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What is relaxation massage? What is Medical Massage? How is relaxation massage different from medical massage?

These questions are need to be answered by the massage profession now, because if we don’t start stepping up and defining ourselves - the insurance companies and individual state licensing acts will and are.

One of the reasons why this needs to be defined is that massage therapists are actually billing insurance companies and charging them more than their cash rates rationalizing by saying that what they are doing is medical massage. Since there is no definition of medical massage that reasoning will not mean anything in a court of law.

The thing about relaxation massage - is any massage ever really only a ‘relaxation’ massage? If you are doing a relaxation massage what do you do when you find a tight muscle or a triggerpoint? What do you do if the person says they have stiff neck from sitting at the computer all day? In 18 years of doing massage, I don’t think I ever did just a ‘relaxation’ massage. Do people at spas or resorts just do relaxation massage?

One of the things that the so called ‘medical massage’ group is trying to do is to separate what they do from someone who they are judging to be less qualified. Education and more hours of training does not necessarily make one more qualified although most of our society gets caught up in thinking so.

So called ‘relaxation’ massage does have it’s place in medical massage since most medical conditions can in one way or another be linked to stress. Eliminating relaxation massage from the medical equation would be a great disadvantage to the profession. We need more research to prove that there is a difference -if any- between relaxation massage and medical massage.

Relaxation massage as far as I understand is also basic Swedish massage. When you learn the benefits of Swedish massage the main things talk about the medical benefits - reduces blood pressure, increases circulation. increases range of motion,
What therapies would be included as being medical massage? What therapies would be excluded? Is medical massage just the ability to work with a physician and an insurance company?

In order to be paid by an insurance company one needs to be able to show improvement in a condition and be able to write medical chart notes that prove medical necessity. The sessions must show that they have outcomes in mind when doing the session. Anyone can learn to write chart notes that way. Hands Heal is a great book that will teach you all you need to know and more.
Other reading : www.thebodyworker.com

Medcial Massage - Marriage or Monster - by Deane Juhan Massage and Bodywork

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Could you fire your client?

I found this interesting idea on a yoga business website -www.buildyouryogabusiness.com.

Have you ever worked with people who were really draining - you know they are the ones who are always late, cancel at the last minute, forget their check book, want to talk for an hour after the session or whatever.

Whenever they call you dread them coming in and having to deal with them.

What if you fired them? What do you think would happen to your practice? Most think that it would hurt their practice. Massage therapists also tend to think that they have to work on everyone and be nice and helpful. When you work on someone who is not nurturing and is draining it robs you of your energy for the next client or the next day or week even.

If you fired all of those clients it would free you up to work on those people who you like to work with - those who value your time, value your service, tell their friends and family about you, pay what you charge and are just all around great clients.

When you let go of having to help everyone and start setting your boundaries and ask for what you want - you become ‘attractive’ (not in a sexual context). My supervisor once said - “Massage therapists who set the best boundaries are usually booked for months and those who are “caretakers” are struggling along.”

For more on caretaking see www.thebodyworker.com

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One of the things that really gets me on my soap box is the issue over ‘medical massage vs. relaxation massage’.

The issue is that neither of these types of massage is defined adequately by the massage profession and there is an organization who is attempting to define it mainly for their own profit.

Medical massage is the ability to bill insurance companies for massage therapy services.  It is not a type of massage or a specific tecnique.  All that is required that you be able to prove that your work is ‘medically necessary’ - that is that it is required for the rehabiliataion of a condition or disease.  The way a massage therapist communicates this to insurance companies is through chart notes.

The whole idea that there is even a category of relaxation massage is often misleading.  The one person I ever saw in 18 years of doing massage who said they just wanted a relaxation massage had just run a marathon the day before and could hardly walk.  The closest thing may be a so called ’spa’ massage or a massage from a place like Massage Envy, but even then a massage therapist must be quailfied to handle working with any diseases, conditions, tight muscles that they want relaxed and that entails knowing something about pathology and how to do massage.  How much education that is required to do that is yet to be researched or discovered.

The thing is that many massage schools are promoting their massage school programs and massage therapy careers as being able to do medical massage.  This is often misleading.  Here in WA State we are able to become contracted providers with HMO’s and PPO’s but the schools fail to tell you that you need to have 2 years experience to get on a list and then most of the lists are closed to new practitioners anyways.

Most states allow massage therapists to bill for injuries due to motor vehicle accidents and Labor and Industries (or workman’s compensation or whatever it is called in each state.)  You do not need any additional techniques or knowledge to be able to do this as some groups are leading massage therapists to believe.  All you need to know is how to write chart notes and how to bill the insurance companies to get paid.  You can learn most of what you need to know on my site www.thebodyworker.com

You also need to know the rules and regulations about billing insurance companies and how much risk is involved.  Some of the issues are around billing a different rate to insuarnce companies than you do for your cash clients.  I have written about this extensively on my other blog at www.massagepracticebuilder.com

I also have other articles on www.thebodyworker.com about the issue.

The reason why this gets me so worked up is that what is happening here in WA State is that insurance companies are starting to define our profession and determining what we will get paid.  Motor vehicle insurance companies are joining the networks which means that we have to take a discounted fee if you signed up with a network.  What was once a profitable business is now being reduced to a business where WA State massage therapists have to work harder doing more clients and getting paid less.  Our cash clients are having to make up the difference and pay for the losses we take doing business with insurance companies.  I really think that it is only a matter of time before this will start happening in the rest of the country and affecting massage therapists all over the US.

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I just found this interesting idea on a yoga business site.

When someone calls or emails you one of the first questions they ask is - What do you charge? If you just answer it with your usual explanation of your rates you are missing out on a big opportunity to connect with the caller.

What if you answered with something like - well what are you needing a massage for? Are you having some pain or other symptoms? Are you looking for some help with stress reduction? Actually all you need to do is ask the first question and it will usually be one of the answers to the next two questions.

When you can learn to engage people in conversations and listen to what they are saying, you build trust and rapport. You are building a relationship which is what every massage is really about.

Taking the time to talk to people can help you fill your schedule.

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Massage Therapy Careers - Texas Massage School Directory

Texas Massage Therapy Job and Career Information

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