ITEC Holistic Massage Case Studies!

CASE STUDY 2

* * is a twenty-seven year old women who lives with her boyfriend and her dog. Her parents are separated but she sees both of them regularly and has a good relationship with them both. She has one brother who she sees less regularly but she enjoys his company when she does. She has an up and down relationship with her boyfriend as he has suffered from a drinking problem for a number of years and has a tendency to go on drinking binges. This, obviously cause a lot of stress for her at home. In the last couple of months he has however gone for professional help and has been sober.

* is also doing her final year at college. She is studying to be a teacher and say that the work load is just “unbelievable”. This is causing her a lot of stress also.

* would not be too fit and would be overweight. She has started the Atkins Diet recently and has gotten some success. She tries to go for a walk everyday but has found that since she has started this exercise programme that she has had one problem after another. First of all she broke her one of the phalanges in her right foot big toe and then she developed planter fibrositis in the same foot. fibrositis is a build-up of lactic acid inside muscles, it’s causes inflammation of soft tissues and stiffness and pain. Her doctor believes that she developed this condition because of her new exercise programme.

She is currently not taking any medication

TREATMENT PLAN

For her right foot I intend to perform a lot of effleurage to help feel out the areas of tension. I will then perform some petrissage on her heel to break down tension and stiffness and to manipulate the muscles. This will help to release the build up of the toxins present there. It will also help with increasing the circulation. I will perform some friction movements on her heal to also help with the tension and to loosen tightness. * suffers from cold hands and feet and this would suggest that her circulatory system is could do with some encouragement. However in all these movements I will be very careful of her recent bone injury.

For her over all circulation I intend to do a good deal of petrissage, percussion and effleurage all over her body. I will encourage her to perhaps take up some exercise that will cause less impact on her feet such as swimming.

* would also like some help with her cellulite which she has around her buttocks and upper legs. I will perform some pounding movements to help breakdown the fatty deposits. This will also help with her circulation and improve her muscle tone.

SUMMARY

SESSION 1

I spent a lot of time on *’s legs and feet as this was where she was having the most problems. Starting with some gentle effleurage to help her relax into the message I worked my way into some petrissage movements such as wringing and lifting of her rectus femoris and outer vastus muscles. I did some kneading and lifting on her lower leg which worked on the sides of her gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. When I got to her feet I did a leg stretch and ankle rocking. I noticed that her left foot was slightly longer than her right foot. I performed a lot of effleurage on her foot before going into lateral stretches, thumb rotations and frictions around her heel. All the time I was performing these movements I was checking in constantly with her about tension, pressure and pain. She found that these movements were not uncomfortable.

Over the rest of her body I performed a lot of effleurage and petrissage to help with circulation. I did some hacking and cupping on her thighs, gluteal muscles, trapezius, lattissimus dorsi and hamstrings to also help with circulation and to improve muscle tone. I did some pounding movements on her gluteal muscles and hamstrings.

After the massage I suggested that she took up an exercise like swimming that would have less impact on her feet. She felt that this would be a good idea. For her stress levels to do with college I suggested that she took ample breaks and not to over strain herself too much. She should perhaps spend half an hour each day meditating and taking her mind off all her worries.

SESSION 2

Before the message I asked * how she had gotten on since the last session. She told me that she had been in great form all week, the best she had felt in years. She was putting this down to a combination of the message session and a Reiki session that she had had. She said that it felt great to be looking after herself and treating herself well. She told me that she had started swimming the night before and was intending to go at least once a week.

I asked her how her foot was doing and she said that although it did feel better it was still giving her a bit of trouble every now and again.

I began to talk to her about her diet and suggested that the Atkins diet was really a healthy diet to be following. She told me that she finds it very hard to eat healthy and would rather eat unhealthy and lose weight than try to stick to a diet that she won’t follow. Either way she says she is going to eat unhealthy, the only difference is that with the Atkins you will loose weight.

As with the first session I spent a lot of time on her legs trying to improve circulation, and improve muscle tone. I paid particular attention to her feet yet again by doing some kneading, frictions and effleurage. Along the posterior of her upper legs I performed some lymphatic drainage towards the inguinal nodes to help to encourage the lymphatic system to remove the toxins that the body was now letting go off. I also did some drainage to the submandibluar nodes, the axillary nodes and the cervical nodes.

After the session I encouraged her to drink plenty of water to help flush out of the toxins in her body. I asked her to think again about her diet and to continue her swimming.

