Jun 07
19
Proof of Harm
One of the challenges we are faced with as massage therapists is overcoming the idea that the public needs to be protected from massage therapists due to the harm that they can inflict on clients.
I am sure there have been a few cases of peoples conditions being made worse by certain massage therapists, but after reading Keith Grants well researched piece on just this issue it isn’t something that should be influencing licensing. Harm is all in the eyes of the receiver. I personally know 3 highly skilled massage therapists who are licensed and have had claims made against them for doing so-called harm to clients. Licensing does not solve the problem of people doing harm or do anything to protect the public.
I think what some people are afraid of is that massage therapists can just start a business after having 100 hours of training and they are afraid that they have just spent too much time and money on 1000 hour programs and are afraid of the other therapist getting clients.
Hearing about massage therapists who just learned massage out of a book or set up a business without any training brings up some deep emotions of fear and anger and resentment that usually have nothing to do with the fact that anyone can do massage. When we react so strongly to situations or statements it is usually a case of our shadow side acting up. It is usually something about the person making the judgement more than the actual fact that someone with no or little education can be successful in this field.
As Keith points out -Stress is the number one thing that causes disease and that can easily be treated by a massage therapist with 100 hours of training.
I do agree that anyone attempting to treat the conditions or diseases that are caused by stress may need extra training and education but how much really? But that should not be the responsiblity of licensing to determine – it should be the profession that sets up definitions and scope of practice rules so that we can control our own destiny rather than be have it slapped on us by politicians who know nothing about massage other than the 15 minute chair massage they just got from someone outside the capital!
If there were a great need to worry about how much harm massage therapist do, I do not think we would have such cheap liability insurance.
If you haven’t read Keith Grants “A review of Issues in Massage Governance” I highly recommend it! He actually does propose some solutions such as apprenticeship programs as an alternative to licensing issues. (If you don’t know who Keith Grant is he is a noted author at massagetoday.com and a teacher at McKinnon Institute and a leader in licensing and legislation issues in massage)
One of the reasons why I am so passionate about this issue is that I sometimes think wer are creating this issue ourselves. I for one went to massage school in 1987 and had only 250 hours of training. I immediately was able to bill insurance companies and do treatment massage without any problem. I did learn more as I went. As Keith points out there seems to be a direct corelation between the number of hours that schools are offering and the ability to get Federal Grants. I sometimes think the profession is creating all of this just to add hours of training to their schools (more money to their pockets). There are also other disiplines of touch that are being required to go to massage school and learn swedish massage when their work has nothing to do with Swedish massage. Why are they being lumped in with massage regulations when they probably will never effleurage someone.
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