by David Palmer | Dec 6, 2017 | Fitness, In the News
Jane Brody, the legendary health journalist for the New York Times, recently
wrote an article extolling the virtues of the Feldenkrais approach to pain management and recovery. Lesser known is the work of Thomas Hanna, who introduced Moshe Feldenkrais to the United States and studied with him for many years. Hanna took the physics and mechanical engineering basis of Feldenkais’s work and added in neuroscience, psychology and philosophy to create a version (
Hanna Somatics) which has been an intimate part of my daily routine for fifteen years. Both are worth checking out as self care for yourself and your customers.
by David Palmer | Mar 27, 2015 | In the News, Touch
In Nepal most girls are married at a young age and have few opportunities to improve the quality of their lives. Story Massage is one important way.
The reach of positive touch never ceases to amaze me. All it takes are some bold and visionary advocates, in this case from the folks at Story Massage UK working in Nepal. Read about this totally innovative program that empowers young women using structured touch for interpersonal skills development, confidence building and self-discovery.
“Central to our work is the principle of respectful touch, and this is especially important for Nepalese girls living in a society where men traditionally hold the power. They were taught to ask permission before touching another girl, and to say ‘thank you’ at the end of the story massage. We also discussed using hand signals to offer feedback if the touch is too soft, or too firm – if it felt really good or if they they like it to stop. The girls were intrigued by these signs and chose to spend time practising and remembering them.”
by David Palmer | Mar 27, 2015 | In the News, Touch
From kindnessblog.com
From the KindnessBlog comes a short but sweet article by John Tuite making the case that touch should properly be regarded as a form of nutrition.
“Key in the front door at the end of a stressful day, we can appreciate the ability of children to restore us. Because they plunge us back into a universe of sensation and tactile experience. They climb on us, tumble over our head or shoulder, jump on our backs, elbow us and knee us and rough us gloriously up. They break through the crust we have carefully built around our nervous system. They speak to us at a level we have forgotten about, but thirst for: the elemental dimension of physical contact.”
by David Palmer | Mar 27, 2015 | In the News, Touch
A new study suggests that using a smartphone — touching the fingertips against the smooth surface of a screen — can make the brain more sensitive to the thumb, index and middle finger tips being touched.
From the Washington Post comes news of a simple study that demonstrated an increase in cortical stimulation as a result of using thumbs and fingers on smartphone touch screens. I look forward to similar research examining how giving massage alters the activity and size of the somatosensory brain devoted to processing tactile information.
Two takeaways for massage practitioners: The more massage you do the more “consciousness” you create in your hands and fingers and, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
Here is the citation link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.026
by David Palmer | Feb 12, 2015 | In the News, Science
An article out today from The Atlantic outlines the conclusions of a recent working paper from Harvard and Stanford Business Schools on the impact of high workplace stress levels on employee health.
"The paper found that health problems stemming from job stress, like hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and decreased mental health, can lead to fatal conditions that wind up killing about 120,000 people each year—making work-related stressors and the maladies they cause, more deadly than diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or influenza.
"High levels of stress are costly in monetary terms, too. Researchers found that stress-related health problems could be responsible for between 5 to 8 percent of annual healthcare costs in the U.S. That amounts to about $180 billion each year in healthcare expenses."
by David Palmer | Jun 4, 2012 | Business, In the News
When John Doe #1 recently filed suit over John Travolta’s wandering hands in the massage room my immediate reaction was, “Well, there goes the first shoe.”
Sure enough, over the next few weeks other massage practitioners came out of the woodwork testifying to similar experiences and the tabloid press went into overdrive. At last count, the number of accusers was up to five.
In the massage industry this was old news. I heard from practitioners over a decade ago who had Mr. Travolta as a customer and told essentially the same story. With a little bit of discrete asking around as I traveled the country I found out he had a well-deserved reputation of a celebrity to avoid in the massage room as did a number of other high profile, famous folks. Ho hum.
However, the suit did bring to mind the question about the potential fallout of reporting customers who propose illegal activity to massage practitioners. After all, if someone on the street solicited sexual services in exchange for money to an undercover police officer, that person would be arrested.
So what happens if a practitioner reports illegal sexual advances from a customer to the police? I was particularly curious as to whether our two primary professional liability insurance organizations would support the practitioner. So, I put the question to the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) and Associated Massage and Bodywork Professionals (ABMP).
Specifically, I wondered:
- Do they encourage such reporting?
- Does their liability policies support such reporting?
- What if the customer sues the practitioner for defamation?
- Will they defend a member against such a suit?
So, I asked and got prompt responses from both organizations. First, from Ron Precht, Communications Manager of AMTA:
AMTA has always encouraged massage therapists to protect themselves, if they feel they are in danger or feel a client has put them in an unprofessional position. That includes reporting incidents to police, when the massage therapist feels threatened.
The personal injury portion of the AMTA insurance policy states that injury arising out of offenses of libel and slander are covered when committed in the conduct of the enrolled member’s professional services. So, yes, the policy is intended to defend insured members when they are named in lawsuits alleging libel or slander arising from their provision of massage therapy services – such as when reporting a client for illegal sexual advances. Of course, the facts and circumstances of each claim are unique, so coverage can only be assured after evaluation of the specifics of a claim or lawsuit. If it was found that the insured member lied or intentionally disparaged another, coverage would be excluded.
Next, from Les Sweeny, one of the owners of ABMP:
Regarding reporting advances, we are strongly in favor of it; we want our members to act in their own best interests and safety, but to help identify inappropriate behavior. If a customer were to sue a member for slander/defamation, the insurance policy included with membership would cover the cost of defending the member.
So, the upshot is that both the AMTA and ABMP policies contain a “Travolta Clause” protecting their policyholders if they report a misbehaving customer and the customer decides to counter-sue. That is good news. It makes it much easier to be clear with customers who are thinking about crossing the line. And, if you feel threatened in any way, don’t be afraid to call the police.
Let’s just hope that the massage practitioners in the Travolta saga have their policies paid up-to-date.
