Is your massage therapy establishment, spa or medical practice prepared for the next airborne pandemic?

We know now that COVID-19 was airborne, spread through droplets, aerosol and through contaminated surfaces.  So, the best course of action to protect yourself from this airborne contagion was to avoid others who could be infected.  We called this social distancing, where the virtual workplace became prevalent, and physical hands-on practices like hands-on medical treatment, massage therapy and spa services were not included.  These hands-on client practices were practically abandoned if you wanted to truly keep yourself safe.

There were many things that could be done to create a safe work environment, through improving your air quality at work, where outdoor workspace might be considered the best option of all.  The best, safest and most reasonably available overall air quality during an airborne pandemic (that we know of to date in this highly evolving time), can be achieved by practicing your hands-on services, where there is an unlimited amount of air ventilation.  Outdoor practice allows infected individuals to exhale their contaminants into unlimited amounts of air, which will disperse the contagions and lessen the viral load exposure to others in the area.

A cabana, rooftop, balcony or working underneath an outdoor trellis could be a better option than most indoor treatment rooms during an airborne viral pandemic. To achieve outdoor workspace for spa, massage and medical practice, you should ensure that your treatment space has privacy and is protected from direct sunlight to avoid sunburn. Use outdoor fans to cool yourself and your client if needed. When setting up fans, you would want to make sure that the air or wind is not blowing directly onto you. 

The next picture is an example of an existing trellis at the Michelin Star Relais Christine Hotel in Paris, France.  It is unfortunately at the entrance of the hotel in public view of all the hotel guests; however, this is an excellent example of creating outdoor treatment space to use during an airborne contagion concern.  Growing additional plant material including vines could help reduce the visible exposure of the spa or massage therapy treatment that could be provided inside of it.

The trellis in the back of the picture shown below would be a more ideal position for a spa station, medical treatment or massage table to protect yourself and your client from the sun and other natural disruptions such as birds doing their business, etc.  Planting natural climbing vines and plants along the trellis will take time to grow, so it would be best to start preparing any available workspace you have for this outdoor practice option.

Massage therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other rehabilitative professions should start preparing plans now. Think about how would you work in another airborne pandemic? 

In this video below, we’ll show a trellis that's already setup in England that could support outdoor massage, spa and medical practice where it would likely be safer from airborne contaminants than attempting to practice inside where air quality would likely be poorer. If you have available or similar space to this, it's time to plan on how you would or could use it to create safer practices for all.