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.

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 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!

I have found some very reasonably priced homestudy classes that are ncbtmb approved-

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.

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