Have a look at the  Massage Case Studies article for a background and description of the cases.

Some thoughts on the experience of volunteering at Mother Theresa’s Mission:

It was a chance to put those obscure lessons we learned into practise.  In massage training there were many lessons that seemed like a waste of time as we would never come to face them in a massage clinic environment. Most of the work I do concerns treating 20th century problems such as stiff necks and sore backs from poor posture and too much computer work.  It was professionally challenging and rewarding to go digging into the depths of my  training to help people with conditions that I had never seen first hand.
It was also an amazing opportunity to do the most good possible.  The patients were triaged and only the ones that could benefit the most from treatment were treated.  Helping somebody remember how to stand and walk again or possibly getting that rickshaw driver back on the road earning a living to support his family were unique moments that I will treasure forever.
The work seemed more important because there weren’t many other alternatives.  The patients were not going to get help from doctors, physiotherapists or other health care professionals.  Their loved ones would not collect them and care for them after the treatment.  They relied completely on the help they were given at the mission and were extremely grateful  for it.
The unmeasurable results are priceless.  The feeling of hope was more responsible for the stroke victim standing and walking than the treatment was.  Same goes for the rickshaw driver.  It could be that just feeling a small physical change was enough to start turning those big gears that result in rehabilitation.
The simple treatments can bring huge results.  The decrease in swelling that the was achieved with the two patients with broken legs and the one with liver damage was drastic.  And it all came from something as simple as nodal pumping and manula lymphatic drainage.

The following treatments and observations took place at Mother Theresa’s Mission in Calcutta, India during 3 days in March 2011.

Please note that there may be some inaccuracies in this article for the following reasons:

• Most of the information I have on the patients came from a volunteer with no medical training and only a basic understanding of the Indian language. (But he had the largest heart <3).
• Many patients could not communicate well due to physical trauma or mental illness.

Stroke Victim

Patient’s Condition:

• This patient had previously suffered a severe stroke.
• He sat most of the day and could not walk under his own power.
• His arm and shoulder were “stuck” in a typical post stroke position: glenohumeral joint was internally rotated, bicep was in spasm with the elbow permanently flexed, wrist and fingers stuck in flexion.  He had no  mobility of this arm as it was permanently in this position.

Treatment:

• With the goal of giving him some mobility of his arm, the following was done:
• Rolfing of the infraspinatus and supraspinatus
• Rolfing of the pectoralis major and minor
• Myofascial release technique (MRT) and golgi tendon technique (GTO) of the bicep brachii
• Rolfing of the intrinsic finger flexors
• Active assisted squats

Results:

• After 3 days of treatments, the patient had more mobility of his shoulder, elbow and hand.  In particular, his hands were more supple and flexible due to the decreased spasm of his finger flexors.
• The assisted squats that we did perhaps had the biggest effect.  The simple act of training him to use his legs again awoke something in him.  He started to believe that his legs were still useful.  He gained confidence and where he would be content to spend the entire day sitting or lying on the ground, he would now initiate standing and doing half squats on his own.

Rickshaw Puller

• This gentleman supported his entire family by pulling his rickshaw for fares.  In an accident, he received a severe blow to the top of his skull.  This compression injury left him in severe pain and unable to walk without the aid of a walker.  He had tremendous spirit though and it was remarked that out of all the patients, he tried the hardest to get better.  He still had hopes of being well enough to pull his rickshaw again.

Condition:

• He had chronic pain in his groin, low back and legs and great difficulty walking.  His hip flexors were in spasm.

Treatment:

• Relief of nerve compression with cervical traction and lumbar traction
• Stretch hip flexors, active fascial release of the sacrum

Results:

• The patient reported a decrease in pain.
• The patient felt stronger and was able to walk short distances without the walker

Broken Femur:

• The patient’s femur was previously broken and was not properly set.  As a result, the femur bone was not perfectly straight, but rather at a 160 degree angle.  The leg was severely swollen.

