You’re sick. You want to feel better. You’ve felt better after massage so you book a massage.
Or, you’ve got a massage scheduled and you’re sick or “getting over” being sick days before the massage appointment. Some symptoms have subsided and you’re “well enough” to work, so you think you’re “well enough” to get a massage.
The thing is, getting a massage when you’re sick, or “getting over” being sick, is contraindicated: a bad idea. Why? If you’re getting over being sick, you’re not well, you’re not 100%, you’re still sick.
When you’re sick your body is already working hard to get rid of toxins. Massage may push toxins through your system faster than it can handle and make you sicker. In addition, you can spread your sickness to the therapist. Even if the therapist doesn’t catch your cold or get your sickness, they may be a carrier to the next client or someone else with whom either of them are in contact, who may inadvertently catch that cold. That’s how you got it, right? You can be the one to stop the spread.
Here’s a perspective from a pediatric emergency medicine physician, Dr. Maya Heinert, M.D., published in Shape Magazine.
Also, if you are not actively sick, but have been exposed to someone who is sick within the last 3 days, please contact Melt before coming in. The CDC says we usually catch illnesses like a cold or the flu a day before we show any symptoms.
If you have symptoms of being sick or have been exposed 24-48 hours before your appointment, please reschedule to avoid the 24-hour cancellation fee of full payment for the session reserved for you. If you don’t learn you’ve been exposed until fewer than 24 hours before your appointment, please text right away. If you show up to an appointment sick, in order to promote your health and ours, you may be declined service, charged the full rate for your appointment and sent home without your massage. We don’t want that to happen, so one way we try to help is by having our system send appointment reminders 2 days in advance.
Please reschedule if you are sick. A cold can be spread by sneezing, coughing or talking without a mask on or through infected body fluids. According to the CDC, a cold is thought to be contagious for up to 5 days of symptoms.
Even if we wear masks to minimize contagion, getting a massage may still make you sicker. We are here to help you feel better, not worse.
Thank you for protecting yourself, preventing the spread of illness and for understanding our commitment to your optimal health and healing.
Originally published Feb. 18, 2017.
