| In This Issue |
In large part, society portrays the perfect woman as intelligent, slender and beautiful. Magazine covers glorify models and celebrities who fit into this description. The constant pressure from the media to look your best may have factored into the increase of eating disorders over the past several decades.
Eating disorders—namely anorexia and bulimia—also can be caused by emotional or physical distress. People who have had eating disorders say that they were in a stressful situation that they couldn't control, but that food intake was one area where they had complete control.
So is massage therapy useful for people with this disorder? In recent years, positive research has shown that massage therapy may be effective alongside a treatment plan for those with eating disorders. Read more in this issue's feature, "Benefits of Massage as Adjunct Therapy for Eating Disorder Clients."
NOTE: Internet browsers and E-mail programs differ widely. If Web and/or E-mail links from this issue are not highlighted on your screen, simply copy and paste them into your browser’s address line or E-mail form as appropriate.
BENEFITS OF MASSAGE AS ADJUNCT THERAPY FOR EATING DISORDER CLIENTS
By Michelle Wolf
The 1960s was a pivotal decade that forever changed the way millions of women viewed their bodies. Beginning with the British model Twiggy, a cultural icon in the 1960s, through today, women have been "thinking thin." In fact, Twiggy was once described as having "the body of a starvation victim and the face of an angel."1
 |
|
Anderson Ross/Getty Images Magazines can give young women a false impression that "thin is in." According to the National Eating Disorders Association, "the average American woman is 5'4" tall and weighs 140 pounds."2 |
Society, too, places a lot of pressure on women to be beautiful and slender, evidenced by lanky runway models, the glamorous women on magazine covers and the stars of Hollywood.
This idea that thin is beautiful not only changed the way women saw themselves, but the way they ate. As such, eating disorders have become more and more prevalent in women—namely young girls—as well as in men.
Because eating disorders are perpetuated by how a person views his or her image, they are classified as mental disorders. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the clinical names to describe the two main types of eating disorders.
Usually beginning with some type of physical or emotional stress, "The typical anorexia and bulimia patient is a young woman somewhere between adolescence and college age ... more than 90 percent of all eating disorder patients are female."3 Eating disorders are not limited to a certain race or social status.
Anorexia Description
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-4th Edition (DSM-IV), "Individuals with this eating disorder keep their body weight below a minimal normal level by exercise, control of food intake and other means."4
Anorexic individuals: 1) have a body weight of less than 85 percent of what they should have; 2) are terrified of gaining weight, even though to others they are extremely underweight; 3) have a negative thinking about their bodies, and deny that there is a problem; and 4) have not menstruated within a three-month span (a criteria for women only), called amenorrhea.
Anorexics tend to consume a very small amount of calories per day. Viewing themselves as overweight, they typically wear loose-fitting or baggy clothes to cover themselves, which hides the fact that they are thinning. They also may have fine hair that grows all over the body as an added layer of insulation.
The anorexic lifestyle over several years can lead to osteoporosis, infertility, low blood pressure and a slowing of the heart rate.
Bulimia Description
According to DSM-IV, "Individuals with this eating disorder control their body weight in spite of binge overeating by purging (self-induced vomiting) or use of laxatives, diet pills or other means."5
 |
|
Jack Star (PhotoLink)/Getty Images Eating disorders occur in any race or social class. In fact, bulimia is common in African-American women. |
Bulimic individuals: 1) have repeat binging episodes where they consume a large amount of food, and do not feel able to stop eating; 2) use inappropriate means to expel the food from their body in order not to gain weight, such as purging, taking laxatives or heavy exercise; 3) have these episodes at least twice a week within a three-month period; and 4) have a skewed sense of their body image.
The signs are much harder to recognize in a bulimic individual, as the binging and purging usually takes place in private, and these individuals do not have the dramatic weight loss that anorexics experience.
The bulimic lifestyle over several years can lead to: eroded enamel on teeth, ulcers, loss of colon functioning and electrolyte imbalances.
Massage And Eating Disorders Research
In the last five years, two studies came out that presented research on eating disorders and the use of massage therapy, one on bulimia and the other on anorexia. The Touch Research Institutes facilitated both studies.
The study on bulimic individuals was published in 1998. Researchers took 24 adolescent bulimic females, and randomly assigned them to either the massage therapy group or the control group. What they found was that after a massage, those in the massage group reported immediate improvements in anxiety and depression. At the end of the study, these women continued to improve in anxiety and depression levels, and also showed improved functioning in psychological and behavioral measures.
