Therapeutic Massage, Acupuncture During COVID-19

By Crystal Kaplan, LMT, BCST

The Teal Center

. http://www.tealcenter.com

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Therapeutic Massage, Acupuncture During COVID-19

Local providers are grateful to be able to provide healing and support to the Northern Virginia community during these challenging times. Practitioners are seeing many people coming in with higher levels of anxiety and increased body pain. We have also witnessed an increase in the number of people who are curious about healing, not just their physical body, but also their emotional and mental bodies. Through energy medicine, massage and acupuncture, healing can be accessed and supported at all levels of our being. 

Local massage and acupuncture offices that re-opened in late June had a heavy decision to make. The risks and benefits had to be weighed with a close eye to the rolling average infection rate, the testing positivity rate in Northern Virginia and the hospital vacancy rate. In the end, offices cautiously reopened after implementing precautionary measures, which are detailed below. 

Even with precautions, people with compromised health conditions, such as heart or lung disease, diabetes, or any immune-deficiency disorder, are not encouraged to schedule an in-person session. 

To keep our staff and clients safe, the following precautions have been implemented:

• Everyone – staff and clients – wear face masks 100% of the time when in the suite.
• Pre-screening of all clients for a variety of risk factors, including travel, contact with COVID-19, symptoms of illness, and participating in group events. Anyone who does not meet these health requirements will be rescheduled.
• Everyone – staff and clients – have their temperature taken and wash hands upon arrival. 
• The number of practitioners working at the same time has been limited and front desk staff are working offsite.
• The break time between sessions has been increased to allow for full disinfecting of the room in between clients.
• Hospital-grade disinfectant is being used on all surfaces touched by therapist and client after each session
• HEPA air filters are being used in each room and opening windows during and/or in-between sessions based on the client’s and therapist’s preference.