SESSION 3

Before the massage I asked * how she had gotten on since her last session. Again she told me that she had been in great form. She was continuing with her swimming and had now added an underwater aerobic class to it. She told me she was also at another Reiki session and believed that this was helping her a lot. She had also lost nearly a stone since she had started on her Atkins diet and was very pleased with this. I asked her had she thought about my suggestion about her diet and she said that she had but was still going to stay on it as it was working for her. She told me however that she had been slightly constipated over the last couple of days.

Her foot was feeling much better and she believed that this was a lot to do with the message and also to do with her new exercise programme.

Again I worked on her legs breaking down the tensions and stiffness. I tried to improve her circulation with some petrissage and effleurage and then did some lymphatic drainage towards her inguinal nodes to help release these toxins that were being released.

I performed some pounding movements on her gluteal muscles and her hamstrings to help with her cellulite.

I also spend some time doing some large intestine creeping to encourage peristalsis and help with her constipation. She found this slightly uncomfortable along her transverse colon.

I encouraged her once again to drink plenty of water after the session. I asked her about her stress levels and home and she told me that it was considerable less these days that her boyfriend was coping well with being sober and was doing fine. She has put her college work in perspective and although still stressful it no longer causing as much. She told me that she was taking half an hour each day sitting in her spare room with a oil burner and some relaxing music and meditating. She was finding this to be a great help and described it as getting away from the world for awhile.

SESSION 4

Since the last session * had been to the doctor to get a check up on her foot. The doctor was very pleased with her recovery, he too believed that the swimming was a good idea.
* had also been to another Reiki session and was feeling a lot calmer and happier. I asked her how she felt that the messages where affecting her and she told me that she definitely felt a lot more relaxed and was sleeping easier at night. She also told me that she now found it easier for her to relax her body almost as if her body had gotten use to it. She told me that she doesn’t really have cold hands or feet anymore and believed that her circulation was a lot better. Her overriding feeling was that it felt great to be looking after herself physically after years of letting herself go. It was improving her confidence level and her self esteem.

I asked her about her constipation since her last session and she said that she was back to normal and having no more difficulties.

During the message I didn’t pay as much attention as I had done in previous sessions to her legs and feet as the problem had depleted more or less. However I did spend some time doing some basic effleurage and petrissage movements along with some percussion and lymphatic drainage. The rest of the massage I performed as more of a relaxing massage than an invigorating one to help with her relaxation and stress relief. I spent a good bit of time on her back doing plenty of effleurage, circle of eight over her trapezius and fanning all over her back.

For homecare advice I suggested she drink plenty of water, continue with her swimming and under water aerobics and to continue with her half hour daily of “getting away from the world”.

CONCLUSION

Since our first session together * has come along way. At the beginning she was a bit down on herself and felt that maybe it was too late for her to start doing stuff to improve physically. By the end of her fourth session she was almost a different person. It was at this point that I noticed just how down she had been. She is enjoying her new lifestyle and I believe that she will continue as she now has the momentum behind her.

The problem with her foot seems to be under control. I believe that the swimming rather than walking is a better form of exercise for * at the moment. Because she is overweight her feet would be under considerable impact when she walks which would is not the case when she is swimming or doing her under water aerobics.

I would still be concerned about her diet. The Atkins plan does not seem like a healthy diet to me. I have researched it and the jury seems to be out on it at the moment. There are as many people for it as there is against it. However I believe that a more balanced diet would be more satisfactory and healthy. But for * it seems to be getting her where she wants to be weight-wise. I would suggest that when she gets down to her target weight that she visits a dietician and discuss a more balanced diet to keep the weight off and to make sure that she is getting the right vitamins and minerals.

Hi Frater,

This is my first time, just joined as member today. Have been observing this site for a while and see all the people who are just over-whelmed by how marvelous your massage case studies were. I see in one of your quotes that you were intending doing Reflexology and wondering did you do that course yet and if so have you case studies complete on it. My exams are on 14th March, just over five weeks so trying to cram studying and case studies so any help whatsoever would be so so appreciated.
Thanks,
Marie

Hi !!! Ive started my itec course a few months back and im just on my consultation sheets dont know where to start any ideas ??

[hi therad im just coming to the end of my itec course if i can help you in any way just shout

Regards
Vicky

If you don't have the ITEC sheets check out the main ITEC site think its www.itecworld.co.uk

Jane

I only have a few weeks to go before the final exams and am over-welmed by all the books and papers to learn still!!! Is it better to focus on the actual passed exam papers? plse help Jane x

[hi therad im just coming to the end of my itec course if i can help you in any way just shout

Regards
Vicky