Refused a massage because I had cancer

[MinnieMountain]

I tried to book a massage at a new place yesterday but when I filled in their medical form and said I had cancer 8 years ago, they said they can't do it without a doctor's letter. Supposedly their insurance doesn't cover it as massage can cause any remaining cancer cells to grow again.

I'm astounded at their ignorance.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I was told 5 years recently and it gave me the rage! So ignorant and discrimination imo.

Do café insurance policies specifically excludes the serving of sugary desserts to people with cancer? False equivalence.

this happened to my mum who had been cancer free for years, she was willing to discuss with them but after their 'explanation' I cancelled the spa break and we'll never go back there. They said 'it's because if there is still a little bit of cancer left, the massage will spread it round the body and she'll get cancer again but it could be worse than before'

I asked where she got her medical information from and she couldn't answer. My mum now just doesn't declare it.

I have noticed recently a few places shifting to an approach where you can either declare medical conditions, or just sign a waiver - I think this approach is better, I've never understood why someone rubbing a bit of moisuriser into my face needs my full medical history.

I’m stunned by all these responses. This is just all pseudoscientific nonsense. I guess a lot of the therapy industry is based on that so it isn’t surprising. Massage is just not that powerful, unless you’ve got someone trying to manipulate damaged tissue or joints or performing carotid sinus massage a standard salon massage is going to struggle to do significant harm, in the same way that the benefits of it don’t extend far beyond it feeling nice and being relaxing.

If massages spread cancer then a doctors letter doesn’t change that. The fact is that massages don’t spread cancers. Sun beds do in fact actually cause cancer and that’s very well evidenced but you can do that all you like. Madness.

I have had 2 separate cancers. My oncologist advised me to have neither reflexology or massages as, apparently cancer cells can lie dormant for many years. My father's returned after 16 years. I would rather not risk it.

My consultant just told me to lie on the forms when I asked him! I have blood cancer though so advice may vary, but he certainly said for me it was totally fine and I should go and enjoy it.

I think it was my oncologist who mentioned it. Or maybe a BC nurse?

It's quite a few years since I had cancer but I was certainly made aware.

Lots of conflicting information on this thread. Are there any actual cancer specialists posting who can confirm or deny the claims?

My GP recently discovered I have Bowen's Disease (a very slow-growing skin cancer) which is now being treated. I mentioned it to my masseuse, as she was the person who first noticed it. She has no problems giving me my massage.

There is no evidence that massage is unsafe for people who've had cancer. It's outdated and was never based on anything more than arse-covering https://www.wcrf.org/about-us/news-and-blogs/massage-cancer-safe-potential-benefits/
https://www.cancer.org.au/iheard/does-massage-spread-cancer

I’m not sure your rationale is correct here. Exercise “can encourage blood … to move faster round the body” but that’s actively encouraged with evidence it increases disease free interval.

I can understand why people are twitchy about this, and can appreciate the basis of theoretical risk but I don’t know of any evidence to support massage as a means of spreading cancer in a patient with no evidence of active disease.

I did massage training and qualified about 20 years ago and it was very much drilled into us not to do massages on people who have previously had cancer. Whether this is outdated or not or evidence based I have no idea. Partly because I’ve never practiced but even if I did practice it wouldn’t be my role as a masseur to be interrogating peer reviewed evidence and research. 🤷‍♀️. Afaik there’s also no requirement for a massage therapist to undertake CPD and keep updated if evidence changes. Sure it would be good practice but how many do.

Another vote for "normal". I thought you were going to say they'd said something horribly ignorant like "is it catching?" (yep I've heard this happen to someone before)

From their perspective, if anything went wrong, the client would be the first to complain.

This is from MacMillan website. No evidence massage spreads disease. If you have active cancer/cancer treatment see a masseuse who specialises in cancer massage, which seems sensible (as a guess so they know which areas to avoid massaging, risks of bone fractures, avoiding certain oils in areas of eg radiation burns etc etc).

edit - I’ve just noticed the bottom of the page starts to list some reasons why it’s advised to see a cancer specialist masseuse during active cancer/treatment.

I don’t doubt you of course. I’ve been in treatment for over 5 years off and on, and nobody has ever so much as mentioned it!

How is it ignorance? They cannot operate without insurance and their insurance needs a doctors letter.

Fair enough. I'm certainly no medic or scientist. But it's my understanding. Probably got the technicalities of it completely wrong from the explanation of my dr/nurse.

It doesn't matter that they're wrong.

It's not them making the decision - it's their insurers.

They cannot operate outside their insurance terms.

This is bananas

I'm sorry about your cancer, but it's not their fault.

They were doing and saying everything right.

It was nothing personal when they rejected you; they were following legal rules, laws, etc.

What if they'd have done it, not told you about their requirements, your cancer came back/got worse, then you could have sued them.

They had to protect themselves as well as you.

This isn't ignorance OP. I trained in massage and you need to have an extra certification to massage people with or have previously had cancer.

Serious question (not a gotcha or something), what would that extra training entail?

It's a good question and looking at some of the responses on this thread, people clearly don't understand that it's not a case of us 'not' wanting to massage. It's that we are not qualified to and that is drummed into us from the start of training. I doubt any masseuse will risk putting their livelihood on the line for this.

We are unable to massage anyone with current/past cancer unless you’ve done extra Oncology Massage training, because cancer and treatments can affect things like the lymphatic system, skin and clot risk so treatments need adapting safely.

Honestly I wish my doctors had warned me about the clot risk. First I knew of it was when my arm swelled up.

Very interesting, thank you. I still think it’s irrelevant after 8 years NED but I can certainly see how important it is for people in active treatment (which I never doubted I have to say).

Very standard I'm afraid. You have two choices, either find a specialised cancer massage place or lie on the form.