My friend John: -June 2010 blog Some of you have been clients for several years, and over that time we have become friends. I deeply care about your health and value your patronage, often I work on entire families and that makes it hard not to get close. So the other day, I ran into John only to hear that  he recently had been hospitalized. My immediate reaction was, “why didn’t you call me? I would have come to see you.” In my experience there is nothing worse than a stay in the hospital. It’s especially worse for us guys, as any wife will tell you we revert to a 6 year old when we are sick. Massage is being used all over the world to bring comfort to those in hospice settings. The power of touch should never be underestimated. Neo-Natal units seek volunteers to do nothing more than to touch and hold premature babies who are confined to incubators. Studies have shown remarkable increases in weight gain for those infants who are gently caressed and touched (even if the touch is with rubber gloves, the intent is communicated). Unfortunately, in todays corporate setting we have gotten away from the personal touch that was part of hospitalization. I can remember the days when a nurse or candy-striper would give an alcohol rub or a gentle massage. This was an important part of speeding a persons recovery or for preventing bedsores. Like elsewhere in medical care, personal touch has been replaced by machines or devices, but it’s not just the same nor is it as effective except on the accounting department’s spreadsheet. Even though massage is contraindicated when a person is on blood thinners or on pain medication. A skilled therapist can adjust to a doctors orders and provide beneficial touch that can aid recovery and shorten healing time. Although most people think of massage only as an important step to maintain health, I thought it important to remind you of the power of healing touch. The effect of massage on the immune system by aiding the lymphatic system in its role of removing toxic materials, such as virus, heavy metals, waste for cell rebuilding; has been established as dramatic. Unlike blood flow which is pumped through the circulatory system by the heart, the lymphatic system relies on movement and muscle contraction to move these toxins from the cell into the lymph nodes where these substances are processed before being released into the blood stream where they can be chemically detoxified by the liver and eliminated by the kidneys by being processed into urine. So if we are bed ridden or become less active as we age, massage becomes an important substitute for muscle movement (exercise) in helping the flow of lymph in the body. This doesn’t mean you can cancel your gym membership and schedule a massage in place of exercise, but let’s face it when we are sick, or as we age; we can lose muscle mass or important muscle function. Therefore, massage is an important partner along with exercise in maintaining muscle function and in restoring health by its important effect on bolstering the immune system and speeding the healing process. Bottom line, you get sick, call me and with you doctor’s permission, we’ll work to reducing pain, restoring function, and back to normal.