If you’re like the vast majority of American adults, you may be taking one or more medications on a regular basis to help manage your health. And, if you’re like a lot of American adults, you would also like to incorporate massage therapy into your healthcare strategies.

Every now and then we all need a special treat. Here are some of my favorite indulgences, and I'll go out on a limb to suggest that I'm probably not alone on some of these:

--A big piece of cake (dark chocolate, with raspberry preserves oozing
between the layers).
--An evening with a silly movie or two--as mind-numbing as possible, please.
--Shoe shopping--OK, any shopping. I'm not picky.
--A massage.

In the words of the old song, "One of these things is not like the others ..."

Close to 800,000 people in the United States will have a joint replaced this year. Osteoarthritis is the main—but not the only—reason. Joint replacements have become so common that most massage therapists can expect to see clients who are in various stages of recovery from this procedure. But just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s risk-free, and a person who has had a joint repaired has a significant chance of complications that impact bodywork choices in both the near and long-term.

Atopy translates to “out of the way, unusual.” In medical circles, this term is applied to the observation that a group of common hypersensitivity reactions occurs within the same family, or—unluckily—sometimes all in the same person. The trio is comprised of eczema (also called atopic dermatitis), hay fever (also called allergic sinusitis), and asthma.

Most readers probably know that the liver is the biggest gland in the body and the focal point of many of our metabolic processes and our ability to cope with environmental toxins. It mitigates damage related to noxious exposure (for instance, combining too much alcohol with pain relievers for the ensuing hangover).

In the United States, anywhere from .5–3.7 percent of all females will meet the diagnostic criteria for anorexia at some point in their lives. About 1–4 percent of all females will struggle with bulimia.¹ The people who are most prone to anorexia and bulimia tend to be adolescent girls and young women.

Meet Ms. X¹: she has a problem. She is 28 years old, secure in her career, and financially stable. She and her partner agree that this would be an ideal time to start a family, but her body has other ideas: after two years of trying, she’s still not pregnant. Because of a complex sequence of events, her ovaries don’t release mature ova for the possibility of fertilization on any predictable schedule. In addition, Ms. X struggles with being overweight, constantly fights unwanted body and facial hair, and even in her 20s is still battling acne.

Originally published in Massage & Bodywork magazine, January/February 2009. Copyright 2009. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. All rights reserved.

Attitudes toward touch affect us all. The way a culture understands the role of touch in human lives has a profound impact on the way its people grow, develop, and engage with their physical and social environments. Is touch a necessity or an indulgence? What impact does it have on our physical and psychological health? Is the desire for tactile contact healthy, dysfunctional, or even dangerous?

According to statistical averages, a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or spinal cord injury will radically change the lives of 116 Americans this hour. Injuries to the central nervous system (CNS) can be devastating to the injured person and his or her loved ones and caregivers. The brain and spinal cord, so carefully protected by the three layers of meninges and the bony shells of the cranium and spinal canal, are extraordinarily vulnerable to damage if those protective layers are breeched by a blood clot, a gunshot wound, a motor vehicle accident, or other trauma.

This column is usually devoted to a specific pathological condition or concept that is connected to the overall theme of the current issue of Massage & Bodywork. In this edition, however, we will take a moment to look at what’s next for massage in the context of pathology: a different direction altogether.