L i s te n to T h e A B M P Po d c a s t a t a b m p.co m /p o d c a s t s o r w h e reve r yo u a cce s s yo u r favo r i te p o d c a s t s 75
MASSAGE THERAPY FOR
CLIENTS WITH CLD/PTLDS
Where does all this leave us and our clients
whose lives have been disrupted by illness—
whether it is chronic Lyme disease or not?
It leaves us (and them) largely in the dark
about specific circumstances—we can't
know if our client with fatigue, chronic
pain, and brain fog has a long-term, hard-
to-treat bacterial infection, chronic fatigue
syndrome, or something else entirely. The
medical community is deeply divided,
and the health-care infrastructure cannot
accommodate for the unknowns in this
situation. Our clients may feel disrespected
and abandoned by conventional therapeutic
approaches, gaslighted by doctors who
don't believe their suffering is real, or
preyed upon by unscrupulous purveyors of
untested and possibly dangerous treatments.
The role of the massage therapist in
this situation is to identify potential risks
and benefits and then to design a session
that maximizes benefits and minimizes or
eliminates risks related to bodywork. It
sounds simple, but in a situation where so
much is unknown, it can be an intimidating
process. To guide us along this path, I will
fall back on the critical thinking steps I
outlined in the May/June 2021 edition of
Massage & Bodywork ("Critical Thinking,"
page 54).
1. What Is the Question/Challenge/Goal?
Let us propose that your client with self-
identified or diagnosed CLD wants simply
to relax and feel less pain for the time they
are on your table. If that relief from pain
and fatigue lasts for a few hours, so much
the better. But their main priority is to step
away from their constant sense of frailty,
just for a while, so that is our main goal.
Resources
BBC. "Long-Term Lyme Disease 'Actually Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.'" BBC News
(October 10, 2019). www.bbc.com/news/health-49998344.
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Analysis of Reported Symptoms." International Journal of Epidemiology 34, no. 6
(December 2005): 1340–45. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyi129.
Campos, Marcelo. "Lyme Disease: Resolving the 'Lyme Wars,'" Harvard Health
Blog. June 18, 2018. www.health.harvard.edu/blog/lyme-disease-resolving-the-
lyme-wars-2018061814071.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Lyme Disease." Last reviewed
January 19, 2022. www.cdc.gov/lyme/index.html.
Contagion Editorial Staff. "Is There a Link Between Lyme Disease and Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome?" Contagion Live. Filmed July 9, 2018. www.contagionlive.com/
view/is-there-a-link-between-lyme-disease-and-chronic-fatigue-syndrome.
Degnan, Carolyn. "'Gaslighting' by Some Doctors Can Undermine the Chronically
Ill." LymeDisease.org. October 15, 2020. www.lymedisease.org/gaslighting-
undermine-patients.
Dennis, Lori. "The Gaslighting of Chronic Lyme Patients Has to Stop." The Mighty.
January 9, 2017. www.themighty.com/2017/01/chronic-lyme-disease-gaslighting.
Gaudino, Elizabeth A., Patricia K. Coyle, and Lauren B. Krupp. "Post-Lyme
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Hsu, Mayla. "What is PTLDS?" Open Medicine Foundation. Accessed May 11, 2022.
www.omf.ngo/what-is-lyme-disease.
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society. "Controversies and
Challenges in Treating Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases." Accessed May 11, 2022.
www.ilads.org/research-literature/controversies-challenges.
Kamat, Pavankumar. "Lyme Disease Tied to a Higher Risk of Fatigue." Medscape.
April 4, 2022. www.medscape.com/viewarticle/971496.
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Syndrome: Need for Diagnosis and Treatment." Cureus 13, no. 10 (October 2021):
e18703. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.18703.
Marzec, Natalie S. et al. "Serious Bacterial Infections Acquired During Treatment
of Patients Given a Diagnosis of Chronic Lyme Disease—United States." Morbidity
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mmwr.mm6623a3.
Meyerhoff, John O. "Lyme Disease: Practice Essentials, Background, Etiology."
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Last reviewed November 21, 2018. www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/chronic-
lyme-disease.
Shor, Samuel et al. "Chronic Lyme Disease: An Evidence-Based Definition by
the ILADS Working Group." Antibiotics 8, no. 4 (December 2019): 269. https://doi.
org/10.3390/antibiotics8040269.
Van Hout, Marie Claire. "The Controversies, Challenges, and Complexities of Lyme
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(November 2018): 429–36. https://doi.org/10.18433/jpps30254.
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Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome and Chronic Lyme Disease for the Practicing
Immunologist." Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology 62, no. 1 (October 2021):
264–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12016-021-08906-w.
PATHOLOGY PERSPECTIVES
