Ayurvedic massage after surgery

[mohan80]

Hi,
Am 30. I need to undergo ayurvedic oil massage (Abhyanga  & Pizhichil) for Arthritis..  

’Pizhichil’ literally means ‘squeezing’. Here, warm medicated oil is squeezed over the patient’s body from a piece of cloth that is periodically dipped in a vessel containing the oi

Abhyanga – The entire body is massaged with specific herbal oils that revitalizes the body tissues (dhatus) and removes the toxins from the body
Unfortunately am not able to post the web site links where you can get more info on them.
If you google these names, you will find more details about them

Should I have these massages and then have surgery? or should I have surgery first and then go for massages?

If I go for surgery first, when would it be advisable to have this kind of massages after surgery?

Thanks a ton,
Mohan

[Litlriki]

Mohan,

You don't comment on how frequently you require the massage.  You won't want to have your chest massaged too vigorously for a period of time after the surgery, in part because it would be very uncomfortable.  For that reason, you should allow a couple of weeks after the procedure before you resume vigorous massage of the chest area. You could have other parts of the body massaged sooner.

Rick Silverman

[mohan80]

Thanks a lot Dr.Rick for your reply.
I would definitely give 2 weeks gap after surgery for the massage therapy.

About the massage therapy, it's usually done an hour a day (continuously) for 3 to 4 weeks. Since it's a whole body massage, the focus won't be just on chest.
I can ask them not to massage the chest.. however in some of the ayurvedic treatments, they would just do fomentation using some bundles dipped in hot oils..
these ayurvedic treatments are usually intended to relax the stiff muscles..
my worry's more about the skin elasticity..
chest skin is supposed to shrink after surgery, I am wondering if these treatments could delay the shrinking of skin or cause any other adverse effects..

[Litlriki]

You should probably ask your therapist about this, since he or she likely knows what is in the oils, and whether the ingredients might affect your skin.

RS

[mohan80]

Thanks Dr Rick for your reply. I am more worried about the warmness of the oil. As I earlier mentioned that lukewarm medicated oil is squeezed over the patient’s body in one particular treatment..  basically they heat up the oil to some extent before they pour it.. so the oil would be a little hot.. so can that delay the shrinking of skin or can it have any other effects?

[Litlriki]

I can't imagine that it would have any greater an effect than a hot shower...

RS

[mohan80]

Yes. I agree probably it would not have any greater an effect than a hot shower.
my question is whether the heat can affect or delay the shrinking of the skin?

[Litlriki]

Not the sort of heat that you could tolerate, and higher heat (such as with laser) could theoretically help with skin tightening (as with laser-assisted liposuction technology).

RS