By Daniel Melmed, Owner & Founder.
When I explain to people that I operate a mobile massage service what probably comes to mind for most people is something similar to what you might see in a spa treatment room.
In other words, people imagine a basic spa style relaxing Swedish massage. Perhaps even something more along the lines of a deep tissue therapeutic massage.
While we do provide these kinds of services every day, we also provide much more advanced and specific types of therapies, including what we often described as “medical massage”. In these cases we are usually helping someone with a specific type of condition or injury.
Many of our clients who find the most benefit from receiving a mobile massage service are those who have difficulty leaving home, or even their bed.
Over the years we have had experience working with people with all kinds of serious and debilitating conditions, from traumatic brain injury (TBI), to individuals with cerebral palsy, those afflicted with dementia, and various other kinds of disabilities.
Usually these individuals are under the care of a family member, legal guardian, or other caregiver either in their own home or in an assisted living facility.
For these clients, leaving to go to the physical therapist or doctor’s office, or a massage clinic, is not a realistic option.
Therefore, the fact that we can provide a highly professional and specialized mobile massage service is incredibly beneficial to these types of patients.
Most massage therapists get into the business to begin with because they feel a calling to help people.
Often the benefits of our work as massage therapists are no more evident than in those who need our help the most.
Working with individuals such as those mentioned above can be very challenging and is not something that all massage therapists, to be frank, are interested in providing.
However for those others who do feel this calling to help people no matter what their condition, it can be some of the most rewarding therapy that we can perform as therapists and licensed healthcare professionals.
I only wish that all of these afflicted individuals could have their therapy covered by insurance, however, except for some injury types of situations including automobile accidents, and workman’s compensation claims, most of these conditions and the insurance policies that are covering medical expenses will not reimburse for the massage therapy.
Usually only those who are fortunate enough to have the means to pay out-of-pocket for these mobile massage services will ultimately be able to take advantage of the services we provide and the benefits that they confer.
I can’t count how many times I have had people explain to me that certain procedures and therapies that are covered by their insurance do not come close to helping as much as the hands-on work that we do as massage therapists.
There are countless Home Health Agencies that accept insurance for all kinds of conditions, but massage is not one of them.
For those who suffer from any variety of musculoskeletal problems, there may be nothing that provides as tangible and immediate a benefit as therapeutic massage.
One can only hope that as time goes by, our healthcare system will evolve and provide more recognition and reimbursement for therapeutic mobile massage services, especially for those individuals who are home bound and have a few if any other options available to help them in a truly profound and significant way.
