The High Costs (and High Benefits) of Hands

I see these huge automatic water massage machines on E-bay all the time. Discounted to about $20,000. Maybe on a bad day, discounted to $10,000.

The ads say wonderful things about how great they are and how much money you will save by not having to have a massage therapist do the massage.

I read between the lines: Please, please, someone buy this huge thing and get it out of my office.

One always wonders if the future is going to be automated by something robotic and unfeeling. Something that will never develop carpal tunnel, come in late for a full day of appointments or forget to order oil.

There are plenty of massage gizmos, and the water massage tables were the only ones I feel come close to doing what we therapists do.

Only they are humongous,  take 220 electric current, and are about as heavy as my car. They look like tanning beds on steroids and the lid closes down like a coffin.

Take heart, we haven’t been replaced yet. One electric bill, one repair bill and people want to get rid of these things.

Will swirling electric mitts, water jets or robots ever replace us? I don’t see it ever being possible to program the TLC of our chi into a machine.

Our humble little hands are safe. For now….