Hello Peter,
Here's thoughts from an OT who has worked with massage therapists.  One $75
is expensive for massage therapy in Florida OT and PT are not allowed to do
massage therapy but, we do manual therapy, it looks similar but trust it
works differently and as an OT I use it before or during functional
activities.  There are advantages to different types of massage therapy.  It
won't help active Range of motion of the joints but, it does help with pain
management and keeping the joints moving passively through range of motion.
Not all massage therapists have the training to work with someone with
specific medical conditions.  They get specific extra training and
certification in manual techniques such myofascial release and craniosacral
work and body work.  
They need to be certified and would not be able to work on your daughters
medical condition without a treatment plan from your doctor.  In most states
they are not allowed to make medical decisions without the doctors approval.
I would be very careful about allowing students to massage your daughter
without very close supervision a properly trained massage therapist.  CP
bodies need special attention.  

Beth t the OT

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> On Behalf Of Peter Hunsberger
> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:16 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Massage for 6 year old?
> 
> My wife sees a person for massages every once and while (she has a bad
> back) and I guess they got talking about our six year old 
> daughter who has CP.  Our daughter is confined to a 
> wheelchair most of the day, though she uses a stander and 
> gets some transfers to various other seating equipment at 
> school. The thought is that her muscles must get fairly sore? 
>  They found a person who would give our daughter a massage 
> and our daughter seems to think she would like it.  She likes 
> a lot of hands on PT so I'm guessing that she thinks it might 
> be more of the same...  This is somewhat expensive; $75 / 
> hour, and although we have a special needs trust this is not 
> a good time to be pulling money from it if we don't really need to.
> 
> So, the question for the list is 1) has anyone who has CP had 
> a massage as a child and what did they think? and 2) more 
> generally, has anyone done this for a child or an adult who 
> has CP and was it beneficial in any way or rather just a nice 
> to have experience?
> 
> --
> Peter Hunsberger
> 
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