The Massage Pundit

The American Massage Therapy Association has put out the call for Subject Matter Experts (SME) in the field of myofascial release.

A statement on their website says:  “As part of AMTA’s longtime commitment to provide massage therapists with ongoing education opportunities, it is seeking Instructors and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to assist in developing a comprehensive continuing education program for massage therapy in the area of myofascial release. SMEs will be expected to conduct research and review the existing literature to determine the knowledge and skills required for the area and to develop the content for the printed materials and for the face-to-face component of the continuing education program. ”

While I applaud any efforts towards furthering the causes of research and education, and AMTA has many, I do have a couple of questions about this initiative.  Since the MTBOK is a project in progress, and the NCBTMB has their advanced certification project in progress, I am wondering at the timing and motivation behind this. Are they trying to give the NCB a run for their money? Since AMTA doesn’t currently approve CE providers, that seems like a stretch.

However, it’s not a stretch to see that the logical outcome is ultimately a certification of some sort.  Defining a body of KSAs is usually done with credentialing of some sort in mind.  Furthermore, why choose myofascial release? I don’t have anything against it, but why have they singled out that modality? According to a source at the NCB, the comments that have come in so far about the advanced cert project have been overwhelmingly in favor of an advanced certification in oncology massage, not myofascial release.

I also wonder what this means to the CE providers who currently teach myofascial release, since one assumes that some of them are AMTA members, and some are not. If you’re a member, and you don’t sign on as one of AMTA’s instructors, does that put you in direct competition with your own organization?

Subject Matter Experts are asked to reply by January 15. They apparently want to get this show on the road.  Directions for applying are on the website.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

Are you one of the 3%?

3.3, actually. That’s the percentage of the membership that voted in the recent AMTA election. 51,299 AMTA members are eligible to vote, and yet just 1737 exercised that right.

I wonder if this is complacency…I wonder if people are “too busy” to vote. I wonder if people have the attitude that it will all be the same no matter who’s at the helm. I  wonder if they just don’t care.

Since I’ve been reporting on the politics of the profession for the past couple of years, I have come to realize how important a role leadership plays in our professional associations.  Having the wrong people in positions of authority can take a formerly stable organization and send it right down the path to destruction. Having excellent leaders in place is important to growth, and facilitation of whatever is the highest good for the membership.

I put this out on my Facebook page earlier this evening, and garnered several comments from my network of therapists. One said she felt a little stupid voting because she knew nothing about the candidates other than the little bit that’s on the ballots, and wondered if the trade journals couldn’t do a more in-depth interview with the candidates so people could make a more informed choice. Another pointed out that she did know some of them, and couldn’t support them. Still another said she just felt like people are busy running their practices and their lives and don’t care about AMTA except for the liability insurance and cheap CE they provide.

It’s scary to me that 3% are speaking for the whole organization. I’d like to make it clear that I am personally acquainted with and think very highly of Glenath Moyle, the president-elect, and I have every confidence she’ll do a great job. I’d just like to point out, though, that she ran unopposed. It’s incredible that in an organization of over 52,000 people, only one of them stepped up to the plate to run for that position.

I also supported Cynthia Rebeiro,  re-elected as vice president, and my fellow North Carolinian Rachel Mann is now a member-at-large. Rachel is the immediate past president of the NC Chapter and has been in service to the organization for years.  Jeff Smoot and Maureen Moon were also reelected.

The 3% here seems like it’s not only 3% who are voting, but there’s 3% of that three percent who are willing to be in service to the organization.

This is one time when I’m not thrilled to be part of an elite group. There’s another election in 2010, and I hope more people will take an active part. I’d like to see the chapters have an election committee charged with calling every member and encouraging them to vote. It’s evident that sending emails and paper ballots didn’t do much to get the voters to turn out. Maybe a live person talking to them would make a difference. I’d welcome any suggestions, and will pass them on to the leadership.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

I’m wondering if the old adages “no news is good news” and “bad news travels fast” have been responsible for my writer’s block the past couple of weeks. I do tend to report it when things go wrong in our profession, although I occasionally hand out kudos as well.

I started a series on the financial health of our organizations, and it attracted very few comments. The NCBTMB has still not posted their 2008 filing, which I’ve been waiting for with bated breath. The Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards was in good shape; AMTA lost a lot of money in their investments, but not to the point of endangering the organization, and the Alliance hasn’t been in existence long enough to report on. The COMTA return contained items I didn’t understand, and I’m waiting for clarification on that, but it seems they haven’t had anything earth-shaking in their financial situation, either.  Based on the lack of feedback, I wonder if people even care.  If you’re affiliated with any of them, you should.

The MTBOK blog has not been updated since October. Maybe I’m not the only one who’s had writer’s block here lately. I’d like to know what’s happening with that project, and they don’t seem to be forthcoming with much information.

