Alcohol and Massage: Not a good combo

Hi everyone!

How's the new year treating you?  How are those 'get healthy' plans and activities going?  I'm staying with the vegetable/cabbage soup through the month of January.  I'm eating more veggies and fruit this month than I did the whole of Nov and Dec combined!  Good stuff.

But I digress.......  Alcohol and Massage - what are the risks?
As a massage therapist our biggest rule is:  DO NO HARM.

But let's say you jut spent the day at the Broncos game and you're feeling full of beer and stadium food and the Broncos won!  Whoo hooo, 'I feel great!', you say to yourself.  ' Let's go get a massage. '

Not a good idea.

The good people at Integrative Healthcare have put together an article that bullets 'why you shouldn't combine alcohol and masssage'.

http://www.integrativehealthcare.org/mt/archives/2013/02/alcohol-and-massage-a-dangerous-combination.html

To recap and summarize:

• Alcohol is dehydrating: 
•  Muscle tissue needs to be hydrated to function properly.  Interstitial fluids are pushed through your muscle tissues during massage.  Chances are your kidney and liver will be taxed if you've had a skinful of alcohol and then get a massage.  It is possible to become really ill as your body is in detox overdrive.
• Alcohol impairs your ability to give accurate feedback:
• As a massage therapist I depend very heavily on your ability to give feedback.  Is the pressure too much, is that pain referring, how are you feeling, is the table warm enough.... etc.  If you are intoxicated your pain/sensory receptors are not functioning properly and I could inadvertently hurt you.  It is not my intention, but if you can't feel pain, I may be working too deep in an area.

These are the biggest reasons.  There are others but read the article and decide. 

 I don't recommend it and some therapists will even refuse to give a massage if they suspect you are under the influence.  I was 10 min into a massage before I even realised the client had consumed alcohol.  So I switched from his requested DT -' I want it to hurt' to a more flushy Swedish style.  Of course filled my SOAP notes with everything and I just hope he was smart enough to go home and start drinking water.

Document everything and be smart about it.  Don't risk your license or your safety!

nb_.... Don't bring your sick girlfriend in for a massage either.  Talk about a fast track to being really super sick and sharing your sickness with others.  Also not a good idea.

Be safe and be healthy.

Namaste~ Hope