As you get older, there's a special massage for you

We might have outgrown our ability to wear short skirts and stiletto heels, ride a Harley or catch a fly ball, but we never outgrow the need for a good massage. In fact, the older we become, the more we might need its therapeutic benefits. The challenge is to find therapists trained in senior or geriatric massage.

Massage therapy has seen a steady growth in popularity in the past 20 years. And older folks are catching on to its benefits. Use of massage among those 65 and older has tripled since 1997 (15 percent in 2005 versus 4 percent in 1997, reported the Evanston-based American Massage Therapy Association.) We here in the Midwest, along with residents in the West, were most likely to have received a massage in 2006: 20 percent and 19 percent respectively. The Midwest's 6-percentage gain from 2004 levels was the most dramatic.

More men also reported massage use, up from 8 percent of male adults in 2004 to 13 percent in 2006. The research was conducted by Boulder, Colo.-based Harstad Strategic Research.

K. Heather Lambe, a licensed massage therapist and owner of Advanced Health Concepts in Arlington Heights, sees clients from their teens to well into their 90s. Her oldest client was age 98.

"I've had people who came in in their 80s and 90s for the first time and when they left they said they wondered why they had waited so long," Lambe said. "Doctors are realizing how it can benefit folks, too. They've seen how certain conditions, arthritis, hip replacement, years of postural distortion which tends to create pain patterns over time, can respond to massage. We can't undo what years have done, but we are able to bring temporary relief."

Hospitals are getting into the act, also. Eighty-two percent of hospitals in a 2003 survey used massage therapy, usually to relieve pain. The survey was done by the American Hospital Association and the American Massage Therapy Association.

But you don't have to be hospitalized to benefit from massage. Senior or geriatric massage involves the use of hands in a gentle, soothing motion to manipulate the soft tissues of the body to improve blood circulation, relieve pain and increase range of motion. Thirty-minute sessions are often recommended.

Age-related diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease or Parkinson's disease result in poor blood circulation and limited physical activity, which can be helped by massage. Massage also can relieve anxiety and depression, and perhaps most important, provide comfort in our older years.

"Many of our older clients seek massage because of a need for healthy touch," explained Lambe, who has had a massage therapy practice in Arlington Heights for 18 years. "We all have a desire for touch and as seniors experience health conditions, they need nurturing, helpful touch. It can support the emotional and health-care needs of seniors."

There's no such thing as an average 70-year-old, said Sharon Puszko, director and owner of Day-Break Geriatric Massage Institute in Indianapolis, an organization conducting workshops in geriatric massage to massage therapists.

"Just like everyone else, there are robust, age appropriate and frail in this age group," Puszko said. "But what is true for all of us is that as we age our skin gets thinner so a special technique is needed."

Because many older people are on medications, including blood thinners or insulin for diabetes, or have had joint replacements, the therapist should take special care to customize the technique. Some health conditions might be reason to avoid massage, such as a history of blood clots, certain types of cancer and open or unhealed bed sores.

Don't be afraid to ask questions before you schedule a massage, Lambe said. Ask how much experience the massage therapist has had in working with seniors.

"Don't hesitate to ask where and what their training is in or if they've worked with people with fibromyalgia or with a hip replacement," Lambe said. Being an informed consumer is the best way to go."