Massage therapy comforts many residents
Monday November 19, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Hand and shoulder massage, along with music therapy, have become an important supportive measures technique used at Burnbrae Gardens to comfort residents and reduce behaviours.

For some residents, touch is their primary sense.

“I think therapeutic touch is probably one of the biggest comforts that a lot of residents can have right now,” says Laurie Rowat, temporary supportive measures therapist and health-care aide at the Campbellford long-term care home.

“It gives residents some one-on-one time, too. There’s conversation directed solely at them.”

The results of massage and music therapy speak for themselves.

“There’s more relaxation, there’s less agitation and (more) comfort, in general,” says Rowat.

Consulting with nursing staff about using non-pharmaceutical approaches is important when utilizing massage therapy as a supportive measure when dealing with behaviours, says Rowat.

While it can mean a bit of trial and error, it’s a success when residents who are on psychotropic medications to reduce behaviours as a result of massage therapy have those medications eliminated or reduced.

“If that can be a part of programming to use those techniques as opposed to drugs all the time, that’s a big step,” says Rowat.

When going through the trial-and-error stage of using massage therapy as a supportive measure, Rowat says staff members will pay close attention to facial expressions in order to see if the therapy is working.

Rowat points outs that hand massage and other forms of touch therapy cannot be used on all residents. Some residents may have chronic pain issues, such as fibromyalgia, and as a result would be unsuitable for these types of therapies. Other residents may feel their personal space is being encroached upon.

To mitigate these concerns, a vital part of creating supportive measures programming, Rowat notes, is listening to feedback from frontline staff, as well as paying attention to communication between residents, their families and staff members.

Rowat underscores that without this feedback from frontline personnel detailing individual resident needs, it would be impossible to create supportive measures programs.