Massage Pathology Chronicles

Review of Mosby’s Pathology for Massage Therapists, by Salvo and Anderson.

This chapter was about cardiovascular and lymphatic/immune pathologies. The first part of the chapter introduces the lymphatic system. It states, "The lymphatic/immune system is one of the major protectors from disease." It also notes the importance of both the cardiovascular system and lymphatic system when it comes to the body maintaining homeostasis. The main components of the cardiovascular system are the blood, heart, and blood vessels. The main components of the lymphatic/immune system are lymph, lymphatic vessels, structures and organs containing lymphatic tissue (such as lymph nodes), lymphocytes, and red bone marrow. The chapter also reviews how blood flows through the heart and the important functions of the lymphatic system. The chapter goes on to introduce questions that might be asked during the premassage interview regarding these two systems. If the client has bradycardia, tachycardia, difficulty breathing, rapid breathing, skin discolorations due to lymphatic/cardiovascular complications, unexplained bruising or skin pigmentation, rashes or hives, chest or calf pain, swollen lymph nodes, edema, limbs that are not the same temperature, chronic fatigue, failure to gain/maintain weight or unexplained weight loss the massage therapist is advised to not carryout a treatment plan without approval from the client’s primary care provider. The chapter then goes on to talk about several cardiovascular pathologies and the massage considerations (pg 202-219). On Figure 7-30 (pg 214), it describes the warning signs of heart attack and associated pain. I found this figure to be very helpful. On pages 219-227, the lymphatic/immune system pathologies were discussed. One of the big ones was the human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS. On Box 7-4 (page 222) it explains in detail what it is like for patients who are HIV positive or living with AIDS. I was surprised to find that a fever was in this list of pathologies. However, after reading the description it made sense. For most of the pathologies discussed massage was contraindicated.

Tags: Massage Therapy Pathology, Massage Pathology Chronicles, Massage Therapy Cardiovascular Pathologies, Mosby’s Pathology for Massage Therapists

This entry was posted on March 2, 2010 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Cardiovascular Disease. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.