RHYTHMICAL MASSAGE AND HYDROTHERAPY

The rhythmical massage therapist works holistically with our health and wellbeing at a subtle level, using warming aromatic oils or hydrotherapy. Although light, the gentle rhythmical quality of touch penetrates deeply and helps to support and harmonise health. The treatments aim to correct imbalances resulting from illness or stress and tackle specific physical aspects, for example to improve mobility, circulation, warmth and muscle tone.

Rhythmical massage therapy is being used successfully to treat a wide range of problems and illnesses including life-threatening diseases and chronic conditions. This form of massage recognises the healing power of touch, but it works at a far deeper level than an aromatherapy session.

Rhythmical massage is definitely a medical therapy. It’s not like having a facial at your local salon or a soothing back rub at the health spa. The therapists are trained to a high level of expertise, meaning they are able to treat patients with high-risk problems such as cancer which are often not suitable for massage (there is a risk of over stimulating the lymphatic system which can ‘spread’ the cancer). The massage may be used individually, or alongside other complementary therapies or physiotherapy, or in conjunction with natural remedies or conventional medication.

Rhythmical massage is ‘prescribed’ by the doctor at Park Attwood, as an integral part of the treatment which is shaped by the full medical team and guided by regular multi-disciplinary team meetings which include doctors, nurses and therapists. Rhythmical massage therapy is a soft-tissue massage. It was developed at a clinic in Switzerland in the 1920s by Dr Ita Wegman, a pioneering medic schooled in physiotherapy and massage. After the famous Dr Margarethe Hauschka joined the clinic, she and Dr Wegman collaborated for 12 years to develop this new approach to massage therapy. The technique is very specific and the touch light, the hands lifting the tissue in gentle movements that are fluid, circling, sweeping, working with an element of suction rather than pressure. It enables the life processes in the tissues to be stimulated and lifted out of gravity into levity. The result is a rhythmical, harmonising quality of touch, which penetrates deeply.

For cancer patients, massage can address a variety of common issues: tension in the back, restricted mobility (especially following surgery - mastectomy for example), pain, shock, as well as body image and confidence issues. Rhythmical massage works with the lymphatic system, with the patient’s breathing, and is a warming process. At a holistic level it is reassuring, to re-engage body, mind and spirit. Therapists may chose to work with the legs, for example, even when the problem is elsewhere in the body, because they are working holistically - warming, reviving, healing.

Illness can be very disengaging - a ‘shutting down’ or ‘shutting off’ process - as are some conventional drug treatments. Massage can turn this around, helping the patient to re-engage, specifically with their bodies and more generally with their situation.

Plant oils are used for massage. These provide a colourful variety of natural therapeutic properties - pressed from fruit, flowers and seeds. Sunlight is the process that forms these parts of the plant, and it is as if these warming properties can be transferred to the body through the oil. Creating warmth - a warmth that can really penetrate - is the key to wellbeing.

At Park Attwood, the massage therapist may also decide to use hydrotherapy. This may be in the form of an arm, foot or whole body bath. Herbal and mineral extracts are treated in a variety of different ways before being added to the water. When an oil bath is prescribed, a special apparatus is used; this is called a Jungebad apparatus. This device allows a prescribed oil to disperse in a footbath or bath rather than floating on the surface of the water. The mixture of oil and water comes into contact with the skin and is rapidly absorbed. To help this process, the use of soft brushes can be incorporated where appropriate.

The water temperature is usually kept around body temperature, but a patient’s body temperature may rise as a result of the treatment when they rest afterwards, and the patient might drift into a light sleep. Hydrotherapy treatment can be very useful when a patient has issues with touch, as it can administer substances without being too invasive. It is also used to address particular organs, for example the liver. If a patient’s liver has a tendency to be sluggish, a wormwood bath may be prescribed. This is a bitter substance that may help to strengthen the liver process. Hydrotherapy primarily effects the bodily functions such as circulation, muscle tone and the general distribution of warmth in the body.

Another form of treatment used by the massage therapist at Park Attwood is the beeswax compress. This is made by pouring hot beeswax onto paper and leaving it to set for about twenty minutes. It can be used in addition to massage during the rest period and often as a treatment on its own. The beeswax compress, wrapped in a cotton cloth, is applied whilst the wax is still warm and mobile, so it moulds to the patient’s problem area. It has a penetrating warmth quality that eases pain and reduces muscular tension.

The external stimulation of massage and hydrotherapy needs to be absorbed by the body. So a patient will rest for about half an hour after their session; this allows the body to absorb and integrate the beneficial effects of the treatment. Another important aspect is the ‘wrapping up’ of the patient during the massage treatment and the rest period; they are enveloped and cocooned in warm sheets and blankets. This process of holding the warmth for patients encourages and strengthens their natural ability to distribute warmth more evenly throughout their body.

Therapists are regulated by CAHSC (Council for Anthroposophical Health and Social Care) to ensure high professional standards of care.

"I find I get neck pain, mainly from doing things one-handed, or straining because I can’t physically turn my whole body in my wheelchair. The care at Park Attwood means I cope much better with any pain, and the therapies actively help reduce the pain as well as improving my general sense of wellbeing. I really enjoyed the hydrotherapy - I had a soothing oil dispersion bath with Lavender, using the Jungebad technique. This involves a clever little device through which the water passes, forming a vortex. Into this vortex the therapist drops minute droplets of oil which then disperse into a fine mist throughout the bath water. It’s great for easing aches and pains, and gives a wonderful feeling of lightness and weightlessness - legs that won’t usually co-operate suddenly feel free and floaty. The smell of the cedar wood of the big bath, the dim lights, warm water and aromatic oil, all have an amazingly uplifting effect."