08/29/2020
Covid-19 and Pathological Blood-Clotting
Good information for massage therapists and clients. Clients take note of the three questions at the end. If you answer no to #1 or yes to #2 and #3, please do not schedule a massage until you are cleared for your own health and well-being. Also, if you’re experiencing any of the multitude of COVID-19 symptoms please do not schedule a massage. If you’ve tested positive for COVID-19 please do not come in until you’re all clear and let your therapist know that you’ve had a positive test so any necessary precautions can be taken.
Ruth Werner, the author of A Massage Therapists Guide to Pathology, published an excellent article in the July/August issue of Massage and Bodywork Magazine that I want to alert you to. To cut to the chase, Coronavirus sufferers can develop uncontrolled blood clotting (aka Covid-19 Related Coagulopathy). The clots can be small enough to block capillaries and “large enough to cause heart attacks, strokes, and pulmonary embolism” and both sizes of clots can occur in the same person at the same time. All this clotting can lead to multi-organ failure and autopsies reveal that this is the cause of death in 30-40% of those afflicted.
Because of the risk of infection from our clients (and to give them a heads up that they may need to test for Covid-19) it’s wise to screen them for this problem. To that end Werner suggests we add three questions to the Covid-19 section of our client intake form:
1. Can you exercise to get your heart rate and respiratory rate up without any problem? (This would indicate whether their cardiopulmonary function is unimpaired.)
2. Have you had a new onset of muscle aches and pains since the emergence of the virus? (This is a possible early sign of coagulopathy, and a reason to defer treatment until the person has been tested and cleared for coagulopathy risk.)
3. Have you seen any new marks, rashes, spots, bumps, or other lesions on your skin? (This indicates the possibility of micro-vascular clotting, and is reason to defer treatment until the person has been tested and cleared of coagulopathy risk.)