Silver Age Health | Massage Care for Bedridden Elderly

Elderly people who are often bedridden cannot exercise on their own. In order to avoid symptoms such as muscle disuse atrophy and bedsores, they should be given passive limb exercises. Massage care can effectively help the elderly stimulate blood circulation, relieve muscle and joint pain, and eliminate fatigue. Next, let's learn how to properly perform massage care for bedridden elderly people.

| Cleans and moisturizes the skin

1. Before massage, you should help the elderly clean the local skin and use appropriate lubricants.

2. You can use baby oil, olive oil or essential oil to massage the whole body.

3. You can use baby oil or lotion to massage your hands, legs, and feet; you can use a more moisturizing lotion to massage your face. Most massage fluids contain fatty acids, including linoleic acid and linolenic acid, which are essential to the human body. They can relieve the pressure and friction on the skin caused by long-term bed rest. When massaging, rub your hands together to warm them up before massaging.

| Head massage

There are many meridians and nerve endings on the scalp. Massaging the scalp can dredge the meridians, relax the nerves, and make the elderly feel comfortable and happy. It should be noted that the massage area should be the scalp, not the hair, so that the fingers can touch the scalp. Do not use too much force when massaging to avoid scratching the scalp. If the scalp is cracked or inflamed, do not do scalp massage to avoid worsening the condition.

1. Place the fingertips of both hands on the hairline behind the elderly's ears, and gently scratch the scalp with the fingertips with the smallest amplitude and move upward to the top of the head. 2. Comb and scratch the head. Spread the five fingers of both hands on both sides of the head, and comb and scratch the scalp from front to back and from outside to inside like combing hair. 3. Place the fingertips on the back of the elderly's head, and then slowly move upward from the hairline in the center of the top to the top of the head.

| Facial Massage

1. Dry face washing: Rub your palms together, and after rubbing them warm, rub your face repeatedly like washing your face, first clockwise, then counterclockwise, until your face becomes warm.

2. Rub the auricle. "The ear is the orifice of the kidney", the kidney opens to the ear, and the ear is where the six yang meridians converge. Rub the auricle 60 times each morning and evening until the ear becomes hot and has a burning sensation. It has the function of preventing and treating deafness, tinnitus and ear-related diseases (it is forbidden for those with ear diseases or suppurative otitis media).

3. Rub the eye sockets. Place the thumbs of both hands on the temples on both sides, and the index fingers on the eye sockets, and rub the eye sockets repeatedly from the inside to the outside, first up and then down.

4. Rub the temples. Place the thumbs of both hands on the temples on both sides and massage them repeatedly, first clockwise and then counterclockwise.

5. Rub the root of the nose. Place your thumbs or index fingers on both sides of the root of the nose and rub them up and down repeatedly.

| Neck and Shoulder Massage

1. Rub your neck. Rub your palms together to warm them up, then place them on the back of your neck and rub them back and forth until the skin on your neck becomes warm.

2. Knead and lift the shoulder. Place one hand on the opposite shoulder, with the thumb in front and the other four fingers behind, and knead and lift the shoulder muscles repeatedly. Alternate between the two sides.

| Back and lumbar massage

1. Place your hands on both sides of the elderly's lumbar spine, and slowly push from the bottom to the bottom of the neck to the top of the shoulder blades, then push to the shoulders, and then push back to the original position along both sides of the back. Repeat several times until the back is evenly coated with lubricating oil and feels warm. Keep the room temperature during massage.

2. Cover your waist with both palms, push outwards from both sides of the spine, starting from the waist and moving upward to the shoulders.

3. Start from the lumbar region, rub the skin with your palms in opposite directions alternately, along the spine up to the neck and shoulders, then back to the lumbar region, rubbing the entire back. Both hands should be closely followed so that the contact between the hands and the body is not interrupted, then change the palms into fists and repeatedly beat the waist. Massaging the back can prevent pneumonia.

▏Abdominal massage

1. The caregiver rubs his palms together to warm them up, places them on the elderly person's abdomen and presses down gently, kneading repeatedly from small to large, in a clockwise direction.

2. Massaging the abdomen every day can promote rhythmic contraction of the elderly's intestines, reduce intestinal water reabsorption, soften the stool and allow it to be discharged smoothly, reducing constipation.

▏ Limb Massage

1. When massaging the hands, the caregiver should rub the elderly person's hands from the fingertips toward the shoulders, and rub the palms with both hands.

2. Knead the arm. Place one hand on the opposite arm and knead it up and down repeatedly, first the inside and then the outside, alternating sides.

