Massage Therapy Journal Summer 2026

Summer 2026 • 31

AMTA Continuing Education Learn more about the benefits massage therapy offers clients managing rheumatoid arthritis and what you need to know to effectively work with these clients. By Julie Goodwin, LMT W hat does it feel like to be diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)? The most powerful description I know of comes from RA patient and blogger Eileen Davidson: “I became a full-fledged member of a club I didn’t know existed and didn’t want to join: the world of people living with chronic inflammatory illness. This world means adjusting to medication after medication. It involves figuring out if what you feel is a side effect of your treatment versus a symptom of your disease or a comorbidity that comes with it. It includes hours in waiting rooms and appointments with health care professionals and specialists I’d never heard of before … Basically, it’s like running a marathon with the flu while in an existential crisis.” 1

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