Takeaway: The nature of the massage therapist and client relationship is different than the relationship between the client and other health-care providers, but that doesn’t mean it’s less important. 

In the January/February 2023 issue of Massage & Bodywork, senior editor Karrie Osborn wrote a lovely piece about working with people affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (“When All Is Forgotten,” page 32). Her guidance was clear: Remember that as a massage therapist you are not an island. You have a responsibility beyond the discrete interaction with this person for whom you are providing massage therapy. I am pulling this out because I suspect many folks saw that Osborn’s piece was about working with a specific population and likely decided it didn’t apply to them. 

If you are touching humans in a setting that is related to the treatment or management of health-related issues, this applies to you. Whether you are a contractor, an employee, or a volunteer, and whether it’s dialysis, oncology, or a senior center, it’s important that you think of yourself as a member of the care team for every person you touch. Certainly, when you are working in a setting like a spa, private practice, or other location where the other members of a person’s care team are not immediately available to you, it can be more difficult to make those connections and share information about your observations. Not impossible, but harder. Let’s unpack that at another time, because you are not off the hook, my friends. 

The sidebar in Osborn’s article, “Being the Eyes and Ears for Your Clients,” underscores the importance of paying attention to things you may think are none of your business or have nothing to do with you. Subtle changes in mental status are mentioned specifically, and there is so much more. When we touch people, they tell us things—with their faces, their bodies, and, yes, their mouths. 

When we provide massage therapy in settings where we are one of many care providers, it’s easy for us to engage in some internalized demotion. Push back if you like, but in my experience as a massage therapist and a teacher of massage therapists in clinical settings, the No. 1 mistake we make is deciding that what we see, feel, and understand about the people we touch is less important or less accurate than the observations of other providers. If the other team members are nurses or doctors, maybe social workers or physical therapists, it’s easy for us to feel and behave like they know more or know better. What’s true is that they know different. 

They know what they know within their scope, and what they know about the person you’re touching is what they learned in their interactions with that person. Think about it. When you are a patient, do you interact with the nurse the same way you do with the doctor? The differences may be subtle, but they exist and they are notable. The same is true when a patient interacts with us. They may share more or differently, and the simple fact is that we typically have more time to spend with them. There is so much value in all of this, but only if we take it upon ourselves to connect the dots. 

During Healwell’s courses in pediatric and adult hospitals and in oncology infusion centers, we often coach therapists to say something like, “You probably already know this, but Mr. Jones indicated that he has been having some new pain in his right hip.” Or “I suspect you’re already addressing this, but Mrs. Mukherjee is worried that her husband is not administering her shots correctly at home.” When you are with Mr. Jones and Mrs. Mukherjee, you can listen and make space for what they’re sharing. Perhaps you can do something to address Mr. Jones’s pain specifically and manually within the scope of massage therapy, but even if you do, it’s worth sharing that information with other team members. And in the case of possibly incorrect shot administration in the Mukherjee household, it’s well within your scope to share this with a provider who can check in with Mrs. Mukherjee’s husband about his shot administration. It’s possible that she has already told her nurse, and maybe anyone else who will listen, that she is concerned about this. If that’s the case, you and the nurse will have a laugh about it, but that nurse will also begin to see you as another member of the team who is paying attention to a bigger picture and who can be considered a potential collaborative partner on the unit. 

You are a health-care provider whether you are contracting, employed, or volunteering (stay tuned for an in-depth exploration of the politics of volunteering in future columns). Know your value. Think broadly and collaboratively about how you can support health and comfort for the people you touch. And speak up. Your hands are just a small fraction of what you bring to this equation.