Step-by-Step Massage Therapy Protocols for Common Conditions is intended to give massage therapy students and practitioners the knowledge and confidence to work safely with clients who have medical conditions. Relying on her many years of massage experience, Charlotte Michael Versagi outlines the skills needed to assess wisely, think critically, and use techniques already learned and practiced in massage school to work with these clients. The text provides practical, thorough protocols to help therapists support their clients while steering them away from doing any harm.\\This text prepares the student in a massage program, or the therapist already practicing, to become an effective member of a client’s healthcare team. The book is designed so that the therapist can quickly understand the basics of the condition, the most common strategies for medical treatment, and how to relieve pain and help the client deal with the condition.\\The book’s easy-to-navigate organization helps create an effective learning experience, presenting the foundation for protocols in chapters 1-5, and then turning to specific conditions (arranged alphabetically) in chapters 6-44. Each condition chapter presents a comprehensive yet succint explanation of the condition—what causes it, how it develops, how it is treated, and how the massage therapist can assess the condition's effect on the client. The central feature of each of these chapters is the Massage Therapy Protocol, which presents in tabular form a suggested protocol for supporting healing with massage therapy.--Publisher description.

Part I Groundwork: Fundamental Knowledge for Intelligent Hands -- Defining and Practicing Clinical Massage -- Physiologic Effects of Basic Massage Strokes and Techniques -- The Physiology of Muscular Activity and Pain -- Medications for Common Medical Conditions -- Beyond the Table: Client Homework and Referring Out Part II Step-by-Step Massage Therapy Protocols -- Ankylosing Spondylitis -- Bell's Palsy -- Bursitis -- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome -- Cerebral Palsy -- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome -- Constipation -- Degenerative Disc Disease -- Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness -- Fibromyalgia -- Frozen Shoulder -- Headache-Migraine -- Headache-Tension -- HIV/AIDS -- Hyperkyphosis -- Iliotibial Band Syndrome -- Insomnia -- Multiple Sclerosis -- Muscle Spasm -- Neuropathy: Diabetic Peripheral and Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral -- Osteoarthritis -- Parkinson's Disease -- Piriformis Syndrome -- Plantar Fasciitis -- Post-Polio Syndrome -- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Raynaud's Phenomenon -- Rheumatoid Arthritis -- Scars -- Sciatica -- Scoliosis -- Sprain and Strain -- Stress -- Stroke -- Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction -- Tendonitis -- Thoracic Outlet Syndrome -- Trigger Points -- Whiplash Index.