that gentle touch that compassionate touch is really important in a you know, again, less medications you don't need as many opioids and that's always a concern today in the medical field, you know, watching opioid use that healing touch, you just need a compassionate person to be there with you.
When a loved one is undergoing cancer treatment, a family member or a friend might feel powerless. What can you do? According to our guest on today's podcast, a lot. This is random acts of knowledge presented by Heartland Community College. I'm your host, Steve fast. Our guest today is an oncology massage therapist. And she also teaches a class on how anyone can apply a caring touch for cancer. She says even a simple approach can have a big impact.
My name is Cindy Germany, I'm owner of the massage spot in downtown Bloomington,
you also are teaching a class at Heartland Community College
I am so one day workshop, actually just two hours, I'm going to discuss how you can give someone comfort that's going through cancer. That's one of my niches in my massage practice is oncology.
What sort of things are different than regular massage therapy, when you are dealing with patients of cancer treatment,
a lot of it is slower and softer, definitely and shorter. So it might be a shorter session. A typical regular massage like where you might get muscle therapy is an hour, that's an average cancer, it might be a little shorter. Sometimes people are they're going through a lot internally like at the cellular level of healing, responding to treatment. So it can sometimes be a lot of standard one hour. So it can sometimes be shorter, definitely softer, you want to be very gentle and slower.
When people think of massage therapy, they might be thinking of dealing with somebody having a sore muscle problem, a stress problem. Although I imagine that cancer treatment is extremely stressful, is it the same sorts of things that you are hoping to address when dealing with patients that are undergoing cancer therapy, for instance, going through chemotherapy,
a lot of the oncology massage is comfort, that's what we're here to do is comfort less on the muscle or working a specific muscle, we're looking at convert, everyone handles and responds to cancer treatments differently. Some people they don't make any changes in their daily life and some people, it takes them, it takes them out a little bit more. But the first thing we look at as I would look at is their energy level. What's your energy level like today? Are you barely getting out of the house, I've had a couple of clients I've gotten to their home because they're just they don't feel like it now. And we just did some work on the couch. Or I brought my table and it's very gentle. If you think of like the starting pressure would be like handling of right, very right peach, that kind of really gentle touch. And sometimes it's not even the stroking or it's just sometimes being a presence with them sitting in holding space with them.
Does massage help with someone's energy level? It does. It's
weird. It's like people at the same time can feel energized and yet sleep better to. It's weird. Like, I know, when I work out if I'm tired, and I go work out I feel more energy when you know it's kind of like the dual thing.
Now I know that one of the problems that many patients have when they have gone through certain cycles of chemotherapy is nausea. And with the nausea comes exhaustion. How can massage help with either of those things?
It does help. There's five main things that oncology massage can help with and that's the pain. It definitely helps with pain management. Sloan Kettering has done a lot of research on that. So it helps with, you know, easing pain, without medication. The same in hospice. I do some hospice work too. And it's a great way to help with pain management. It brings down your nausea level anxiety, there's a lot of anxiety around the treatments and the what's going to happen next and what's going on. And depression. Yeah, just that human touch, having a caring touch and sleeplessness. So it helps with getting you better sleep and when you sleep better, you heal better.
What your class is about is not just for other massage therapists, it's for friends, loved ones, spouses, children who want to support someone that they know in in are connected with that is undergoing cancer treatment. So I would imagine that their techniques aren't going to be after this workshop as developed as yours as your professional. So there are a number of things that I would guess are somewhat some Well that anyone can do if they have a loved one that they want to comfort, who's undergoing this treatment? So where do you start? What are the first things that you try to let your students know about the patient? That is their loved one that they are going to be trying to help?
I think a big component of his communication, like how to talk to each other, like, Yes, I like this, or No, I don't like that, or I don't want it today. Maybe that person doesn't really want to be touched at that moment, or that day. And that's okay. You know, it's good to give someone choices. Sometimes when your body's doing things that you can't control, it's good to give them the control back, say, Yes, I want it or No, I don't. But also other than communication, just comfort, how to use pillows and blankets and towels to help someone feel comfortable just laying there, just laying on the bed or the couch, how to get them all in alignment and use blankets and just get them all propped up. And we use the term bolstering, you know, putting something under legs or arms or necks, so that they're just super comfortable. It's like a slumber party. It's it's it is it's really, it's it's comforting.
