Customer Reviews

Medicine Hands

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The American Cancer Society has recently listed Massage as a form of releif of pain for cancer patients. This was a big step and Gayle MacDonald's book is the next step. Often times the touch that cancer patients are recieving is not comforting, it is only related to often painful treatment. To be touched by someone with a compasionate intent is amazing. Gayle exlpains that healing touch is not the ability of a person to literaly touch and cure someone, healing is a sense of peace, a pain free hour, quality of end of life. Gayle does an amazing job of getting thoughts and techniques out to help people wishing to become more educated in this area of massage. Gayle is sharing imortant knowledge and it is written in a way that a student, Massage Therapist of 10 years, or family member of someone with cancer can read and gain an amazing understanding of the best way to treat those with cancer.

I found this book to be a true inspiration for me. I found out about it through one of the Massage magazines and I can honestly say it was one of the best and most important purchaces I made since I graduted from massage school in 1999.

I have used it as a reference while doing volunteer as an LMT on the oncology unit at my local hospital and it was extremely helpful. Staff and students alike were very impressed with it when I showed it to them. The layout of this book is very user friendly and the appendixes and references in the back were excellent.

I personally feel it's a good ideal to get further training related to the oncology in the clincal enviroment as far as massage concerned. Yet this book was also very clear as about the limitaions and contraindications which made me feel at ease. This book is an excellent starting point for thoes wishing to give care to people facing Cancer and is quite thorough in all topic covered. It can help the therapist, student therapist and/or caregiver understand the challenges and rewards of providing the gift of touch at a time when it maybe needed it most.

As a massage therapist, I was trained that massage was generally contraindicated for cancer patients. Gayle does a wonderful job of explaining why massage is appropriate, the chemistry behind metastisis and the issues around massage treatment along the continuum of cancer treatment. It also has a chapter on death and dying that I recommend to many patients. I have made this a required text in the therapeutic massage program as our local community college.

I was privileged to take a weekend seminar from Gayle MacDonald, and I purchased the book at that time. Her amazing compassion and caring are evident in every line of this book. If you have been told that massage is not appropriate for people living with cancer, this book will change your thinking. The book also gives a very good basic description of the process that cells go through to become cancerous, and de-mystifies some of the treatments that patients go through. Medicine Hands is a practical, down to earth book that is well worth reading. It is an excellent book for anyone living with cancer - in one's self or in a loved one.

The non-profit educational institution that I chair just hosted a three-day training for massage therapists with Gayle, and we were the first group to be taught using this newest edition of her book. I own the first edition and had devoured it cover-to-cover; this edition is a huge step up from that wonderful book. Gayle dispels myths about cancer and massage with science, and also gives the reader and practitioner many new tools and ways of working with people living with cancer, either preparing for treatment, undergoing it, and also for those several years out of treatment.

The primary thing that I learned was just how much I *didn't* know about the cautions of people undergoing or who have undergone treatment for cancer. Both the training and the book have given me confidence that I can *safely* touch and work with every single person with compassion and gentleness. Her book also gives me a sharper understanding of working more intelligently with my clients who do not have cancer but who may be in a medically frail state, such as those in Hospice with whom we work in our practice.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about this author, her book, and her teaching. This is a "must-buy" for all massage therapists and for anyone who is a professional touch therapist.

I got this book when I was in massage school, writing a short essay on massage and ovarian cancer patients. It has an excellent chapter on massage and metastasis that every body worker should read. (Even in my mostly good and scientifically sound massage program, the idea that increasing circulation may increase risk of metastasis was perpetuated, even though the actual scientific articles we got as handouts showed why that's not possible. It's just such a complicated reality and intuitive idea that it's hard to shake, but once you understand metastasis better you can truly comfortably work with cancer patients.) It also has all the necessary information on precautions during all stages, and tons of good advice on everything from working in a hospital setting to working on friends and family of the patient.

I will definitely refer to it whenever I treat clients with a history of cancer, or work in a medical setting.

I have been a massage therapist for nearly a quarter of a century. It is wonderful to see a comprehensive book for massage therapists about massage and cancer. There have long been many fears about massage and cancer that just aren't true. There are certainly precautions and concerns. This book addresses those well. This book also brings out the heart of the massage therapist. Addditionally, I do like the updated edition.

I shared the book with my co-worker who is a massage therapist, an educator and a nurse (who has worked in acute care oncology). She writes, "My first glance, just to peruse a few pages, lasted almost an hour! I am very impressed with the contents, layout, pictures and scenarios. It is written in terms that are clear and concise. The 'Info boxes' and stories by therapists, patients and their families help bring the importance of touch therapies done safely to a population so in need.
Medicine Hands is a pure gift to massage therapists, thank you! It is written professionally, compassionately and realistically."

As instructors at a massage school in Massachusetts, we will definitely use this text and recommend it to our students as we discuss pathologies and the appropriateness of massaging cancer clients.

Again, thank you for a book that has been long-needed in our field.

Now in a newly revised and enlarged edition, Medicine Hands: Massage Therapy for People with Cancer is an in-depth guide to using massage to lessen the deleterious effects of chemotherapy and radiation, relieve pain, and improve overall quality of life for cancer patients. Written by massage therapist Gayle MacDonald, Medicine Hands is intended especially for fellow massage therapists, offering years of professional experience and wisdom concerning techniques, learning to assess the needs of patients, special considerations for therapy upon patients with common side effects of cancer, children living with cancer, or patients nearing the moment of death. Extensive references, black-and-white photographs, and plain-spoken, highly accessible writing style distinguish this enthusiastically recommended supplemental resource for massage professionals everywhere.

I am taking Gayle MacDonald's Oncology Massage Therapy Certification program courses and her new updates are wonderful! Much of what we have been studying is in her book, so its been great study tool. I currently work with people living with cancer and now I feel totally competent in my field of expertise doing so. Great book, and can't wait for more books by her.

This book was very enlightening for the massage therapist and caregiver because it displays a whole new way of performing massage therapy and how the modalities change from deep to very gentle (and by the way, very relaxing). It was educational because it showed the various ways to massage an oncology patient, what can go wrong if you don't and explained the different health issues that can be caused, as well as other touch issues. It was earnest in that the whole book was very sobering in showing pictures of cancer patients and the different distresses they go through from start (pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, etc.) to finish (whether that be cure or death).
Yes, oncology patients can receive massage!