Orthopedic Massage vs. Medical Massage: Are We Using the Correct Terminology?
By James Waslaski Several weeks ago, after discussing my mother’s “medical” condition with her surgeon, I realized how vital it is for our profession to establish the differences between medical and orthopedic massage. GA_googleFillSlot(“massagetoday_com_Articles_Pages_Rectangle”); My mother had a critical medical condition called a dissecting aortic aneurysm, in which she exhibited low back pain symptoms, similar to someone with a tight iliopsoas. The medical doctor expected kidney problems, but – through divine intervention – an MRI discovered the massive aneurysm near the bifurcation of the femoral arteries, and it was ready to burst. I thank God each day that she did not go to someone minimally trained in medical or orthopedic massage, because an attempt to release her iliopsoas would have ruptured the aneurysm, and she likely would have died on the massage table. However, a year prior to discovering the aneurysm, my mother had an “orthopedic” condition called iliotibial band frict