So what are some of the things that you see for your patients and your students that are learning in this class might see that the treatment, and even just the disease is doing to change the physiology of the folks that are going through this? I know, you mentioned how they might be tired? And how probably very stressed out dehydration, is that an issue? Especially if the nausea is it? Are there other things that might not normally be another issue that someone would necessarily think of?
I think sometimes there's we want to be do less, less is more, I think what I start with is just holding, let's just hold hands, and just and just sit for a while and appreciate the quietness. The things I'll cover in the class are simple. A hand massage, feet, massage and scalp.
So a lot of the ways that you can support somebody isn't necessarily asking them if they need anything, or asking them a million questions or quizzing them on how they're feeling. It can be a nonverbal, absolutely dissertation of help. What effect does this have, as you say, on pain management, you mentioned earlier, that massage and some of the support can help with pain management. And that's very important, because pain management is a very tricky thing. Sometimes when you're dealing with somebody that's going through cancer treatment,
it can definitely be using less and less frequent medications. I think a lot of these alternative health modalities are becoming increasingly popular. And looking at the whole person, just in general, a lot less pain medicines.
What would you say to somebody that is not so sure that they want to feel responsible for some of these things? Is that a barrier that you find that somebody wants to help, but they're like, oh, I don't know, I don't know if I want to rub their shoulders or help them with some simple massage, because I'm worried that I might hurt them, or I'm worried that I won't do it right?
You can't do it wrong. The areas we would work on in the workshop are areas that are very, very low chance of you hurting. And I think it's nice that it's if it's coming from a loved one or a friend, it's going to be that much more impactful than maybe a massage therapist who might hire,
you mentioned a friend. So who will be good candidates for this sort of help. I would imagine that a spouse or child might be good parent, parents, if your
parent is going through it a best friend, if you have a good a good friend, you can come together. Maybe even if you if it's not necessarily cancer, I would be welcome. If you have a senior in your life that is kind of frail. I would welcome that that partnership as well.
Let's talk a little bit about what you do, as well. What are some of the things that you see time and time again?
Yeah, I do the standard Swedish massages. I have an office downtown Bloomington and I'll work on someone's shoulders, you know, people that are fit and healthy. When someone comes in, I do a lot of intake and you know what's going on in your life today. And just today I had my client today, there was a lot of tears, you know, they were going through stuff, and just having that one on one time to just let things go. And it's a space to let things go and it's okay.
And this is something that even though this might be a specialization that you have with ecology, massage therapy can help in a number of different ways. What are some of the other things as you say that people might not think of as an alternative.
It's really great in hospice. We're learning that in hospice at end of life. That gentle touch that compassionate touch is really important in a you know, again, less money Patients you don't need as many opioids, and that's always a concern today in the medical field, you know, watching the opioid use, but just being a compassionate person there with them at the end of their life, that healing touch, where massage isn't about, you know, at the end of your life, why do you need your neck worked on, you don't you just need a compassionate person to be there with you is really great for depression, trauma, it can be useful and you know, along with talk therapy as a partnership to deal with emotional and mental things depression, seasonal affective disorder, that winter blues, PTSD, it's just a great partnership for a lot of healing.
Do you have to take a special approach when you're not sure, like you mentioned some of the things that people have to deal with with depression or PTSD, they might not necessarily be that open to that sort of therapy is kind of intimate and variant. When you go to the doctor's office, you know, they like to crank you through pretty quick, you know, you that might be intimate as well. But sometimes it's very brief. And people don't think it's almost more a brief thing for them to endure instead of something a treatment that will help them. So how do you try to break the ice and start communication with some of those clients,
I just let them know that I'm here to support you. You know, I'm not a talk therapist, but I'll listen. And I have resources in my office that if they need a professional to talk to they can, you know, reach out to them. Another area that I found the massage was really helpful client had body image issues. She's a larger person like myself, we both take up a lot of space physically. And she said after my session with you, I felt like a normal person, just to have loving touch. And I was like, wow, I was so complimented by that like, wow. And so many people I get a lot of apologies like, but I shouldn't get a massage. I have a lot of moles or I have a skin thing or I didn't shave and it doesn't matter. It really doesn't. We just work around it.
So thanks so much for coming in talking to
Cindy Tara Mundy is a massage therapist in central Illinois. She spoke to us today about her caring touch for cancer workshop and massage therapy. This has been random acts of knowledge presented by Heartland Community College. If you like what you've heard, please subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Spotify or audio boom. Thanks for listening
