Jody’s day job as a massage therapist is something that he’s very passionate about. Massage is something that has worked with Jaimie. For kids like her who have tremendously sensitive tactile systems, when done right, it can make a world of difference. And Jody is an expert in this area so I thought he he’d have wonderful insight and suggestions for ‘The Gift’ readers.
This is Part I of our chat so be sure to come back and check in with us soon for Part II.
Enjoy!
CHYNNA: Welcome back to ‘The Gift’, Jody. I so appreciate you coming back to share your expertise with us. Let’s start with you telling us little bit about your background in Massage Therapy.
JODY: My background is actually one of sport. I played many years of hockey at a high level (even won the COY CUP – which is given to the Western Canadian Champs in Senior Men’s AA Hockey). We had many trainers that would help us along the way, but in those days teams did not carry a massage therapist or physio or chiropractor as some do now. But I always had an interest in the way the body worked or didn’t work.
CHYNNA: That’s really interesting. Did those early experiences in playing sports inspire your desire to become a Massage Therapist or was there something else that sparked your interest?
JODY: My wife and I were hit by a drunk driver many moons ago (back in ’95) and massage therapy really helped us with our injuries. I was intrigued. So we looked into this as a career.
CHYNNA: Oh my gosh, Jody. That must have been so scary for you guys. I can see how an event like that could trigger your interest. Understanding how massage helped you guys recover would give you a chance to help others. That’s awesome. There can be some confusion as to what a Massage Therapist does. To clarify, can you tell us exactly what a Massage Therapist is and what the focus is?
JODY: Yeah unfortunately there is that stigma that, “I’m going to get a massage.” ::nudge nudge, wink wink:: say no more... But the massage that we do is not a sexual thing at all. In fact one of the first things that one of my teachers said is that we’ll never look at the body the same again. And she was correct. Instead of ‘checking someone out’ at the beach, we look to see if they are compensating in their movements. Why one shoulder appears to be higher etc.
Massage therapy deals with soft tissue dysfunction. And since soft tissue pulls on bones and joints, we are also looking at those structures as well (so the entire body).
The focus of massage therapy can vary widely based upon what the needs of the patient are; they can be rehabilitory in nature, it can be calming and soothing the nervous system, it can be applying positive touch to someone who may have never received that kind of touch in their lives.
There are so many different facets to what we do.
CHYNNA: Thanks for that, Jody. Now, you touched on this a bit in your description above but let’s delve a bit deeper for those who may not completely understand. How is a Massage Therapist different from a ‘Masseuse’.
JODY: There is quite a difference between a Massage Therapist and a Masseuse. In fact that word ‘Masseuse’ makes me cringe when I hear it.
A masseuse for starters is not regulated. Meaning that they have no governing college that protects the public. They have no sets of rules that they need to adhere to. We on the other hand are regulated by the College Of Massage Therapists of BC. We have a list of bylaws that must be followed or you lose your license to practice.
Education plays a big part in the difference as well. Generally Massage Schools that teach their students to become Registered Massage Therapists (or give them the standard of education that allows them to write the board examinations and upon successful completion then become RMT’s) follow as set of strict curriculum and their students must attain a certain level of competency in the subjects as laid out by our College Of Massage Therapy. Generally it is between two and three years of full time education to graduate from an accredited college, whereas a masseuse will not have the education, nor competencies to treat as we do.
That’s not to say that some Body Workers aren’t good at what they do. Some have amazing hands (maybe even better that some RMT’s out there), but they do not have the inherent knowledge needed to do what we do.
JODY: My schooling was three years of what I call ‘a living hell’. Didn’t like it, but it was a necessary evil. I had some instructors who were amazing and really helped guide us through. It was tremendously difficult. When I wasn’t studying, I was studying, and when I wasn’t studying, I was studying.
But it was also amazing to see the body in this new way.
Yeah I got to practice on my family a lot. In fact my daughter (who was one or two at the time) would visit and run around naked from table to table getting massage from my peers. Some of the instructors remember this and still have a chuckle over it. I used to practice on my parents, siblings, and wife when I could.
CHYNNA: Awww…how sweet about your daughter! That would be my Sophie! LOL! Jody, as you know, many of our readers are caregivers of special needs children, particularly those with high sensory issues or SPD. How would you help a child with severe tactile issues (like Jaimie) work through a fear of light touch to get her to the deep pressure they often need so much?
JODY: I’ve never had the unique opportunity to treat someone like Jaimie, but what I do know about the nervous system would guide me.
Light touch and deep touch travel on two different neural ‘highways’. Light touch travels in the fast lane along with cold temperature sensation. Deeper pressure travels along what I like to call ‘the slow lane’ (Sunday Driver, Yeah). Deep touch is accompanied by Heat and Pain sensory information. Now each of these usually don’t travel to the brain at once to be picked up as sensory information, there is a gate and only one can travel at a time. Usually it is the light touch that wins the race and inhibits the deep touch. Think of when you’ve slammed your shin against a coffee table. You feel pain (slow lane fibres). The first thing you do (after you swear) is to rub it. This is light touch (fast lane fibres), it shuts off the perception of Pain briefly.
With Jaimie what my focus would be on is to try to avoid the light touch stimuli like cold, and pain. I would utilize hydrotherapy (heat specifically) to prepare her tissues, then I would treat deeply into the tissues and try to avoid being overly ‘pokey’ with my touch, trying to avoid the Pain sensation to keep the fast lane fibres dormant. My touch would be broad, soothing and slow. Maybe even imperceptible movements of the tissues to not excite the fast twitch (or lane) fibres.
I think in this way we can almost fly under the radar of the sensory issues that have become a challenge to someone like Jaimie and treat those tissues that may desperately need it.
CHYNNA: Jody, it’s like you totally ‘get’ Jaimie! Before her diagnosis, she reacted so aggressively to light touch that it could be frightening. When we learned that her brain registers this form of touch as ‘pain’, we finally understood what we needed to do for her. Her OT taught us that in order to get Jaimie to accept and understand that it was the deep pressure massage that her body needed, and we had to get past her fear of light touch to get there, we finally felt empowered to help her. For her, it’s about retraining her brain to feel (and cope with) different sensations, without fear. And, for the record, the warmth/heat would be most welcomed by her. (Her favorite thing is for me to give her a deep pressure joint massage while she cuddles either her warmed up Lamby or a hot water bottle.)
A big thank you to Jody for finding time to chat with us (again). I’ve learned a lot already! Well, I know that Jody has to go for today but he’ll be back soon for Part II of this amazing chat. So be sure to tune in again and I’ll keep you posted!
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