3. Knead the calf. Place one calf on the opposite thigh, with the thumbs of both hands facing inward and the limbs facing outward, knead up and down repeatedly, alternating between the two sides.

4. Shake the ankle. Place one calf on the opposite thigh, place one hand on the Achilles tendon, and knead it repeatedly; with the other hand, grasp the front of the foot, and rotate the ankle joint clockwise first, then counterclockwise. Alternate between the two sides.

5. Knead the feet. Use the thumb to massage the toes, middle and lower parts of the feet of the elderly every night before going to bed. There are reflex areas on the feet that correspond to various internal organs. Massage can stimulate these reflex areas, promote blood circulation, regulate the endocrine system, and enhance organ function.

▏Notes

1. Sit quietly for a while and relax your whole body before massage.

2. The intensity of the massage should be based on the elderly's feeling of comfort. Light massage should be applied to the head and face, and slightly heavier massage should be applied to the limbs, waist and back.

3. You can do the whole set of massage or select a few movements. Generally, it is better to massage the head and face when you wake up in the morning and massage the whole body before going to bed at night.

Adhering to the above massage can help bedridden elderly people relax their muscles and meridians, regulate the functions of internal organs, lubricate joints, and enhance disease resistance. When the elderly have skin injuries, inflammatory reactions, malignant tumors, unexplained pain, etc., they are not suitable for massage. Scientific bedridden massage care can make the elderly happy physically and mentally, improve their quality of life and achieve different degrees of recovery.

▏How to care for bedridden elderly people

1. Establish a comfortable ward environment.

The bedroom of a long-term bedridden elderly must be clean, tidy and quiet. The setting should take into account the convenience, comfort and safety of the elderly. Open the windows regularly every day to ventilate and keep the air fresh and sunny. The room temperature should be kept between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius, and the humidity should be 50% to 60%. Some flowers and green plants can be placed in the room to add vitality, and some pleasant light music can be played appropriately to help rehabilitation treatment.

2. Keep the bed flat and clean, and keep your clothes clean

Comfortable bedding such as sheets, quilt covers, and pillowcases should be changed and washed regularly. Incontinent people should lay a 120*100cm sheet horizontally under their body, and then a cotton sheet or thin cotton pad on top to prevent the skin from getting wet. Make the bed 2 to 3 times a day, keeping it flat, clean, and wrinkle-free. Change wet sheets at any time. The elderly should wear loose and soft clothes, and the collar and trouser buttons should be loose and easy to unbutton, so as not to affect breathing.

3. Psychological care

Because the elderly are bedridden for a long time, they have fewer opportunities to contact the outside world and may suffer from negative emotions such as hesitation, depression, irritability, pessimism and disappointment. Therefore, care should be provided according to the different psychological characteristics of each elderly person.

4. Nursing strategies for the elderly with incontinence

For patients who are bedridden for a long time and suffer from incontinence, timely anti-infection treatment should be given to infectious diseases during nursing care, and psychological care is essential. First of all, the age, condition, cause of incontinence, time (morning, evening), etc. of the elderly should be analyzed, and an individualized nursing plan should be formulated based on the analysis. If the elderly are awake but weak and involuntarily excrete urine and feces, this kind of situation can be observed by observing the regularity of the elderly's two bowel movements, and then the two bowel movement nursing plan can be arranged according to the regularity, so as to achieve purposeful and prepared active nursing and reduce the number of urination and defecation in bed. If the effect is not good, a urinary catheter can be placed according to the actual situation, and the urethra can be disinfected 1 to 2 times a day, and routine care can be performed according to the indwelling urinary catheter. The stool should be cleaned in time, and tannic acid ointment should be applied appropriately to protect the perianal skin.

5. Eat a balanced diet

The elderly who have been bedridden for a long time have poor physical resistance, so they should strengthen their nutrition in terms of diet. They should be given a high-protein diet with high nutritional value and easy digestion, such as milk, eggs, lean meat, fish, etc., and eat more vegetables and fruits rich in potassium, such as bananas, oranges, green leafy vegetables, etc. The elderly who have been bedridden for a long time need food rich in nutrients such as protein, fat, sugar, vitamins, etc., especially protein supplementation is more important, because it is a nutrient necessary for tissue growth and repair.

(Picture from the Internet)

Author | Li Aiping

Born in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, graduated from Fuzhou Medical University, has 20 years of nursing experience, and is a national second-level nurse. An expert in food hygiene and nutrition, with national nutritionist qualifications, and a science enthusiast.