The other study, which used 19 anorexic women with the mean age of 26, was published in 2001. Similarly set up to the study on bulimics, the women were randomly assigned to either receive a standard treatment for anorexia or the treatment plus massage therapy twice a week for five weeks. The massaged women also showed lower stress and anxiety, and after the five weeks, they were less dissatisfied with their bodies, as reported on the Eating Disorder Inventory.
In other findings, the women who were selected to receive massage in both surveys showed increases in dopamine levels, which also was thought to contribute to eating disorders. The positive results reported in both studies reveal that massage, in addition to conventional treatment, may be an effective stress reducer for individuals with eating disorders, but certainly, more research in this area is necessary.
How Can Massage Therapists Help?
A person suffering from an eating disorder needs to seek professional help, such as from a psychiatrist. A massage therapist cannot help with the physical or emotional problems troubling a person that lead to their poor eating habits. Anyone, however, can suggest that the person seek professional help.
According to Ruth Werner, author of A Massage Therapist's Guide to Pathology, "Massage therapists are in a position to provide nurturing, restorative, educated, and nonjudgmental touch to a population of people who may have little or no other access to this important sensor 'food.'"2
Loving touch, in the form of massage therapy, can be very good for clients with this condition, but massage therapists must continue to assess the client's condition and tailor the massage session appropriately to the client's needs. "The main cautions for bodywork concern the possibility of cardiovascular weakness, and these can be circumvented by choosing modalities that do not focus on increasing circulation."2
Massage therapy truly can make people feel good about themselves, which is why it can be such a useful addition to any eating disorder treatment plan. Be sure to seek an AMTA massage therapist to ease the conditions of this disorder.
~ Michelle Wolf is the marketing development project manager at the American Massage Therapy Association. Contact her at: mwolf@amtamassage.org.
References
1. "The Elongated Matchstick," www.geocities.com/twiggysophie/twiggy.html; accessed 24 September 2003.
2. "Statistics: Eating Disorders and Their Precursors," National Eating Disorders Association, www.nationaleatingdisorders.org; accessed 17 September 2003.
3. Werner, Ruth. A Massage Therapist's Guide to Pathology. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2002.
4. BehaveNet® Clinical Capsule™: DSM-IV: Anorexia Nervosa, www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/anorexia.htm; accessed 16 September 2003.
5. BehaveNet® Clinical Capsule™: DSM-IV: Bulimia Nervosa, www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/bulimia.htm; accessed 16 September 2003.
"Americans spend more than $40 billion dollars a year on dieting and diet-related products. That’s roughly equivalent to the amount the U.S. Federal Government spends on education each year."
ALSO,
"In the United States, conservative estimates indicate that after puberty, 5 to 10 million girls and women and 1 million boys and men are struggling with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder or borderline conditions."
Source: The National Eating Disorders Association
FIND A MASSAGE THERAPIST--WHEREVER YOU TRAVEL
If you will be traveling out of the area for business or pleasure, you can find a qualified massage therapist in your area. Just use AMTA’s Find a Massage Therapist® national locator service to locate a qualified AMTA Professional-category member anywhere in the United States. This service will direct you to professionals who are well-trained, adhere to a professionally recognized code of ethics and standards of practice, and are committed to continuing their professional education and development. Visit the locator service online today or call toll-free at 888-THE-AMTA [843-2682].
Q: Can you describe the basic strokes of Swedish massage?
A: Effleurage is a smooth, gliding stroke is used to relax soft tissue, and is applied using both hands.
Friction is the deepest of Swedish massage strokes. This stroke encompasses deep, circular movements applied to soft tissue, causing the underlying layers of tissue to rub against each other. The result causes an increase in blood flow to the massaged area.
Petrissage (also called kneading) involves squeezing, rolling and kneading the muscles, and usually follows effleurage during Swedish massage.
Tapotement is executed with cupped hands, fingers or the edge of the hand with short, alternating taps to the client.
Source: AMTA Web Site
Get together with a friend after a hectic week, and give each other massages! Instead of running around crazy trying to find something relaxing to do after a long week, try making a peaceful atmosphere at your home, and practice 10-minute massages on each other. Start out easy with a hand or a foot. You will be surprised how good it feels, and how it will lower your blood pressure. It doesn't take a lot of effort, but the results are amazing.
-Barbara Lavender
For a different massage tip each week,
visit AMTA’s Massage Room.
LEGAL NOTICE: Articles submitted by individual authors are copyrighted by those authors and reprinted with their permission. Views expressed in these articles are not necessarily the views of the American Massage Therapy Association®, and should in no way be construed as an endorsement. They are for informational purposes only.
© 2005 American Massage Therapy Association® All rights reserved.