Clients seek massage therapy for many reasons, and one of the most challenging for a therapist is chronic pain following surgery. It’s a tough spot – here we are dealing with tissues that have had a direct surgical intervention – moved, touched, cut or compressed. We also are dealing with structures altered when the body’s … Continue reading Providing Post-Surgery massage to clients
I always like to check in with new clients on their goals for massage. Do they want to improve sleep, performance, reduce aches, release stress, etc. I like to give people a few choices on my intake, plus the opportunity to mark “all of the above.” Lots of “aota’s” later, I have come to see … Continue reading Helping your clients set goals for their massage sessions
As they graduate from education programs, massage therapists have many choices for employment. Yet finding that perfect job can be elusive. The venues have expanded in the past few years but the economics remain the same: work a lot for less pay, work a lot less for more pay. For recent graduates looking to pay … Continue reading Starting Choices, Massage Therapists
A new massage client had a request: eight months after an outbreak of shingles, she still had a strip of weird-feeling and painful skin. “I call it my shingles ghost,” she said. “It’s haunting me still.” What she described sounded like post-herpetic neuralgia, a sensation that an area afflicted by herpes “chickenpox” virus is still … Continue reading Massage for Shingles ‘Ghost’
As mysterious as the workings of the human body is, we massage therapists have learned a few tricks to bring errant, dysfunctional muscles back to working order. I continue to be impressed by the methods of active release, also known as myofascial release, in reviving elements of structure and function to certain muscles. I recently … Continue reading Tips for Bringing Muscles Back to Life
Most successful massage therapists come to a time in their careers when they think about going out on their own. They have worked in spas, medical offices or chain clinics and they have an itch to move out and become independent. Then the question comes up. Why risk all in business? Why not seek out … Continue reading Massaging with Partners
Numb fingertips, cramp-y necks and para-spinals that feel like abandoned rock quarries. We massage therapists treat the injuries that computer technology can produce. My smart phone just updated itself (can it reproduce?) revealing the phrase “Lifetime Companion” on the home screen. Really? This whole phone thing has gotten out of hand. People are ruining their … Continue reading Smart Companions
Recently I walked into a raging discussion among massage therapists over discount pricing. To discount or not to discount is a huge bugaboo for massage therapists. Prices are subjective, of course, and one can only wonder why people ask for a discount from a single massage therapist when they wouldn’t dream of asking at a … Continue reading The Price of Comfort
At this time in my massage therapy career, I think I have got the whole stress thing down. Then something pops up that tells me: HA! Yes, HA! A very karmic and cosmic and pulse-wave HA! My family and i have been living in a hotel for nearly a month following flooding at my home. A … Continue reading Stress Experts Love Massage
I was enjoying the evening air, checking the massage therapy schedule book to review next week’s bookings when my 90-year-old mother-in-law asked for help. Help? I dashed in from the patio and stared. A little tsunami of water was spreading down the hallway into the living room, and all the bedrooms. Oh, and it was … Continue reading Massage and the Great Flood