Is massage a profession? It is in my opinion and view. I have been working in it for over 20 years.
What makes for a profession is part of the question. I started looking for answers on how professions are defined but I haven’t come up with anything concrete.
Wikipedia says this about the history of professions.
Classically, there were only three professions: Divinity, Medicine, and Law[2]. The main milestones which mark an occupation being identified as a profession are:
- It became a full-time occupation;
- The first training school was established;
- The first university school was established;
- The first local association was established;
- The first national association was established;
- The codes of professional ethics were introduced;
- State licensing laws were established.[2]
It further goes on to say: “A profession arises when any trade or occupation transforms itself through “the development of formal qualifications based upon education and examinations, the emergence of regulatory bodies with powers to admit and discipline members, and some degree of monopoly rights.”
A few years ago a white paper on just this topic was written by Rick Rosen called “On Becoming a Profession (pdf)”. In it he sites his thoughts on what is required for massage therapists to become a profession. He has outlined and talked about in depth these things that need to be done to become a profession.
- Establish a Body of Knowledge
- Improve the quality of massage therapy education
- Reorganize the credentialing process by putting licensure before certification
- Create parity among our state massage laws to increase portability
- Develop and promote a unified professional identity
- Use lessons learned from other professions
The Body of Knowledge is in the works. Rosen says this:
A Body of Knowledge is defined as “a
compendium of what an individual must know to accomplish work in a specific field.” In our case, this would be described according to the competencies that are required to practice handson therapies in a safe and effective manner. Identifying the knowledge, skills and attributes is a
critical first step in building a profession. It establishes the groundwork for determining standards in education, credentialing, regulation and clinical practice.
Keith Grant has also started a collection of massage competencies to further explain what it is we really do.
The quality of schools is under question with the recent large massage school chains buying up smaller massage schools around the country. Our massage schools are also looking to younger people to fill their schools when the average age of massage therapists used to be 45. Currently massage schools report much younger students which requires different teaching methods. At 45 a person has much life experience to draw from and apply to starting and building a practice. But with the creation of the many massage franchises massage schools are seeking out younger people to fill those positions because they are most likely to not need much to live on and are quite happy with a job that pays $1-$15 an hour.
Reorganizing the credentialing process is in the works too with the Federation of Massage State Boards working to create a more formal system for licensing. The NCBTMB will hopefully transition out of the entry-level testing business and redirect its energies toward the development of new and innovative specialty certification programs.
With all of the work of the Federation and Body of Knowledge can we come to more of a consensus and accurately define our profession? Hopefully that will come with all of the work that is being done.
And what can we learn from other professions? Some say that nursing is the profession that most closely resembles the massage profession. I don’t know much about the history of nursing but it might be something to look into.
Because of the work we do with clients is so different than most other professions – touching half naked bodies who are in pain and under stress, there is also the other side of this all and how we are trained to deal with client/therapist relationships – We aren’t for the most part trained in basic massage school. While I have never been a big proponent of more training and licensing for the first time in 20 years I think it might be time to start doing some research and looking into creating 3-4 year programs like Canada and Japan. When I first started out massage was more of a lifestyle choice- being able to help people and work your own hours and choose who you worked on. It still is that but the demands of becoming a profession may require more initial training and more continuing education.
The other part of this – the question on is massage a profession? also depends on each individual and how they represent the massage profession and acting in a professional way. I have always seen it as a profession and take my work and studies seriously. I work with professional people in downtown Seattle and had to learn about being professional to survive. Others who don’t take the profession as seriously may not see how it is growing and becoming a profession more every day. (Did I just contradict myself?)
What can you do today to be more professional? What does being a profession mean to you? Is massage a profession or just a hobby for you?
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Absolutely a profession!
Julie –
I am in agreement with others that massage is a profession and all that has been said are important parts of getting the public to see us as such. There are two areas of concern that have not yet been addressed.
The first is “non-therapeutic practitioners.” Here in Arizona (metro Phoenix) we have alot of illegitimate and “Asian Massage” going on and law enforcement chooses to do nothing to curb it. The state massage board is not involved in anything other than if a licensed therapist is caught in a crime. It makes our job of public education much more difficult and at the same time significantly important.
The other problem is the number of individuals and businesses that want us to “volunteer our services as a marketing opportunity.” As long as we keep “giving it away” it’s hard for anyone to recognize us as a profession. Medical doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, cosmetologists, lawyers, accountants and really all professions don’t give there services away for free or allow their clients to set the fee schedule. Why should we be any different? I realize there are legitimate times for us to volunteer for worthy charities but we regularly see for-profit companies (even multi-national and fortune 500 companies and even hospitals for Nurses week!) asking for “volunteer chair massage to help our employees.” If we continue to devalue ourselves by letting these businesses USE us we will never be in a position to stand up as professionals. When I am approached for volunteer work I explain that as a trained professional my time is very valuable and I only take on a very small amount of charity work. For-profit businesses do not qualify for that time. I offer flexible options including employee payment and co-payment options for businesses but “no free massages.”
When these businesses contact placement services at our massage schools the schools need to educate them about our value as professionals and explain that volunteerism is for charities not for-profit businesses.
Thanks for letting me add my 2 cents worth. Keep up the great job!
Thanks for posting.
I also think that giving away massage is a really big dis-service to people in general except in extreme cases. I also think there needs to be more places to teach people how to do massage themselves so they can do it on each other and their families. A friend of mine was doing just that in the Portland area awhile ago- teaching minority women how to do massage. If people had more touch in their lives maybe they could make more money. I know that is a big leap of faith in massage but giving away massage supports the belief that they are not worthy of making enough money to get what they need and want.
