How Massage Therapy Helps People with Disabilities

If you associate “massage” with stress relief or pro athletes, you’re not wrong! But considered massage therapy is powerful tool that can bring people with disabilities pain relief, better sleep and overall wellness, and better quality of life.

Research continues to grow that MT offers benefits for people dealing with conditions like:

•spinal cord injury
•fibromyalgia
•cerebral palsy
•after-effects of a stroke
•post-op pain
•high blood pressure
•depression or anxiety
•diabetes
•lower back pain
•sleep disorders
•dementia

Massage can do for an immobile body what it can’t for itself, notes Chanda Hinton Leichtle, who became a quadriplegic at age 9, and as an adult created the Colorado-based Chanda Plan Foundation, a non-profit organization that advocates for integrative therapy such as massage to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs for people with disabilities.

The foundation reports its own data show this approach can reduce pain by a third, and drug use and medical care visits by half. People also report greater independence, the foundation says, because these therapies allow them to function better on their own.

Closer to Milwaukee, the vice president of wellness at St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care is just as enthusiastic about bringing massage therapy to this often-overlooked population.

“Even if someone has a spinal cord injury and is unable to feel massage on their lower limbs, massage improves blood circulation and can prevent other medical problems,” says Sandy Anderson, one of three certified massage therapists at St. Ann Center. “I’ve had people tell me after a stroke, ‘Oh, you don’t need to massage my left side, I can’t feel that’ — and I tell them, “just because you can’t feel it doesn’t mean it’s not beneficial.’”

Also, she says, it can help people with severe contracture, such as cerebral palsy can cause, relax briefly before they contract again – and there’s relief in that respite. “Everyone with CP needs massage,” she says.

But people with disabilities can face challenges in finding a therapist experienced in using adaptive techniques– or an accessible location.

Massage therapy school classes typically cover adaptive techniques on a limited basis, Anderson says; a therapist may accept clients with disabilities only after trying massage on a relative or friend with a disability.

For more than 20 years, St. Ann Center has offered a variety of massage techniques to its adult day clients – frail elders, those with dementia and adults of all ages with cognitive or physical disabilities. But community members of all abilities can book appointments, too, and Anderson says they are often thrilled to hear the center has elevators and is accessible throughout.

The therapists are prepared with adaptive equipment to meet each individual’s needs: a high-low table, massage chairs, a portable headrest unit, an assortment of beveled foam wedges, stools of various sizes … plus their own ingenuity, experience in adaptive techniques and commitment to care. A client may need to communicate via an alphabet board, have a caregiver remain with them during the massage or be massaged right in their power or manual wheelchair – none of it fazes the team.

It’s worth checking with a healthcare provider to see whether regular massage could be covered as part of an overall treatment plan. Even when it’s not, though, people often find the non-pharmaceutical pain relief and improved quality of life well worth out-of-pocket payment.

Milwaukee Resources
St. Ann Center massage therapists accept weekday appointments, at both 2801 E. Morgan Ave. and 2450 W. North Ave., and Saturday morning appointments at the Morgan Avenue location. Prices are comparable to those charged by local businesses, but all proceeds support the care of people most in need at this non-profit organization. To learn more about the types of massage and costs, click the link , call (414) 977-5056, or email SandyAnderson@stanncenter.org. P

Spa Massage on the Go massage therapists travel throughout the metropolitan Milwaukee area to provide massage therapy in homes or other locations, accepting Monday-Friday appointments. To learn more, call (844) 216-9068, email unwind@spamassageonthego.com.