Elizabeth Langston, the Exam Development Director at the NCB, updated her blog about the Advanced Certification project this week, but it was a general blog of thanks to those who are participating, except for her closing statement that ” the data from the Needs Assessment Survey is being collated and reviewed for accuracy by an independent psychometric consultant.”

I have seen the NCBTMB making a good attempt this year to clean up their act as far as service to the stakeholders, and I’m extremely glad about that. I do wish the chair, Neal Delaporta, would update his communications, as he has not said anything since his “It’s an honor…” statement back in January. Maybe he thinks I’ll pounce on whatever he says, and I probably will, but that’s no excuse for not communicating.

There’s no recent news from the Federation; they’re ending the year with 33 member boards and 21 of those now accepting the MBLEx, an amazing feat for such a young organization.

The newly formed Alliance for Massage Therapy Education has extended their founding member campaign until Dec 31, but other than that and announcing their initial conference, which will take place in Park City, UT June 3-5, and their announcement a couple of weeks ago that they had raised 40K so far, no big news from them, either. I don’t expect them to have much to report, other than the success of their membership drive, until after the June meeting, which I hope to attend.

So, in wrapping up this year on the political home front, maybe no news is good news. No meltdowns, no new lawsuits on state boards that I’m aware of. Maybe everyone’s busy with holiday plans. I wish you and yours a good one, whatever it is you celebrate (or don’t), and a Happy New Year.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

Massage is my second career, one that I only adopted ten years ago. Some of my fellow bloggers here were doing massage when I was still in high school. They’ve witnessed a lot of changes. As we move toward the New Year, I am reflecting on what has happened in the past decade, and I feel pretty certain that it’s been both the most productive and the most tumultuous time our profession has seen so far.

Rick Rosen, Executive Director of the recently formed Alliance for Massage Therapy Education, in an article he authored in the current issue of Massage Today, writes that there have been signs of excellent progress, along with some troubling trends. I’ll go a little further, and say it’s sometimes hard to see exactly where that dividing line between progress and trouble is located.

Just to give a little recap of the last few years: The Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards was formed; the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork came close to having a total meltdown. The NCB is obviously making an honest effort to restore customer service, but their latest project, an advanced certification exam, is coming under a lot of fire. The AMTA disbanded the Council of Schools; the Alliance was formed. ABMP surpassed AMTA in membership numbers, and more states than ever before have formed boards and started regulating the practice of massage.

Rosen also states that the MTBOK (Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge) project is a bright spot in the current picture. The question is, whose picture?

The MTBOK is a collaborative effort between six organizations, and I  definitely concede that their ability to work together is a bright spot. However, there is so much controversy surrounding the document, I wonder how it will reach completion.  I don’t know how many comments were received by the task force during the comment period, but the forum devoted to the various discussions about it on the massageprofessionals.com website has garnered more than 400 comments the last time I looked, most of them negative.

The main issues seem to revolve around the inclusion of the concept of “energy” in the MTBOK. Basically what we have here is a standoff between the White Coats and the Crystal Carriers. Those practitioners, instructors, and researchers who are all about evidence-based massage don’t see a place for energy work in massage, or references to it in a BOK meant for the massage profession. Objections have flown at the inclusion of references to chakras, meridians, energetic modalities, and any reference to adjunct modalities requiring education beyond entry level in the BOK.

On the other side of that issue are the thousands of therapists who believe they can’t touch a body without affecting that energy. Chip Hines, who is leading the prospect, felt compelled to go so far as putting up a blog to pacify Polarity practitioners, who were apparently in an uproar about their perception of being included as massage therapists.

The NCBTMB, one of the organizations participating in the MTBOK project, has since 1993 promulgated an exam containing all of the above , and part of the criticism leveled at their current plan for offering advanced certification has been centered around their previously announced release date for the beta exam, which originally was scheduled before the final version of the MTBOK is to be released. The leadership of the NCB has stated that they are slowing down in order to be sure the project is done right.

Rosen’s article contains a model demonstrating how all the pieces of this puzzle can fit together. As he points out, there’s a place for everyone, when everyone is in its place. As he also points out, the actions of one has the ability to affect all.

I’m one of those idealistic dreamers who likes to see everyone playing in the same sandbox. I’ve been distressed to see the lack of useful and civil communication between some of our organizations, infighting, backbiting, lawsuits, and general disorder that has taken place in the past couple of years.  We’ve had our winter of discontent, and it’s time to move beyond it.

When the MTBOK is finally released, not everyone is going to like it. When the NCB releases their advanced certification exam, not everyone is going to like it. When regulation comes into a state that has previously had none, not everyone is going to like it.

I suggest that we all need to recognize that these are the growing pains associated with a growing profession. It’s an exciting time, and I think the next decade holds a lot of promise.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen