Health consultations are a professional therapists way of personalising your treatment, Before your treatment simply tell them what you want and like is good. Also it is making sure it is safe for you to receive a massage. It cantake about 15 minutes to complete but, it means your treatment will be as individual as you are and safe.

Your massage treatment with Relaxing Massage is always client-centred. A detailed personal health consultation takes place before treatment. We are looking for issues we can help with and things you will enjoy, so simply tell us and we will do our best to please. Also we need to find out if here are and contraindications, which are reasons we should not massage you.

Client-Centred Treatment

With a holistic therapy the treatment should be client-centred. We make this part of our code of conduct and procedures. You as a client must consent to both a consultation and the treatment. This initially is done verbally before treatment. Then you will also be asked to sign a declaration after your personal health consultation takes place. (NHS 2018) This firstly enables us to access if massage can help you. Secondly, in means we can personalise a treatment especially for you. Lastly, the consultation will indicate if it is safe to massage you. Our aim is always to do good for you. You should always go away feeling better than when you arrived.

The Holistic Approach

Your consultation will be looking at your health and wellbeing in detail. We are looking for issues we can help you with and areas you enjoy being treated. We want to know where your aches and pains are to treat these. Also where stress related tension in muscles is, as this can be relaxed by treatment. We look at the whole picture of your lifestyle, issues like diet and exercise. It is all part of the holistic treatment. Every thing you do in life affects your wellbeing. We want you to get the best out of life with the aid of our treatment.

Your Personal Preferences

Each consultation will also take into account your personal preferences. We want to know the areas you like being massaged the most. If you tell us, you enjoy your arms massed a lot, then we will spend more time working in this area. We want to make the experience as good as possible for you. However, some people do not like their stomach being massaged. So, when you tell us this, we plan your treatment avoiding that area. Others have very ticklish feet, which would mean they laugh and get tense if feet are massaged. So, we would plan to avoid these areas. Sporty people gain special benefit from our holistic approach. Just imagine, as a cyclist you may have specific areas, like your legs, that are tense, painful and/or strained. We will take note of this and ask if you would like us to treat that area specifically to try to alleviate some of the pain. It is all done on an individual basis.

Contraindications to Massage

The consolation will also be looking for something called contraindications to massage. Contraindications are reasons we as professionals cannot give you a massage. This includes women being pregnant, certain major and minor medical conditions or if you are undergoing medical treatment for a condition. In some circumstances, especially the latter, you may need to get your doctors consent before we can treat you.

Minor contra-indications to massage.

These can simply be avoided during a treatment.

Major Contraindications to Massage.

Doctors consent should be sought before treatment. This is especially the case if a client is on medication or being treated by a doctor at the moment.

References:

NHS (2016) Consent to treatment [Online] Available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/consent-to-treatment/ (Accessed 2 July 2018)

Alzheimer’s Society Aromatherapy, massage and dementia [Online] Available at https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/treatments/alternative-therapies/aromatherapy-massage (Accessed 4 July 2018)

Diabetes UK Massage Therapy and Reflexology [Online] Available at https://www.diabetes.co.uk/alternative-treatment/Diabetes-and-Massage-Therapy-Reflexology.html (Accessed 4 July 2018)

Parkinson’s UK (2013) Complementary Therapies [Online] Available at https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/information-and-support/complementary-therapies (Accessed 5 July 2018)

Multiple Sclerosis Trust (2017) Massage [Online] Available at https://www.mstrust.org.uk/a-z/massage (Accessed 7 July 2018)

Macmillan Cancer Support Massage therapy [Online] Available at https://www.macmillan.org.uk/information-and-support/coping/complementary-therapies/complementary-therapies-explained/massage-therapies.html (Accessed 7 July 2018)

Cancer Research UK (2015) Massage therapy [Online] Available at https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/massage (Accessed 7 July 2018)