Providing Comfort through
Touch:
Therapist develops special style of bodywork
for sick, elderly
Interview with Mary Kathleen Rose by Debra
Melani
What is Comfort Touch?
“It is a style of bodywork that gives special
consideration to the physical and emotional needs
of the elderly and chronically ill client. Its primary
intention is to provide comfort through techniques
that promote deep relaxation and relief from pain.”
Why did you decide there was a need?
“A lot of the techniques that are most commonly
used in the massage profession, such as Swedish
and neuromuscular massage, are actually not advisable
for use with the elderly or the ill. They can cause
damage to tissue. They are too invasive.”
How did you develop it?
“I looked at what I was doing intuitively,
and then also talked with other people who had been
doing massage with hospice. It’s very much
been a process of many people’s feedback,
including from families and nurses who have observed
the benefits of massage.” Comfort Touch is
part of a number of what the hospice calls comfort
care measures, she said. “That’s really
what the hospice approach is about: What can we
do to make the patient comfortable?”
Why is it so important to the dying?
“I think touch is a basic human need, and
a lot of times, when people are very sick, people
around them are afraid to touch them. I’ve
seen this when I’m with patients and their
families. Sometimes when we touch a patient, they
are so grateful for the comfort of that human connection.”
Rose said she believes massage has a very calming
effect on the nervous system, which also can help
ease the pain.
And why is it important for the elderly?
I train many people who work in nursing homes. It’s
a growing population. And in our culture, as they
grow older, they tend to be more isolated. So just
the feeling of being touched lets them know that
they’re important.”
What types of unusual challenges does the
therapist who is offering this type of massage face?
“One would be just a need for different techniques,
the need to adapt techniques to make it safe and
appropriate. The second thing would be adapting
to the physical situation.” Rose said when
working with ill or elderly patients, the therapist
does not have the advantage of a massage table at
optimal height, for instance. Therapists might have
to work on a patient in a wheelchair or a hospital
bed. Their working space might be awkward and cramped.
“So we have to adjust our body mechanics,”
she said. “The third challenge would be dealing
with the emotional issues. When you are with someone
who is sick, does that make you afraid of being
sick? When you are with someone who is old, does
that bring up your own fears about aging and disability?”
Rose said therapists must learn to deal with the
feelings and connect with the patient, which leads
to personal growth. “You do come face to face
with your own fear.”
Can communication be trying?
“Sometimes people can’t talk, or they’re
semi-comatose, and so the therapist then needs to
be really sensitive.” But she advises her
students to still touch. “The experience of
touch is very profound whether people can communicate
verbally or not.” Rose said she has noticed
a change in breathing and muscle relaxation in comatose
patients.
“This sort of goes back to part of my commitment
to this field. I was diagnosed with insulin-dependent
diabetes in 1985, just a couple of months after
I graduated from massage school. I was in the emergency
room in a diabetic coma and unable to talk. But
I was very aware.” Rose said a caring nurse
quelled her fears. “When someone touched me,
I knew I was going to be OK. That really stayed
with me.”
Rose said it has since been a part of her mission
to let those in the medical profession know the
value of touch. “When you touch someone with
the intention to offer comfort, and to offer support,
it does make a difference.”
Do Comfort Touch therapists generally go
over special precautions with health-care professional
before working on a patient?
“They get information on the person’s
condition before they begin. For example, if there
is a tumor in a certain part of the body, they would
avoid that area. Or, if there’s a particular
pain, they would emphasize working on that area.”
You have written a booklet on bereavement.
Why is that important here?
It’s really a concise booklet talking about
what constitutes a loss, which can be divorce, residential
moves, separations, job loss and any life changes.
So it is just to help others recognize that people
grieve for a lot of different reasons.” Rose
said it is important for massage therapists to understand
the cycle of grief. “A lot of times, people
come to you for massage because they are going through
a loss.”
What about dealing with your own emotions;
how does spending your day giving comfort to the
dying affect you, knowing that that patient might
not be there tomorrow?
“I thing that part of it for me is trust in
the process. One of the things that I love about
hospice is that death is not seen as failure. Death
is part of life, and what we really do is support
people to go through their dying process in a way
that respects them as a living, breathing person.
It’s really about quality of life. I think
in our culture, we fight death and resist it and
therefor make it more painful.”
Mary Kathleen Rose has produced a video Comfort
Touch Massage for the Elderly and the Ill, and is
the author of Bereavement: Dealing with Grief and
Loss.
COMFORT
TOUCH DVD - NOW AVAILABLE
This beautifully produced video introduces the
viewer to the principles and techniques of Comfort
Touch, a nurturing form of acupressure massage designed
to be safe and appropriate for the elderly and the
ill. Drawing on her many years of experience practicing
and teaching this work in home-care and medical
settings, Mary Kathleen Rose shares the essential
elements of Comfort Touch with demonstrations of
its applications in the seated, supine and side-lying
positions.
This program will inspire the viewer - whether
healthcare professional or family caregiver - to
offer the benefits of touch to those for whom conventional
massage may cause discomfort or even injury. While
Comfort Touch provides soothing relief for the elderly
and the ill, it can enhance the quality of life
for anyone in need of a caring touch.
Includes 40-page Video Guide, complete with Principles
and Techniques of Comfort Touch, Benefits of Comfort
Touch, Precautions in the Use of Touch and Self-Care
Exercises for the Caregiver. Yours
for $29.00 plus shipping.
Reprinted with permission of Daily Camera ©2000.
Boulder, Colorado
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