Windsor Massage

10/28/2025

Client Safety Alert: Why Your Medications Matter During Massage
Did you know that massage therapy creates strong physiological effects on your body, impacting your circulatory, muscular, and nervous systems? For your safety and best results, we must understand how your current medications interact with bodywork.
We rely on the health information you share during intake to customize your treatment plan, ensuring that our pressure, techniques, and scheduling are safe and appropriate.
Key Medications Requiring Caution:
We modify sessions carefully based on several common drug classes: Blood Thinners (Anticoagulants) such as Warfarin or Heparin greatly increase the risk of bleeding and bruising, requiring us to use gentle pressure and avoid deep tissue work, deep kneading, and muscle stripping. Pain Relievers (Analgesics), including OTC and prescription options, can alter your perception of pressure, meaning you might not feel pain or discomfort clearly, which increases the risk of injury; we encourage clear communication throughout the session to prevent overtreatment. Cardiovascular Agents and Muscle Relaxants (like ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, diuretics, or cyclobenzaprine) can cause dizziness, drowsiness, or a sudden drop in blood pressure (orthostatic hypotension) when you stand up; we take extra precautions by assisting you off the table and using stimulating strokes toward the end of the session to help you feel alert. For Injected or Topical Drugs (e.g., insulin or cortisone shots, transdermal patches, or creams), we always avoid massaging near injection sites or on areas where topical medications have been applied.
Our Professional Boundary
We are dedicated to your well-being, but it is not within a massage therapist's legal scope of practice to give advice about medications, nutrition, supplements, or herbs. We use information about your medications only to safely modify your massage techniques. If you have any concerns about potential adverse reactions, we advise consulting with your physician first. We follow the ethical principle: to help, or at least to do no harm.
Please remember to list all prescription and over-the-counter medications, vitamins, and supplements on your intake form!

10/10/2025

Dear Massage Therapy Instructors and Program Directors,
I’m pleased to share that both of my textbooks are now available for faculty review on VitalSource.
You can explore them at https://sampling.vitalsource.com/ by searching my name, Andrei Kovalevskii, or by entering the ISBN codes below:
- Public Health Essentials for Massage Therapists — 9798298739450
- The Massage Therapist’s Guide to Business Mastery — 9798293530588
Both titles were written specifically for massage therapy education in Ontario and across Canada, fully aligned with CMTO Entry-to-Practice Competencies and emphasizing practical, evidence-based learning for future RMTs.
Previously, instructors had to rely on U.S.-published textbooks to teach the Public Health and Business modules — materials that often failed to reflect our Canadian healthcare system, provincial regulations, and educational standards. These new textbooks fill that gap by providing Canadian-context content tailored to our students and classrooms.
To access complimentary faculty review copies, simply register with VitalSource if you haven’t done so already.
Thank you for your continued dedication to massage therapy education and for helping shape the next generation of massage therapists.
Warm regards, Andrei

VitalSource offers instant access to free digital exam copies for college professors and instructors in higher education.

09/16/2025

Today marks a milestone for our Massage Therapy program at triOS College, Windsor campus. We are hosting the Canadian Massage Therapy Council for Accreditation (CMTCA) team for our accreditation visit.

This process is critical, as it will determine the extension of our accreditation for the next five years. So far, we are proud to be the only accredited Massage Therapy program in Windsor, and we are hopeful to continue holding this distinction.

Starting in 2027, the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO) will only accept applications for RMT registration from graduates of accredited schools. This makes today’s visit even more meaningful—for our students, our college, and the future of the profession in our community.

I am with Faculty Head Brandy John, who is also the President of the Canadian Council of Massage Therapy Schools.

09/09/2025

I created this podcast to explore the roots of stress science with Dr. Hans Selye, the Hungarian-Canadian endocrinologist known as the “father of stress research.” From his 1930s discovery of the General Adaptation Syndrome to his distinction between eustress (good stress) and distress (harmful stress), Selye reshaped how we understand the body’s response to challenge.

Join me as we uncover how short bursts of stress can sharpen focus and build resilience, while chronic stress breaks down health. Discover why Selye’s work—built in Montréal—still shapes medicine, psychology, and workplace wellness today.

08/20/2025

My new textbook — Public Health Essentials for Massage Therapists — is now published!

This is the first textbook of its kind written in Canada for Canadian massage therapists. Until now, we had to rely on American textbooks to teach public health and clinical hygiene. This book is created for the Canadian context and is fully aligned with CMTO entry-to-practice guidelines.

Inside, you’ll find infection control and clinical hygiene practices, Canadian public health systems, professional standards and ethics, real-life case studies, and classroom activities tested in actual teaching environments.

The link to Amazon is in the first comment.

Thank you for your support — I’m proud to finally bring this Canadian resource to our profession!