A solid self-care routine should not just focus on the physical. Massage therapists must adjust for a client’s age-related changes, but they say the human connection makes any accommodations well worth the experience.

No matter who we are or where we come from, our bodies will go through certain changes through time. Just as we slow down, massage therapists can adjust massage sessions to give the most benefit to an elderly client.“You keep your goals very moderate,” says Jane Neumann, LMT, who specializes in treating older people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) or dementia. “You’re not curing their condition. You’re there to be present and to touch them with kindness. It is very moving work.”