Cautions

Generally speaking, if you are healthy enough to exercise, you are healthy enough to get a massage.

If you are in the midst of a cold, flu, or other infectious condition, you should reschedule your appointment and stay home and rest, however. Because Swedish massage impacts the circulatory and lymph systems, it would likely end up making you feel even sicker if you got a massage. (On the other hand, massage after the cold has passed, especially lymphatic massage, can help you push past the lingering aftereffects of the cold.)

If you have a heart, kidney or liver condition, a Swedish massage may be too much stress on your system. A very light energy-balancing massage may be as much as you want in this situation. Check with your doctor.

Sometimes with long-term chronic pain conditions or fibromyalgia, if you are not already habituated to frequent bodywork sessions, the first sessions sometimes aggravate the pain: even though relief occurs during the session, a day or two later it can be worse. This does not always happen, but it is something to be aware of, that it can happen. This response seems to be temporary, and when the flare has subsided, overall improvement has occurred. Sometimes, enough cellular metabolic wastes are released into the system that it becomes overwhelmed trying to process them, leading to a "hangover" very similar in feel to an alcohol hangover. Preventing dehydration helps avoid a hangover, as does working in shorter sessions and trying to accomplish less tissue change in any single session. If you have a history of flareups from other activities, it can be a good idea to prepare the body with sessions of lymph drainage massage first before pursuing deeper modalities.

The following articles provide good detailed information:

Contraindications in bodywork? Ask a Therapist by Ruth Werner, author of a standard pathology textbook used in massage schools (massagetherapy.com)

Contraindications to deep bodywork by Robert Schleip in collaboration with Til Luchau and John Schewe (Advanced Bodywork & Massage Trainings)

Sports Massage - Contraindications (Sports Injury Clinic)

Allergies

Be sure and let me know if you are allergic to nuts, as some of the lotions I use include almond, pecan and kukui nut oils in their blend. I do keep on hand hypoallergenic products that I can use. These are blended from apricot, sesame, grapeseed, canola and coconut oil.