How Massage Therapy Can Benefit Hospice Patients

Whether you’re in a great shape or receiving hospice care, you’ll benefit from a massage, which is a message that needs to be shared with residents of Dubuque and elsewhere.

That’s because massage doesn’t just help the body but the mind as well. Massage therapists who study this stuff seriously say that there may even be more good stuff going on that science can’t explain that includes transferring of energy and metaphysical forces.

But bottom line, it feels good, which is why it’s one of the services available to patients of Above and Beyond Home Health Care.

A team of licensed massage therapists enjoys visiting patients throughout Eastern Iowa offering regular massages. Their services are certainly appreciated by the patients themselves along with their family members and any caregivers, who often enjoy seeing the results after every visit: someone who has their pain and tension reduced and just feels better.

If you’re not familiar with the potential power of massage or how to learn more, fall is a good time to learn more.
The American Massage Therapy Association has designated Oct. 21-27 as National Massage Therapy Awareness Week. It’s an annual opportunity for practitioners, schools, and therapists to let their local communities know about the health and wellness benefits of massage, different types of massage, and encourage citizens to learn more about massage.

These messages are intended for those who may know a little about the basics of massage who can benefit from learning more, and for those who have never received one or aren’t sure that massage can work for them.

Generally, massage therapists point out plenty of value for everyone, including:

• Pain relief
• Relaxed muscles
• Improvement of circulation
• Reduction of toxins
• Improved health
• Less stress
• Improved sleep
• Better physical alignment

While massage therapy is technically classified as a complementary medicine, rather than traditional medicine that involves doctors and nurses, it is also a treatment that many providers – and insurance companies – are recommending as a way to improve quality of life.

Hospice benefits

All of the previous benefits can be especially helpful to patients in hospice situations.

Though everyone’s situation is different, most patients often have some degree of pain, stress, and uncertainty, all of which are things massage can aid.

Since the goal of hospice and palliative care is minimizing stress and focusing on quality of life, massage can fit in perfectly.
That’s also the official summary of the AMTA, which has officially confirmed that massage can provide a wide variety of benefits, starting with general comfort and relaxation.

Regular massages can focus on:

• Pain. Whatever condition they are suffering from that requires hospice care, they can benefit from massage. In some cases, the pain or condition has also required the patient to spend a lot of time sitting or lying down, which can further aggravate or weaken muscles. The therapist will perform a variety of methods to relieve and relax muscles that are sore, bunched up or contracted. It will improve flexibility and encourage the patient to move around more.
• Comfort. Muscles that are no longer sore and painful can provide immediate relief. It can make it easier to go to sleep or take naps. Massage can offer a soothing feeling as well that can translate to a better mental state.
• Less stress. Hospice can be stressful for loved ones as well as patients. There are a variety of practical decisions that should be made during this time of someone’s life, including finalizing one’s estate and funeral arrangements. There are also spiritual unknowns for some, as well as a rush to take care of many small details before their health declines to the point where they can no longer function. Massage can help give someone the opportunity to take a break and relax.
• Better mental state. The power of massage can help lift someone up if they’re depressed or just feeling down. Massage therapists are trained in ways of boosting someone’s mental state. Often, just a visit from a massage therapist who has made them feel good in the past, as well as any other therapists, can go a long way in brightening someone’s day.
• Nausea and fatigue. Relaxation of the muscles through massage often improves other organs and bodily systems. This can also help with other side effects of health conditions, such as nausea from the treatment of medications. Getting more comfortable makes it easier to take naps or sleep longer. And better sleep can improve everything.
• Healing touches. Though their prognosis likely won’t change through massage, the uplifting feeling they’ll receive from a trusted therapist can brighten whatever time they have left.

Learn more

Above and Beyond Home Health Care is proud to offer massage therapy along with its other therapies and services to patients, whether they’re receiving home health care or are under hospice care. The benefits of this type of therapy are just beginning to be explored in the hospice world, partly because of the trend toward more people receiving hospice services as opposed to remaining in a hospital.