Why can't I get a massage if I have a sunburn?

With warm summer days come fun summer activities that are often outdoors. Swimming, picnics, long lazy days lying on the beach make you forget about the depression and darkness of the winter and make you just want to do everything outside. Unfortunately with the fresh air, long days, and heat comes on thing that isn't welcome as a result of these outdoor warm-weather activities: sunburns.

While you can get a sunburn year-round, they are more prevalent in the summer because of the extra time spent outdoors and the sun's stronger intensity during this season.

Sunburns can be painful and annoying, but when it comes to massage, they are a straight-up problem. A sunburn is actually a contraindication for massage, which means that massage should not be done because the massage can do more harm than good. It often causes some tension between therapists and clients when someone can'lt receive their expected treatment due to something so common. The solution is not as simple as "just do the massge with aloe or a soothing lotion that will make it feel better and heal faster." While there are spa treatments formulated to ease sunburn pain, massage is not usually one of them.

So what's the big deal?

A sunburn is technically and by definition a type of radiation burn. Therefore it is an injury to the skin. Several layers of skin tissue have been damaged by the UV radiation of the sun, leaving it inflamed, painful, and in need of time and ability to heal. Sunburns range in intensity from a little pink and barely noticable to extremely red with blisters and peeling skin. When skin is injured, whether from a burn or other injury, it heals from the inside-out. The deeper layers heal before the top visible layers which requires more vigilance to not get in the way of healing.

Massage can very much interfere with the skin's ability to heal from a sunburn:

• Sunburn can be painful, so the rubbing of the skin and manipulation of the muscles can cause additional pain.

• If skin is in the process of healing, rubbing and handling of the skin can break apart and break down the layers of newly formed healed skin.

• Massage brings more circulation and blood flow to an area being worked on. This can make the swelling and inflammation of a sunburned area worse.

• If the skin is blistered or peeling, it counts as an open wound, which is an additional contraindication for massage. Massage over open wounds create the risk of infection and making the injury worse, as well as possibly exposing the therapist to disease.

Fortunately, a sunburn is considered a "localized contraindication" which means if you have a sunburn on your shoulder, you can still get a massage on your legs, back, and any areas that aren't sunburned. So even though massage can't be done over a sunburned area, it doesn't mean massage is completely off the table, it will just need to be adjusted. The therapist may advise against any massage at all if the sunburn is very severe, covers a very large part of the body, or is causing a fever or other symptoms. The therapist can identify and advise if massage can be worked around a sunburned area or if it needs to wait until it heals so the massage doesn't cause additional problems.