A contraindication pertains to a state wherein the performance of a specific medical action is not recommended. There are two general types of contraindication that may be directly described in association with its urgency to a situation. A contraindication is deemed absolute when the procedure may not be entirely performed on an individual based of his current condition. On the other hand, a contraindication is relative when the situation of an individual does not entirely rule out the possibility of using a specific procedure unless it is essential that such specific procedure or action be performed.
One example of an absolute contraindication is being in a highly infective state, such as having chickenpox. In this situation, the chickenpox virus has the ability to infect any other person that is directly interacting with the infected person and even through the air that is circulating around the room where the infected person is located. The infected person may also spread the chickenpox virus through coughing. Chickenpox is associated with skin blisters that are generally itchy and the fluid from these blisters is very potent in infecting other people that may it come in contact with.
A person infected with chickenpox is known to be in a highly infective stage several days before the blisters appear on his skin. Hence, a condition such as chickenpox should be treated as a contraindication because the infected person is highly infective and may pose ahealththreat to other people surrounding him. Another example of an absolute contraindication is widespread inflammation such as rheumatoid arthritis. In this condition, the patient’s autoimmune system is not normal and his joints are generally inflamed and are very easily affected by drugs and any simple movements.
The patient’s connective tissues are generally destroyed hence they have a difficult time in maintaining a normal posture and even simple movements are painful and difficult. In such condition, any type of body massage may not be advisable to an individual with rheumatoid arthritis because it is not helpful and beneficial for such an individual to receive any forceful procedures to the body when the individual is already suffering from joint pains.
An individual who has been diagnosed with a severe condition such as Parkinson’s disease should also be considered as an absolute contraindication for several procedures. A patient with Parkinson’s disease suffers from a major disability in terms of motor movements. This condition, also known as dystonia, results in involuntary jerking of specific parts of the body such as the hands, arms or even legs. When an individual has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, this individual’s condition should be treated as an absolute contraindication because his condition may present complications with most procedures.
For example, surgery can only be performed on an individual with Parkinson’s disease if a medical release form has been issued by the patient’s primary physician. The reason behind this is that the patient’s condition may become more severe during or right after a specific surgery because his motor movements are not stable and controllable due to Parkinson’s disease. Another condition that should be treated as an absolute contraindication is a medical emergency such as appendicitis.
In this situation, the individual’s appendix is infected and surgery needs to be done immediately, or else the patient may die from shock and from the infection (Rizk and Saleem, 2008). In this condition, any other procedure should not be performed unless surgery to remove the appendix has been completed and the incisions that were done on the patient have completely healed. The patient suffering from appendicitis also experiences extreme pain in the lower right portion of his abdomen hence he will be unable to perform any other action unless he is rushed to the hospital and surgery is done as soon as possible.
