• 1. Be in constant communication with your practitioner. It is important to tell your practitioner what you want worked on and then tell them when things hurt, how painful it feels, where does it radiate to, when to apply more pressure and most importantly, when to STOP.
• 2. Be willing to express the pain. Move with the pain or however your body feels like moving. You are not required to lay motionless during a session. Verbally express the pain; yelling, moaning, crying, and swearing are all acceptable forms of releasing the pain. You are allowed to express yourself in any way you feel necessary.
• 3. Focus on what it feels like to be on the table. Be aware of what every in breath feels like. What muscles are moving, what muscles are contracting and releasing. Is the air cool, warm, or just right? Does other areas of your body move or not move? How does your body feel as it lays on the table? Can you feel the contact in all areas? Do some areas not touch the table?
• 4. Be aware of your breath. Your breath can assist you in staying with the pain or other feelings that arise. Breathing into the pain so that area of the body is filled with air and then exhaling to release the area and any pain or emotion associated with that area. Can you feel what happens in the rest of your body as you breath? What muscles contract? What muscles relax? Can you feel the air go into your lungs and through the passageways? Can you feel it move other areas of your body like the bones of your skull or the joints of your feet and ankles? Can you feel the exhalation take away the pain or reduce the pain?
• 5. Be in constant communication with your practitioner to inform them as to what you are feeling.
• 6. The practitioner should pause after working intensely in areas and allow you to feel the changes that have taken place. How does the area feel? Does it lie differently on the table? Does it tingle, feel more alive or just ache or throb? Is it different from the other side?
• 7. Can you tell what direction the pressure is in and how much pressure is being applied? The practitioner may ask you to assign a number to the level of pain that you are feeling ( 1-10 with 10 being the highest amount of pain you want to feel). Can you immediately assign a number to your pain level ? When asked to assign a number to the level of pain do you hesitate and think about it or do you immediately know? If you are able to say without hesitation this is a sign that you are more present in your body and with the pain.
• 8. Make sure you feel balanced and grounded when you leave the office. Do you feel shaky, nauseas, light headed or sick in anyway? Report these to your therapist at once.
• 9. When you are leaving the office see if you can notice any difference in how you walk? How do you hold yourself? How does it feel to breathe? How do other people look to you? Does the world look any different?
• 10. Take care of your self after a session. Drink as much water as you can to flush the tissues out and rehydrate them. Take a detox bath in epsom salt, baking soda and sea salt ( about 1 cup of each). Allow yourself to relax and feel your body.
• 11. Report any feelings to your therapist the next day or the next session. Call them if you are not feeling well in any way.
  

There are so many different forms of massage, and each form can have a different effect on the body, some massage therapies are helpful for healing many types of injuries and illnesses, whether acute or chronic. However, some illnesses may require that the massage therapist take care to avoid certain techniques or areas of the body.

Just as there are many forms of massage therapy, there are many forms of cancer. This means that what applies to a person with breast cancer may not apply to a person with lymphoma. The techniques used on a patient without cancer may or may not be safe on a patient with cancer. Cancer in different stages also must be treated differently, even in massage therapy.

If you are a patient, it is always best to get the advice of your physician before receiving any form of massage therapy. Ask your family doctor, your specialist, your surgeon, your radiologist, and anyone else who has played a part in your care and treatment.

They can each tell you their medical opinion of what forms of massage therapy can be helpful to you, and which forms you will need to avoid. It is also very important to inform your massage therapist beforehand of your illness, the type, and the stage. They will also need to know what treatments you have had or are currently receiving (this includes medications radiation, chemotherapy, hormones, surgeries, etc.).With every illness, you should be as upfront and honest with your massage therapist as possible. Not only can it help the therapist determine what techniques should be avoided, it can also help them determine which massage therapies will provide the greatest benefits.