despite the fact that it makes complete and total sense now that I've heard about it, Thursday was the first time I'd ever even thought of the possibility. Basically, some therapists and massage therapists are beginning to implement massage as a step in the therapy of survivors of sexual and physical abuse--the idea behind it is to slowly reintegrate non-violent/non-threatening touch back into survivors' lives through the touch of massage. I am all about this idea and have been spending some time researching what being able to practice Trauma Touch Therapy would entail. It's a newer application of massage therapy, so there's not tons out there on it. But apparently there is a school in Colorado (The Colorado School of Healing Arts) that specializes in this (and offers a 5-day training program). I have contacted some folks to find out more about certification.

You can read more about Trauma Touch Therapy here:

"Massage with Survivors of Abuse"

"The Ethics of Touch"

"Healing Touch"

The other avenue I'm interested in finding more about is the use of massage therapy for breast cancer survivors. According to my anatomy instructor, there is a whole team of massage therapists at the Cleveland Clinic who specialize in treating breast cancer survivors--what often happens in breast cancer survivors is that when they have a mastectomy, they may have to have some lymph nodes removed as well. This often results in edema/lymphedema (which is a collection of fluids in areas due to non-functioning lymph nodes), and in many cases, massage therapy can be used to treat this and reduce any and all swelling problems in cancer patients.

You can read more about this here as well:

"Patient Information: Lymphedema After Breast Cancer Surgery"

"Ask a Health Professional"

"The National Lymphedema Network"

I am geeked up to no end now that I've found out about these possibilities. Yip yip. It's nice to know that massage CAN deal with more than just rich yuppie housewives and handjobs.