Patients Dealing With Chronic Illness Seeing Massage Benefit
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - For many, a massage is a relaxing escape. But for North Texans dealing with conditions like Cerebral Palsy and Parkinson's Disease, getting a massage is becoming part of their medical treatment to relieve pain.
Robert Granado has been cared for by his mother, Amelia, all of his life. He was born with Cerebral Palsy, and is bound to a wheelchair. "We didn't think he was going to make it," Amelia said of his diagnosis.
Amelia says she talked to a lot of doctors and looked into a lot of treatments, but never found anything to help her son's pain until she started getting him massages.
For the past two years, Robert has been going to the Parker School of Massage Therapy, and it is helping his body relax.
Amelia says his left arm and leg, both impacted by Cerebral Palsy, are now much less tight that they were before the massage treatment began.
The massages have also loosened his chest muscles and have increased blood flow to his legs. "Definitely an increase in range of motion is one thing we want to see," says Dr. Drew Riffe with Parker School of Massage Therapy.
Riffe says he's noticed more and more people with chronic illnesses arre turning to massage therapy, so the school is helping train therapists on how to treat patients' special needs.
Amelia says it's made a difference for her son Robert. "I really feel like he's more relaxed and tolerates touch a lot better."
And now she can relax a little, because her son can too.
