Twenty French hospitals now train caregivers, but also parents to give massages to children with cancer.
This Saturday, February 15 marks International Childhood Cancer Day. For the past few months, around twenty French hospitals have been training in practices to relieve the little sick. “Magic massages”, initiated by the La Roche-Posay Foundation (in partnership with Childhood Cancer International) and intended to use touch to reconnect. The little snail, the swing, the heart on your hand… Here are the names of these massages that meet a demand. Indeed, according to a study conducted by the La Roche-Posay Foundation, 68% of parents of children with cancer express a need for help to communicate and come into physical contact with him.
Massages in the form of a board game
These “magical massages” are actually the result of a board game imagined by seven health professionals (two nurses, a socio-esthetician, a childcare worker, a dancer, a physical therapist and a physiotherapist) who have pooled their skills. The gestures proposed can be carried out by hospital caregivers, but also by parents at home. “Many scientific publications show that regular massage can help limit pain and relieve side effects during cancer“, assures Perrine Marec Berard, pediatrician and oncologist at the Institute of Hematology and Pediatric Oncology (IHOPe), in Lyon. These gestures can also help the child to fall asleep the day before a chemotherapy session, for example.
Precautions to take
In all, the professionals imagined 25 gestures. The patient chooses the duration of the massage, the parts of the body to be touched and the gestures to be performed. A way for the little patient to take pleasure in deciding, at a time when he only has to undergo the course of care. However, some precautions should be taken with a child with cancer. Never touch the tumor area, any scars or where the catheter is located. Gestures should be gentle. The massage should not be based on pressure, but rather on effleurage. Today, this practice interests Russian, American and Brazilian pediatric structures. The proof of the growing interest, by hospitals, for non-drug techniques. Today, the game is available for free online.
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