Massage and Diabetes?

[Thursday]

Hi all, I am fairly new to the forum and I was wondering if I could get some input or advice from any therapist that work with diabetes. I am starting an office in a psychologist office that specializes in eating disorders. So I will be dealing with a wide range of issues, anorexic, bulimic and binge eating disorders. The majority of her patients are dealing with binge eating/emotional eating issue in turn many of them have diabetes. I know the basics for dealing with diabetes but I was wondering if anyone could share their knowledge on this topic?Just another note, I did post a reply in the obese client forum but I do strongly believe that, that is a topic that really needs to be discussed. I am very excited about this office. It will be one of the first in this area. I know some eating disorder clinics are starting to offer massage therapy but from what I know I will be one of the first in my area. If anyone would like to discuss massage and eating disorders I would love to chat.Thanks

 

[Craven]

What a great opportunity! And a new "vein" for others to explore in their practices!Coming from a professional dance background, I have known many people that suffer from eating disorders & distorted body image issues. One of the kindest things you can do for those beautiful bodies & minds is to help them "redefine" their self-image. Experiencing something as pleasurable and powerfully helpful as massage helps these folks on so many levels.As far as working on those with diabetes, each case is very unique. I have those whose diabetes is being managed very well through meds and/or lifestyle changes, etc... their work is like any other client:  specific to what ails them at the moment.I have, however, worked with someone quite regularly who felt great, etc, but had to be very careful as he was extremely insulin dependent. His unique situation warranted special care of his feet & extra circulatory care to his legs (although the muscle integrity was great). We even began monitoring the changes effected by massage to his blood-glucose readings. I would say to work with the other HC providers' reccommendations, and share your findings with them within the framework of the center's policies (and be mindful of getting your client's permission!).An idea (nothing new, but ...) sometimes when a client is hypersensitive to touch (there's alot of emotional baggage that goes hand-in-hand with eating disorder phenomena). If there are trust issues, etc, try the same side-lying techniques as you'd use with prenatal massage, especially rocking & soothing compressions to 'introduce' the idea of safety & security.Good luck with your new endeavor!Jill/Sagetherapist

 

[Mega T]

Massage and Diabetes?

Here's a pretty nice response that I found online by a librarian on "google answers" (never knew there was such a thing out there like this, until today   ).

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=242680

The question:

I was wondering if treatments that include gentle touch and massage as well as grounding using dowsing techniques have been explored anywhere.  I have had luck with warm soaks, grounding and light massage in healing sores.  Also grounding tends to relieve the pain of diabetic neuropathy.

The answer:

Answer    
Subject: Re: diabetes massage
Answered By: librariankt-ga on 08 Sep 2003 11:54 PDT

Hi Savor,

There have been some articles written, particularly in the alternative and complementary medicine magazines/journals, about massage therapy for diabetes.  I searched the Alternative Medicine and AMED databases from EBSCO and found a few things that I think you'll find helpful.

Unfortunately I can't give you the whole article because of copyright, but I'm including the citation (so you can find it at a local library) and an excerpt when available.

Rose, Mary Kathleen. Massage & Bodywork; Feb/Mar2001, Vol. 16 Issue 1,
p84, 5p
"THE BENEFITS OF MASSAGE FOR PEOPLE WITH DIABETES
As with any population, massage is a beneficial complementary therapy
- diabetics, however, can find the results especially helpful.
Circulation - There is no getting around the fact that massage can increase circulation, thereby encouraging the efficient transport of
oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. Improved circulation, in turn, improves the cells' insulin uptake.

Relaxation - The benefits of relaxation should not be underestimated,
especially within the diabetic community. Consider the physical and psychological stresses of living with a debilitating disease and the need to self-medicate and monitor on a daily basis, as well as the burden diabetes puts on the body and its systems. That said, it's easy to see the therapeutic correlation between massage and diabetes. With the release of endorphins, the nervous system calms, there is a reduction of stress hormones and the diabetic client can find a homeostasis with their blood sugar levels.

Myofascial effects - For the client with diabetes, you may likely find a thickening of their connective tissue caused by increased blood sugars. Massage will help to increase mobility and tissue elasticity that has been hindered by that thickening effect. Of course, a good exercise program - with an efficient stretching regimen - will also benefit your client."

Acupressure, breath awareness help diabetes patients. by Vest, Gerald W. Massage Magazine; Jul/Aug2000 Issue 86, p64, 1p "A combination of acupressure and breath awareness may help people with diabetes, according to a study originally published in the journal Health & Social Work. The study showed that a short stress-relief program including touch could lower blood sugar and improve health in diabetic patients."

Diabetes mellitus treated by massage. by Wu W; Li C. JOURNAL OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE, Mar 1, 1998; 18(1): 64-5 [sorry, no abstract]

Massage lowers blood glucose levels in children with diabetes. Massage Magazine; May/Jun97 Issue 67, p23, 1p [sorry, no abstract]

You can also take a look at the articles in PubMed MEDLINE using the following link (will automatically search for "massage AND diabetes"): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=massage+AND+diabetes

An online article by Mary Rose (see the first article above) titled "Therapeutic massage and diabetes" is at http://www.amtamassage.org/journal/win02/thera_diabetes.html

I didn't find any articles in either MEDLINE or the alternative medicine databases on the use of grounding in the treatment of diabetes.

Finally, I checked the MEDLINEplus consumer health database (from the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health) for
information.  The health topic on diabetes
( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diabetes.html ) has a lot of great
links in it, including the following:

Alternative Therapies for Diabetes
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/alternativetherapies/index.htm

This page is sponsored by the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse and not only has some info about alternative medicines, but also a link to automatically search the Combined Health Information Databases for recent articles about diabetes therapies (scroll to the bottom of the page to see this link).  When I clicked the link the very first article it found for me dealt with relaxation therapies.

Good luck!

librariankt

Subject: Re: diabetes massage
From: ponzi9-ga on 11 Aug 2003 16:40 PDT    

I'm also diabetic.  My personal experience.  Anything that both makes you feel better and be healthier can't be bad. We know for sure that stress and anxiety cause higher 'blood sugar'.

Of course, continue the diet, exercise, monitoring and medication while you try new things.  Best of success to you.