Oncology Services
Introduction to our Oncology Services
If you have clicked onto this page, then chances are you, or someone close to you has cancer. Often, after diagnosis, cancer patients can feel a bit lost. They need to adjust to the new normal, they need to draw on huge reserves of energy to fight their illness, and they need support from a whole network of people, not just their doctors and nurses.
How Personal Best can help
Soft Tissue Therapy
I do not offer any form of treatment for cancer. However, research has shown that the right kinds of soft tissue therapy can have huge benefits for patients undergoing traditional medical treatment, and after treatment, assisting in returning to normal life.
Some of the benefits of massage therapy for Oncology patients include:
• Increased sense of relaxation and wellbeing
• Decreased stress
• Improved sleep
• Can decrease symptoms caused by medical treatments
• Relieves muscle and joint pain and stiffness
• Improves movement in the joints and muscles
• Improves digestion and lymphatic flow
• Enables exercise and movement more easily
• Can shorten hospital stays
• Increased alertness and mental clarity
• Stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system
• Faster wound healing and decreased scar tissue formation
• Decreases anxiety and depression
• Can lead to improved body image and overcome touch deprivation
Contrary to many previous held beliefs, massage and soft tissue therapy does not spread cancer cells.
However, it is important, if you have cancer, to ensure that any soft tissue therapist you go to has the appropriate qualifications and experience to work with you. They need to be aware of modifications to treatments, to ensure the body isn’t overloaded.
If you have experienced deep tissue massage prior to diagnosis, please don’t expect massage to be the same. The body cannot handle deep pressure or over-stimulation. It already has enough to cope with. Massage should be aimed towards achieving a calming effect for the body, stimulating relaxation and the parasympathetic nervous system, so that the body’s resources can be directed towards fighting the cancer and restoring normal function.
Some of the benefits of massage therapy for Oncology patients include:
• Increased sense of relaxation and wellbeing
• Decreased stress
• Improved sleep
• Can decrease symptoms caused by medical treatments
• Relieves muscle and joint pain and stiffness
• Improves movement in the joints and muscles
• Improves digestion and lymphatic flow
• Enables exercise and movement more easily
• Can shorten hospital stays
• Increased alertness and mental clarity
• Stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system
• Faster wound healing and decreased scar tissue formation
• Decreases anxiety and depression
• Can lead to improved body image and overcome touch deprivation
Contrary to many previous held beliefs, massage and soft tissue therapy does not spread cancer cells.
However, it is important, if you have cancer, to ensure that any soft tissue therapist you go to has the appropriate qualifications and experience to work with you. They need to be aware of modifications to treatments, to ensure the body isn’t overloaded.
If you have experienced deep tissue massage prior to diagnosis, please don’t expect massage to be the same. The body cannot handle deep pressure or over-stimulation. It already has enough to cope with. Massage should be aimed towards achieving a calming effect for the body, stimulating relaxation and the parasympathetic nervous system, so that the body’s resources can be directed towards fighting the cancer and restoring normal function.
Nutrition Coaching
As a nutrition coach I can offer support in developing healthy eating habits which will in turn support your body through treatment. I am not a dietitian or nutritional therapist, so I cannot prescribe diets for cancer patients. However, many people struggle to adopt the advice their nutritionist gives them. I can help you nurture good habits, to increase nutritional intake, without taxing the body even further.
Sometimes, having someone there to hold you accountable for your new eating habits is enough to encourage you to continue doing what you may find difficult, such as giving up alcohol or sugar, or eating less processed or fatty foods. Your dietician is often busy with a large cohort of patients, so cannot always dedicate the time to coaching you on a 1:1 basis. I can offer a coaching program that suits you, and give you as much time as you need to discuss your habits in more depth and find some achievable solutions to the things you really struggle with.
Each program is totally individual, tailored to your requirements, so there is no one size fits all program or price. Please give me a call to discuss what you need, and I will tell you if and how I can help.
Sometimes, having someone there to hold you accountable for your new eating habits is enough to encourage you to continue doing what you may find difficult, such as giving up alcohol or sugar, or eating less processed or fatty foods. Your dietician is often busy with a large cohort of patients, so cannot always dedicate the time to coaching you on a 1:1 basis. I can offer a coaching program that suits you, and give you as much time as you need to discuss your habits in more depth and find some achievable solutions to the things you really struggle with.
Each program is totally individual, tailored to your requirements, so there is no one size fits all program or price. Please give me a call to discuss what you need, and I will tell you if and how I can help.
Movement Therapy
After a cancer diagnosis, many patients report not knowing their own body anymore. Knowing what is a safe level of exercise can be tricky to judge, especially if you have previously been fit and active. It can be a delicate juggling act of staying active, but allowing the body sufficient time for rest and recovery.
As a movement coach, I can help with exercise programming that is safe, and tailored to your individual needs. I can work with you to develop a regime that supports your recovery, whilst helping you to retain as much strength as possible through treatment. I can also help you post treatment, to nurture yourself back to fitness, get you back to sport, and achieve the goals you may have needed to put to one side for a while, whilst you recovered from cancer.
Like nutrition programming, each client is individual and has different goals and needs, so please contact me for a discussion on how I can help you get back to your Personal Best Life.
As a movement coach, I can help with exercise programming that is safe, and tailored to your individual needs. I can work with you to develop a regime that supports your recovery, whilst helping you to retain as much strength as possible through treatment. I can also help you post treatment, to nurture yourself back to fitness, get you back to sport, and achieve the goals you may have needed to put to one side for a while, whilst you recovered from cancer.
Like nutrition programming, each client is individual and has different goals and needs, so please contact me for a discussion on how I can help you get back to your Personal Best Life.
Meet Our Therapist
Tamsin Philp – Sports and Soft Tissue Therapist, Pilates and Exercise Instructor, Nutrition Coach.