Hope: An amazing new blood test, clinical massage therapy, and overcoming barriers.

Most people in a health and wellness field have the innate desire to help people. If there was a real way to develop super human abilities like X-Ray vision or instant healing powers, the demand for that would be overwhelming. As much as anyone would love to think that this is humanly possible on a super-human level, the reality of it is, it simply isn’t.  If it was, we wouldn’t have sick people. Things like cancer would be a thing of the past.

I know some of you reading this may think, well, there are so many unexplained phenomenon that I have witnessed or been a subject of.  While I truly believe there is so much we have yet to fully explore and expand on, I also believe that if we take up a profession that puts people’s lives in our hands, we have an immense responsibility to stay grounded in reality drawing on everything we have at that moment in time. Since we don’t have X-ray vision, or instant healing powers, sometimes, we need to rely on advances in medicine to look inside the body, give us a better picture of what is happening, and take these assessments to decide which tools have the best chance of allowing the body to heal.  Unfortunately, even that falls short at times but we must keep pursuing all available options.

Just recently I discovered that there is a new blood test being developed that will detect eight different types of cancers which were previously hard to detect. That is very promising; but what does this have to do with massage therapy? Massage therapists MUST seek out the advice and guidance from their client’s doctor, chiropractor, or specialist etc. for assessments that lead away from a massage therapist’s scope of practice.  Clinical assessments are made based on the information that we are presented with coupled with the best tools that we have available to us at any given time. Sometimes things are cut and dry; other times they aren’t; and a bigger clinical picture is needed. Even for a massage therapist.

Both the people who are seeking care, and the health or wellness practitioners providing that care must be willing to seek out answers from both sides of the fence and use their best judgement in choosing what best serves the seeker of care.   It would be ideal if more massage therapists, and other bodywork professions knew how to reduce the barriers preventing their clients from getting quality medical care.  It would also be ideal if medical providers, after ruling out life threatening pathologies, referred their patients to clinical massage therapists more as the first line of defense in musculoskeletal issues.

There are so many barriers to successful and ideal clinical outcomes: bureaucracy, politics, patient beliefs, biases, and justified apprehension. We have to build more bridges, and heal the barriers that prevent us all from becoming our highest potential. We can’t force someone to seek medical care, but there is a time and place for it.  With the right knowledge and advice, we can help empower others to make the best choices for their own health care.

With all that said, prevention is still one of the most powerful tools. Wellness care is never a futile effort. There are limitations to everything and some things are just outside of our control. We must stay vigilant in our pursuits to work collaboratively and do our best to stay in our own lanes. Saying it again for good measure: there is a time and place for everything.

This new blood test being developed was unfortunately too late for some. Maybe it will be right on time for someone else. The time to heal is now though-together we stand a much better chance. If you are a wellness provider, don’t waiver in your advocacy for science and evidence based practices. If you are a medical provider, don’t dismiss things that have yet to be explained. As a patient/client, do your homework and find a balance.

We all wish for the best possible clinical outcomes, and we all have a responsibility to find them. Kudos to John Hopkins for this amazing blood test. I hope more people become aware of it, and have access to it very soon.

Kristin Martelli, LMT, BCTMB, CPMT

*This article is for informational purposes only. The information contained in this blog is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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