I work at the VA Hospital and have been giving massages to my co-workers for over two years now through Planetree (our healing environment) – increase the moral of the employees, the patients will receive the rewards. I am now on Vet Pro and considered a ‘professional”. I will be giving massages to our Vets very soon. It wasn’t until yesterday when my boss (who is a physician) came to me to ask him to help his son with his sport injuries, that it occurred to me, I am a LMT and a professional. Who says we can’t ask for $2 a miniute? I do, it covers my supplies, my laundry and my gas. I try to do parties, bb-q’s – pack up the chair for anyone under 20 minutes and my table for over 20 minutes. When I was in school, I wrote to George Carlin (may he rest in peace) and asked him to knock off the lucid Massage Therapy jokes – he wrote me an apology – so did Steinfield. Unless we stick together and correct anyone who calls us anything but Licensed or Certified Massage Therapists no one else will. We have to take ourselves seriouly first. I’ve come a long way – it took a long time – perhaps I will be opening the doors for other LMT’s at the VA. The VA will reimburse me for my CEU’s.
How did you get into the VA? Do you have any pointers for people?
Julie -
About massage as a profession or hobby … I am fortunate (and I do look at it as being fortunate) to practice in a state that requires more baseline training than almost every other state in the country — 1,000 hours. I cannot imagine committing the time and money required to study massage therapy – at least in NYS – to consider it just “a hobby”. Because of our training, I think we already have a ‘leg up’ in NYS in being recognized as a profession … additionally in New York State – we are licensed AS a health professional – even though I am not sure how much of our public really understands how much training we have. So a huge part of every massage therapist’s work is to educate … educate … educate our public.
I am a real believer in elevating the level of training for our profession in EVERY STATE – not just because the students in programs throughout the country are getting younger and younger but because our work requires a tremendous body of knowledge in order to work safely with the public. It is a critical piece of our ongoing struggle to be recognized as a profession — and until we collectively come up with a national (as Canada has for years) standard, we can expect more of what we already have —
I don’t know of a recognized profession that leaves it “to chance” in terms of how much and what one needs to know – and that’s where massage therapy has been for as long as I’ve been in practice (since 1995) —
(Perhaps the issue of training a younger and younger population of students could be a blog all by itself … Many of my colleagues – all of whom are teaching in area massage therapy programs have genuine concerns about how
to effectively prepare a young student for this specialized and intimate kind of work.)
A baseline two-year degree with a specific curriculum would be a start – this has been offered for several years now in colleges across NYS … It is one approach and gives a younger student time to ‘grow into’ their role as a professional – and I still believe some kind of licensing exam would be important – again, nursing and most other health professions require the same —
Thank you.
Well the thing actually is that more education is not needed to protect people from harm. There is no evidence that massage does do much harm. Keith Grant’s white paper addresses this.
I think more education is needed especially with younger people because they don’t have the life experience to know how to stay with building a massage practice and dealing with all of the things we have to deal with at such a young age.
I hope that the NCBTMB will start creating different levels of credentialling for the profession like they were supposed to be doing. That will people the options that best suit their level of experience.
Hey Julie! I totally believe massage is a Profession that should be recognized. I live near Tulsa,where unfortunately there are way too many “happy-ending” massage establishments. As a RRT (registered respiratory therapist) I can say that there are many states that still do NOT have Licensure for that career choice..which is surprising to me, because you are dealing with life and death on a daily basis! I think ALL states need to have some sort of a governing body to assure the public, that the LMT is properly trained and serious about the services they provide. I am nationally certified in Respiratory, and soon will be nationally certified in massage and bodyworking..to show others, especially within the medical community that I AM committed to my professions. My utmost desire is to work as a referral from doctors to help their patients achieve better health, WITHOUT the need for Prescription Medications, and possibly avoid unnecessary surgeries. The only thing I wish..is that the CEU’s required for NCTMB weren’t so darn expen$ive. But I guess that just helps weed out the ones who aren’t serious about Massage.
I used to think that licensing was a joke really because it really doesn’t protect the public from anything but what it does is helps define the profession that is why we need to get involved in it so we define it and not the legislators.
I have found some very reasonably priced homestudy classes that are ncbtmb approved-
I take my career as a Massage Therapist very seriously. I have goals not only as an MT but also as a business owner with an idea of how I want myself and my business to be viewed and known as within my community.
I have to admit that I have issues with the amount of schools that are practically giving certifications away to students who don’t have a deep interest in the field currently let alone its future.
As for what profession to compare Massage to? It’s a toss between three for me:
Cosmotology in regards to the training and how it is valued by the states as well as those who utilize the service; as well as its set up for employment and treatment in regards to positions MT’s often find themselves. It’s the simplest example for why MT’s deserve state licensing and better treatment within contracted or employment positions.
Physical Therapy for the type of help and service we provide our clients/patients.
And, finally, Chiropractics when comparing their journey to be accepted and recognized as a legitimate medical practice within the medical field.
I know it’s a lot of comparisons, but I feel that’s where we are as a profession; we’ve come a long way even in recent decades, but we still have a bit of the journey ahead of us.
I’m a firm believer that it will happen quicker if those already practicing in the field recognize their value and pass on that belief within the communities they are practicing. And, the best way to jump-start such a positive outlook is where it all begins for the MT’s – school.
In the Spirit of Reconnecting,
Donna