My mother and a friend went to Camelback recently for massage. They are both in their 70's and didn't receive any kind of intake forms to fill out before the massage. My mother's friend answered some questions verbally during the massage, such as, ""Is there a chance you might be pregnant?"" My mother received no such questions.\r
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The problem with this (other than the fact that their reproductive capabilities shut down 20 years ago) is that my mother has pronounced varicose veins, which contraindicate massage. Yet the LMT just rolled right over them with hot stones. And my mother's friend has skin cancer, another contraindication for massage. Yet the LMT didn't ask if there was a chance she might have cancer, didn't recognize or question an odd mass on her back, and my mother's friend didn't know she needed to tell her. In the first case, doing deep massage on varicose veins can dislodge a clot and send it northward. In the second, increasing circulation can increase the chance of metastasis.\r
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One would think, with Phoenix's large elderly population, that doing a thorough health intake with each spa client would be expected. But then, so is getting a massage by practitioners with a grasp of basic pathologies that contraindicate massage.\r
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I contacted the spa several weeks ago to discuss this, but they have not responded.
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