This page is designed to serve as a guide only. As there are many potential contraindications, we have chosen to list the most common. There are two types of contraindications, local (confined to the local area of the body) and systemic (affecting the entire body and often-times requiring medical clearance).

  • Previous heart attacks-requires doctor’s clearance
  • Fibromyalgia-avoid during acute flare-up’s where even moderate touch can be painful
  • Lupus-avoid during flare-ups
  • Broken bone-local contraindication except for embolism risk
  • Any history or risk of embolism or clot-absolutely contraindicated
  • First trimester of pregnancy-seek doctor’s approval first
  • Stroke-seek doctor’s clearance first
  • Varicose veins-if they are visibly protruding from the skin-locally contraindicated
  • Pneumothorax-requires doctor’s clearance
  • Flu-best to reschedule, especially important if you have a fever
  • Any infectious disease such as athlete’s foot-locally contraindicated
  • Cancer-may require oncologist’s approval depending on course of treatment, especially for radiation or chemotherapy