Ellen Vliet Cohen
Therapeutic Massage
If you have arrived at this website during the COVID-19 pandemic, you won’t be surprised to learn that my practice is suspended indefinitely. Recent research has shown that the best way to catch the virus is by prolonged (greater than 15 minutes) close contact and sharing of the same air in enclosed spaces. That pretty much describes massage.
I am deeply sorry that I cannot provide caring, healing touch at this time when relaxation and restoration are so desperately needed by so many.
Guidelines are currently under development for the safest way to give massage without transmitting this extremely contagious disease. The recommendations are extensive and rigorous. Partly due to the fact that I practice out of my home, it would be difficult if not impossible for my family and me to successfully comply with the present guidelines.
Eventually, when the current crisis simmers down a bit, massage will become a negotiation of risk between each practitioner and client. Is the client willing to accept the possibility that getting a massage will make them sick, given their age, health status, other activities, and risk tolerance? And, how much risk is the therapist willing to take that practicing massage will facilitate the spread of a contagious and sometimes fatal respiratory illness?
By the time Massachusetts shut down nonessential businesses in mid-March 2020, I was already in a panic that I might have unknowingly infected all of my clients. Walking that tightrope of risk is not something I am willing to do again for quite some time.
To be honest, as of now, my professional towel is up in the air. It’s not clear whether it will land back in my hands, or in the ring of defeat. In the meantime, please take comfort in knowing that there will be a day again when it will feel less risky to lie on a table for an hour and get a massage. And when that day comes, there will be plenty of massage therapists ready to welcome you with loving hands again.
I am deeply sorry that I cannot provide caring, healing touch at this time when relaxation and restoration are so desperately needed by so many.
Guidelines are currently under development for the safest way to give massage without transmitting this extremely contagious disease. The recommendations are extensive and rigorous. Partly due to the fact that I practice out of my home, it would be difficult if not impossible for my family and me to successfully comply with the present guidelines.
Eventually, when the current crisis simmers down a bit, massage will become a negotiation of risk between each practitioner and client. Is the client willing to accept the possibility that getting a massage will make them sick, given their age, health status, other activities, and risk tolerance? And, how much risk is the therapist willing to take that practicing massage will facilitate the spread of a contagious and sometimes fatal respiratory illness?
By the time Massachusetts shut down nonessential businesses in mid-March 2020, I was already in a panic that I might have unknowingly infected all of my clients. Walking that tightrope of risk is not something I am willing to do again for quite some time.
To be honest, as of now, my professional towel is up in the air. It’s not clear whether it will land back in my hands, or in the ring of defeat. In the meantime, please take comfort in knowing that there will be a day again when it will feel less risky to lie on a table for an hour and get a massage. And when that day comes, there will be plenty of massage therapists ready to welcome you with loving hands again.