Treatment and Results:

• Nodal pumping at the groin lymph nodes and manual lymphatic drainage of the femur resulted in an immediate noticeable decrease in swelling of the femur.

Liver Damage:

• This patient was suffering from swelling in his right hand and both legs due to liver damage.

Treatment and Results:

• Nodal pumping of the chest, arm pit, and groin, combined with manual lymphatic drainage resulted in an immediate noticeable decrease in swelling in all the affected areas.

Badly Set Tibia:

• This patient’s tibia had been previously broken and was not properly set straight.  Both legs were swollen, the skin over the swollen area was peeling and flaking off.  The patient’s leg muscles were very hypertonic and seemed hard as a rock.  It seems that the dry skin and hypertonic muscles were due to a decrease in mobility and circulation as walking was too painful for the patient.

Treatment and Results:

• My goals were to improve the mobility he still had, decrease the swelling, and improve circulation.
• I performed rhythmic mobilizations of the toes and ankles
• Effleurage of the legs combined with nodal pumping of the groin and popliteal area
• By the end of the treament, the swelling had reduced, the muscles were supple and the patient had greater mobility.

A funny story popped up in the closing hours of the 2011 federal election.  A story of how Jack Layton was caught in a “rub and tug” massage parlour during a police raid.  Jack Layton swears that he did no wrong doing.  He was there to get a treatment by his “massage therapist” and was unaware of any illicit activity that was going on there.  The story is troubling on many fronts, but I am most offended that he kept referring to his masseuse as a “massage therapist”

There is a bit of confusion in the general public about massage therapy.  People still can’t get past the idea that massage therapy has absolutely nothing to do with sex.  And perhaps Jack Layton’s example is one of the biggest reasons why.  Jack Layton insists that he was seeing a “massage therapist”.  The truth is that the only people in Ontario that are allowed to call themselves “massage therapists” are Registered Massage Therapists that are licensed.  This goes with the same legislation that will only allow people to call themselves physiotherapists if they are in fact licensed physiotherapists.  There is no doubt in my mind that this person was not a massage therapist, but  a sex worker.

The Globe and Mail article, “Massaging the truth about Jack Layton” by Christie Blatchford reports the following:

Mr. Layton has acknowledged that when the cops, looking for underage Asian hookers, returned to the Velvet Touch parlour in the city’s downtown Chinatown on Jan. 9, 1996 – their first visit was two weeks earlier and then they apparently charged a man with keeping a common bawdy house – he was indeed there.

The NDP leader said he simply went for a massage and had no idea the place was suspect; Ms. Chow noted that her husband exercises regularly, was and is in great shape and just needed a massage, and Mr. Iler said in a written statement that Mr. Layton “had no knowledge whatsoever that the therapist’s location may have been used for illicit purposes.”A rather richer picture was provided by the officer’s reproduced notes and an interview with the Sun: Mr. Layton, ostensibly there for a shiatsu massage (which traditionally doesn’t require the removal of any clothing, let alone all of it) was lying naked on a bed; the female “therapist” dumped wet Kleenex into a garbage can upon the arrival of the police, and when Mr. Layton was asked if he’d received a sexual service and replied that he was there for shiatsu and one of the officers asked why, then, he had all his clothes off, he had no reply.

First of all, a massage therapist will never ever let you be completely naked during a treatment.  It is against our standards of practice and code of ethics.  We would lose our license in a second if we ever did that.  You must be draped or covered during the treatment.  I repeat, YOU CANNOT BE NAKED IN A MASSAGE TREATMENT.  During treatments, the back will be uncovered if the back is being massaged, but then it will be recovered when the work on the back is complete.  As we move onto one leg, it will be uncovered while the other leg is covered, and so on.  At no point will your entire body be naked in a treatment.

