Are you someone who loves hot weather, or someone who struggles to cope with it?
I love blue skies and sunshine...
But I am more of a 'coper' when its as hot as we've had it lately! I have had a surprising (to me at least!) number of people over the last few weeks booked in for Stone Therapy: Hot and Cold Stone Massage - a massage and treatment primarily with HOT stones.
I've done a bit of research, and while I didn't find any very helpful information or guidelines re specifically Hot Stone Massage in hot weather - the World Health Organisation recommends a maximum comfortable working temperature of 24°C, and Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy recommend a maximum indoor working temperature of 24°C. Maximum safe temperatures are also suggested in the range of 25-27C. Discomfort and safety are also impacted by humidity levels, with higher humidity on top of heat being less comfortable and more dangerous.
However, Hot Stones are heated in a water heater (like a crock pot) at around 120-135F or 49-57C - which heats the room up some and raises the humidity. Lovely in winter! Not so great when its already close to uncomfortably hot!
Use of the hot stones for placement and massage can raise not just the skin temperature but potentially the core temperature of the client. If you are going out then into a hot day, or a hot car, or to a hot office or house (and lets face it, not only do most of us not have air conditioning, but our houses and buildings are designed to stay warm, not to keep cool!), there is a safety issue as this may put undue stress on the body (especially the heart and circulation) and its ability to cool down and regulate core temperature.
With that in mind I have contacted the clients who have booked for Hot Stones recently and explained why it is safer and wiser for them - as well as more comfortable for me! - to work with Cold stones only in this kind of weather.
Going forward, for my own comfort and wellbeing, I have decided not to ordinarily offer Hot Stones in July and August in future - unless we are having a cool patch in which case I may add some availability in.
I've done a bit of research, and while I didn't find any very helpful information or guidelines re specifically Hot Stone Massage in hot weather - the World Health Organisation recommends a maximum comfortable working temperature of 24°C, and Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy recommend a maximum indoor working temperature of 24°C. Maximum safe temperatures are also suggested in the range of 25-27C. Discomfort and safety are also impacted by humidity levels, with higher humidity on top of heat being less comfortable and more dangerous.
This has lead to me reviewing my policy and practice in terms of wellbeing and safety for both my clients and myself for having added heat when the ambient temperature is already high. Safety in heat waves is something we all have to start considering as the climate continues to heat up and become more unstable.
I am lucky in that due to its thick stone walls and overshadowed North-West facing back windows the temperature in my room has almost always stayed under 24C.
Use of the hot stones for placement and massage can raise not just the skin temperature but potentially the core temperature of the client. If you are going out then into a hot day, or a hot car, or to a hot office or house (and lets face it, not only do most of us not have air conditioning, but our houses and buildings are designed to stay warm, not to keep cool!), there is a safety issue as this may put undue stress on the body (especially the heart and circulation) and its ability to cool down and regulate core temperature.
With that in mind I have contacted the clients who have booked for Hot Stones recently and explained why it is safer and wiser for them - as well as more comfortable for me! - to work with Cold stones only in this kind of weather.
Furthermore I will keep an eye on predicted temperatures in other months and added a proviso to the forms for the booking of hot stones that in the event of predicted temperatures of 24C or above and / or of a weather warning for heat, I will review whether the use of stones is safe and advisable for client and myself, and reserve the right to only use cold stones in those circumstances, or for the session to be rescheduled to another day and time. I hope no-one will be too disappointed with this decision. 
Cold stones and cooling oils on hot days - you can add cold stones as a £2 add on to other treatments.
Best wishes for the rest of the summer!
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Best wishes for the rest of the summer!
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