Treatment Of Rheumatism - Massage |
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The one big difference in the mild attack is that massage doe help quite often and certainly doer no harm. Massage is not magic: it just means rubbing gently at first and later, if it does not hurt, more vigorously.
What shall I rub in?There are 3 smelly favorites - wintergreen, capsicum and a group of simple compounds which include turpentine and menthol.
It would be difficult to have a proper trial of liniments, embrocations and other things to be rubbed in, because you could never keep from the patient the knowledge of what was being used: he would smell it! As is usual when there are so many things which are claimed to be best for a certain job, the truth is that there is little to choose between them. This is borne out by the work of the professionals, whose chief weapon is rubbing, with just enough powder or, on sweaty athletes, enough oil, to stop them sticking to their patients.
The rubbing is usually done across the fibers of the muscles and ligaments; roughly speaking this means going round limb joints, across the bottom of the back, up and down the upper part of the back and chest and over the top of the shoulders. Going a different way does no harm but is usually less effective.
Who is going to do it? Ideally it should be someone trained to give massage but these valuable people are far too scarce and their skill is best used on those with unusual troubles or those who must be restored to full activity extra quickly. The patient? No! The contortions necessary to rub any rheumatic place properly are so complicated that they are tiring and ineffective, except perhaps in the case of knees and ankles. The best plan is to find a friend or relation, arrange things so that both of you are comfortable and get him to rub the aching parts until he is tired: professional have learnt how to give massage without wearing themselves out, but it is surprising how soon most other people flag.
If you cannot find someone to massage you, you may get some comfort from one of the many balms, creams, plasters, poultices and so on that are sold, not to be rubbed in but just applied to the surface. The mere fact of having something to do for the rheumatism often brings peace of mind and the bodily relaxation which goes with it, even if the substances applied have no direct effect at all. This sort of application, whether advertised twice nightly on television or quietly handed down from father to son in a chemist's shop, contains one of the things that make the skin feel warm: these are known as counter-irritants because, so the story goes, they provide an irritation to counter the effect of the main irritation.
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