Street massages, a serious risk to our health
It is not unusual to find them on beaches or tourist sites. These services can be very attractive, both because of their price and convenience. We are referring to street masseurs, people who are dedicated to provide massage services without qualifications and who can seriously compromise our health.
For decades, due to the proliferation of this activity, the College of Physiotherapists of Spain has been warning of the risk associated with the presence of people providing this type of services without any health control in tourist areas of cities and beaches.
However, and despite all warnings and recommendations from experts, the number of people affected with injuries due to the use of these illegal practices is increasing every year.
Apart from musculo-skeletal problems related to the use of these services, there is also the risk of skin infections, given the apparent lack of hygiene in these activities, carried out without clean material for each patient, or of hand sanitizers, not used by these spontaneous and irregular masseurs.
Savings from hiring these services do not compensate when choosing them as an alternative to a real therapeutic massage, which in the most serious cases can cause serious health problems, such as paraplegias.
It should also be remembered that those who practice this type of massage in the street are not health professionals and therefore do not have any liability insurance or any health authorization for such practices. Similarly, they lack training to detect possible underlying diseases and can cause irreparable damage. Therefore, it is an illegal activity persecuted by colleges of health professionals and municipalities.
Hospital Clinica Ochoa has a team of professionals in the Physiotherapy Unit perfectly qualified to deal with musculoskeletal ailments and performing relaxation therapies. These include cinesitherapy, massage therapy, electrotherapy, thermotherapy, cryotherapy or laser therapy.