Secondly, contrary to popular belief it is in fact against our standards of practice to touch the genital area, the gluteal cleft or the breasts.  There is no confusion or leniancy  in this.  Sexual touching is strictly forbidden.  Again, any behaviour of this sort will result with a loss of license for the RMT.

Any establishment that engages in the sale of sex should not be confused with a massage therapy clinic.  Any person that sells sexual services should never be referred to as a massage therapist or registered massage therapist.  These two worlds are vastly different.

Massage Therapy vs. Massage Parlour

How can you tell if you are dealing with a legitimate massage therapist?  Here are some tips to clarify if you are in fact dealing with a licensed professional rather than someone in the world’s oldest professions:

• Ask for their license.  All RMT’s are required to carry or display proof of their registration with the College of Massage Therapists (CMTO)
• Look them up on the CMTO website.  There is a listing of all RMTs registered with the College on the CMTO website.
• Look for physical clues:  A professional clinic should be clean and well lit.  The massage therapist should be dressed professionally and modestly, possibly in hospital scrubs
• Avoid suspicious looking places. A professional RMT clinic will not have the following:
  • neon signs saying “Massage”
  • dimly lit offices
  • personnel dressed in provocative clothing
• Avoid suspicious behaviour.  An RMT will never do the following:
  • asking you to completely undress for no therapeutic reason
  • asking you to undress while they are in the room
  • inappropriate touching
  • refusal to provide proof of registration (i.d. card or wall certificate)
  • refusal to provide a receipt with registration information for insurance purposes
  • offering to provide a receipt at a later date

If you do encounter a person that refers to themselves as a massage therapist but whose credentials you doubt, please contact the CMTO to notify them so that they may investigate.

Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity in India offers a wonderful opportunity to volunteer, share your unique skills and have a uniquely rewarding experience in an exotic land.  It has some truly unique advantages:

1.  The Missionaries of Charity Will Let You Volunteer.  Having the inspiration to volunteer is only the beginning.  Actually getting the right to volunteer can be a long circuitous struggle.

Many volunteer organisations or NGO’s may require:

• Extensive volunteer experience
• A minimum time commitment of 6 months, a year or more
• Up front payment of “administration fees” of $1,000 or more
• An application process that takes months to complete.
• Very specific skill sets and certification requirements

At the Missionaries of Charity, there is no administration fee, no application process, no minimum skill requirements, no minimum time commitments.  They only require that you want to help.  For myself, I volunteered with the Missionaries of Charity purely by chance.  Scarcely had I decided to visit Calcutta and see Mother Theresa’s Mission than I was accepted with open arms by the sisters of the mission.  In fact, the sisters bent the rules to ensure that I would be given a chance to volunteer in the short time that I had available.

2.  The Missionaries of Charity will give you the chance to really put your knowledge to use.

The training for becoming a registered massage therapist in Ontario is pretty extensive.  But there were many times in class that I questioned why I needed to know pathologies and contraindications that I believed would never present themselves in my clinic.  At the Missionaries of Charity, I treated clients with swelling due to diabetes or cardiac insufficiency, hairline fractures, stroke survivors, fractures, spinal compression and dementia.  The work seemed all the more urgent because at the time I was there, there were no other volunteers with a background in physical rehabilitation.  The professional qualified care you provide can make an imporant difference to a patient that would not receive that care otherwise.

3. The Missionaries of Charity Will Not Try to Convert You

They are a Catholic organisation, but they have volunteers from all faiths and creeds.  At the time I was there, most of the volunteers were Buddhist Japanese.

4. The Missionaries of Charity Will Fit Into Your Schedule

As there is no minimum time requirement, you are free to come and go as you please.  Volunteering with them can fit perfectly into a break between your other travels in India.  It can be as short as a day or as long as years.

5.  The Missionaries of Charity is in India

It can be the perfect opportunity to visit a fascinating exotic country.  India is a difficult country to travel, but in these difficulties you will be challenged to truly learn about yourself and your work.