Nov 19 2010
10,000 hours of massage
I’ve been reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The book is about people who are successful and the reasons why they’ve succeeded while others haven’t. One of the chapters is “The 10,000 Hour Rule.” Its title comes from the theory that it requires 10,000 hours of practice to really master a skill. Gladwell uses examples from sports, music and computer programming to illustrate the concept that large amounts of practice are necessary to take someone with potential and make them a success.
So, if it takes 10,000 hours to really get good at something, how long would it take for a therapist to do that much massage work? According to the 2009 AMTA Industry Fact Sheet, the average therapist does 19 hours of massage work per week. Working 50 weeks a year, it would take a therapist about 10-1/2 years to get in 10,000 hours of massage.
Unfortunately, that same AMTA Fact Sheet reports that the average therapist spends just 6.3 years in the profession. According to the 10,000 hour rule, most massage therapists are falling a few years short of becoming truly skilled at what they do. This isn’t to imply that less experienced therapists don’t give a good massage. I’ve received really excellent work from practitioners who are just out of massage school. But to really develop the type of skills that come from lots of experience, from working on a variety of conditions, and from hundreds of hours of continuing education, it probably does take 10 years in the profession.
So what do we need to do as a profession to make sure more therapists can reach that 10,000 hour mark? Are injury and burn-out ending massage careers too early? Are inexperienced therapists trying to get to that 10,000 hour point too quickly and paying the price? I’d love to hear what others think about this topic. Please add a comment if you have any ideas on the subject.
Be safe, be well. Rick
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Good question, Rick. I think one of the main reasons therapists leave the business is because they aren’t making a living, as opposed to career-ending injuries.
As for burnout, if you’re not making enough money, it’s hard to take joy in your work.It takes time to build a business, and some folks aren’t cut out to be in business at all…they should be working for someone else while they focus on massage.
I have therapists in my practice who do 5-6 massages a day, and some who only do 3. Everyone has their own limit and their own level of self-care.
As for what we can do, it would be helpful if massage schools didn’t promise students that they’ll graduate and immediately be making $75 an hour, and if they spent more time teaching the realities of business. And if therapists had a viable business and marketing plan when starting out, instead of leaving things to chance.
It would also be helpful on the therapists’ part to practice what they preach and get massage regularly themselves. Many times when I am teaching CE classes, some of the MTs there admit to not having had a massage in a year or more. Once they get out of school, where they’ve been used to getting regular work, they sometimes let themselves fall by the wayside.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s something to think about.
“But to really develop the type of skills that come from lots of experience, from working on a variety of conditions, and from hundreds of hours of continuing education, it probably does take 10 years in the profession.”
I think even more.
I think some therapists spend too much time at work. They don’t focus on that 10,000 hours but to earn 10,000.
Others stop feeling joy as a massage therapist.
Having a goal and choosing what you want to do are very improtant to become expert.
I agree with Laura that the difficulty in making a living contributes to the number of therapists who leave the profession. Ongoing symptoms and injury also contribute to the rate of attrition, and to the feeling of “burnout”. It’s hard to feel good about your work (and want to stay with it) when you’re uncomfortable, using too much effort, hurting physically and feeling exhausted at the end of the day. If you’re also not making a living, it’s hard to imagine why someone would want to continue in the profession.
Since lack of business/marketing skills and symptoms/injury are the main reasons therapists leave the profession, the profession needs to take the necessary steps to improve education in these areas (from the very beginning of the massage training program)!
Rick,
I love your site and the classes you offer. Much needed in our field. I will chime in with my opinion about why so many MTs quit after 6 years.
1. It’s hard physical work for low pay.
2. Massage schools often tell prospective students they will earn a lot of money. But then they don’t prepare the students to market and do the work needed to create a successful business.
3. It’s tough to marketing, do massage and also do bookkeeping, scheduling, etc. It’s not an easy way to earn a living. I see many MTs go into nursing instead.
4. Many states do not treat massage therapists as professionals. Instead we are regulated as though we are prostitutes. That is frustrating and also leads the public to wonder what we do. It’s a battle many MTs don’t want spend the time and energy to fight. It may be easier to change professions.
5. As a profession, there is not a lot of evidence to support what we do to the medical community. Research is being done and hopefully things will change in coming years but right now we need more evidence based practice support. Classes like yours really help establish us as professionals.
Thanks for the work you do!
Sue
I have to agree with the statements above.
I feel that it starts in massage school. Most of the large chain technical schools crank out students merely to fatten their bank account, not caring if the students actually have a calling to do this type of work or are realistic in their feelings about what will happen after they graduate. But, have to admit, I went to one of these schools because it was the only one in town that offered financial aid. I made the most of it, I feel, because I was in my 30′s and knew what was out there, in the business world, waiting for me.
Massage schools typically do NOT focus on the business end of being a massage therapist; if they do it’s very little. The 20 year olds in massage school don’t take it seriously and the adult students don’t get into the business side of their career (i.e.-don’t have a head for business). So what to do about this? I don’t have an answer.
I also feel that it’s every therapists responsibility to take self care very seriously; no teacher can make the student believe in this. I have been in this profession almost 12 years now, and it wasn’t until I was “in the trenches” of day after day giving massages (and getting injured) that I finally GOT IT about self care. At times, this is the only way you truly learn: by making mistakes, dusting yourself off, and going from there.
Regarding the 10,000 rule: I couldn’t agree more. But, it’s not just doing 10,000 massages. It’s making the 10,000th business decision that makes you a successful therapist, too.
I say this to all new LMT’s that I meet: giving the massage (in my experience) is only about 50% of why a client will come back to you. It’s the way you present yourself, how quickly you return phone calls, the way you communicate, and your presence that makes the entire experience for the client (just the tip of the iceberg).
There’s a lot of good discussion here and I really appreciate everyone taking the time to share their thoughts. In addition to figuring out why some therapists leave the profession quickly, it would be just as helpful to know if those who have worked in as massage therapists for 10, 20 or 30 years have anything in common. Perhaps there are some best practices that we should be teaching to massage students.
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