The Massage Pundit

This isn’t one of my rants about massage research–although that’s definitely a sermon I plan to keep on preaching. It’s about the basic things that we all ought to know, if we’re calling ourselves massage therapists.

I love anatomy and physiology, and the study of pathology is fascinating to me. The human body is an amazing thing, and the more I know about the way it works, the more competent and empowered I feel to do a good job as a massage therapist. Sadly, that sentiment isn’t shared by everybody.

I’ve been tutoring students and teaching my class in how to pass the exams for over ten years. I can’t tell you the number of times someone has said to me “I just want to do massage. Why do I need to know this stuff?” A few weeks ago, I actually had someone who has graduated from massage school (but not yet passed their exam) ask me where the trapezius is located. I didn’t know whether I should feel sorry for them at their lack of education, or whether to give them a swift kick in the butt and point out how lazy they must be not to know this by this time. READ MORE….

Substance: what something is made of.  Sustenance: support, maintenance, nourishment.

On a personal level, I have a tendency to think that whatever your character traits, your qualities–your personal substance–is all about, has a lot to do with what you do to sustain that. I don’t intend the word sustenance just in the context of what you’re having for dinner…rather, in the context of what is it you do that sustains not only your body, but your mind and your soul.

On a business level, I think the same is true…if you’re a basically positive person, and you do things that sustain that, it’s going to carry over into your massage practice, or whatever it is you do for a living. If you’re steeped in negativity, you’ll remain there, unless you take some action meant to change that, and that will carry over into your business as well. We all have our off days. When we go too long without taking care of ourselves, we have more of them!

I’m taking care of myself this week. That actually started today; my husband and I enjoyed a boat ride, swimming, and a picnic at the lake with some friends. Tomorrow we’re heading off to Ireland. I’m fortunate to have an annual class there, so it’s a few days of work and a few days of pleasure. Actually, the work is pleasurably to me, too. I look forward to it every year. It’s one of those things that sustains me. The day we get there, we’re heading straight to a spa for a day of rest and restoration.  After the class is over, we don’t have a plan. I like to travel that way, just go where the wind blows. READ MORE…

I inadvertently insulted a massage school owner yesterday by making a FB post saying that I wasn’t impressed by a school that had only one teacher to teach the entire curriculum, and that I wouldn’t choose such a school, personally. To begin with, I wasn’t speaking of his school when I made the post, and I had no idea that he was teaching his entire program himself, as his website gives a different impression, listing four faculty members. A couple of his satisfied graduates weighed in with the fact that they were pleased with their education, and many more who didn’t attend that particular school offered comments about the need for diversity and differing perspectives. Some said they’d rather have one good teacher than a bunch of bad ones. I’m going to stick to my guns on that one, and it is just my opinion and mine alone, that it wouldn’t be for me.

There’s no law anywhere that I’m aware of that prohibits one person teaching the whole program. The standards for massage therapy education vary from state to state. The quality of massage therapy education varies from school to school, and even from teacher to teacher. I also stated in my post that I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are brilliant and engaging teachers; there are teachers who know their subject but who are so droll and boring you can’t bear to sit through it; and the sad fact is that there are plenty of people teaching who shouldn’t be teaching at all. A good massage therapist and one who is good at teaching are two different things, many times.

Some states allow anyone who’s breathing to teach a class, and schools often take advantage of that by using last year’s graduates as this year’s teachers. At the other extreme are states with requirements that you must have a college degree in the area you are teaching, at least for science-based classes like A&P, or that you have been licensed as an MT for X number of years before you can teach hands-on classes.  There’s no consistency.

I’m at the end of my five years of service on the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, and I have served the School Approval Committee that entire time. Since I’ve been on the inside, I can state that our system isn’t perfect…we state in our rules that teachers should be “trained” but we don’t go far enough with that…there’s no set number of hours of training required, and each school basically does whatever they please on that front. READ MORE….

There are some great massage therapists in my town (other than the ones who work with me), and this isn’t directed at them. But in every town, and mine is no exception, there are massage therapists who are thriving, and massage therapists who are barely surviving…many of whom eventually give up and go back to doing whatever they used to do, or find some other way to make a living.

Sometimes, a business just doesn’t make it in spite of your best efforts.  Setbacks happen that are beyond our control, sometimes serious things like a health crisis, or your spouse losing a job, or some other trauma and drama interferes with our lives and our plans. Sometimes the location just isn’t ideal, or you’re in an area that’s already saturated when you’re just getting started. Sure enough, these things can all be roadblocks to success.

It’s sad but true, though, that people commit self-sabotage, leading the clients they do get to keep looking for another therapist. If your client retention rate isn’t what it should be–or what you hope for it to be–take a good look at the situation. Over the years, I’ve gained many clients who told me they had seen another therapist, and decided to go elsewhere–meaning they came to me. Here are just a few of the comments I’ve heard:

“I really liked her massage but her office was a mess and the bathroom wasn’t clean.”

“I asked him to lighten up several times, but he kept saying, “I can’t, because this is what you need.”

“She could never start my appointment on time. She was always late.”

“She insists on doing Reiki on me at the beginning of every session and I don’t want it, I want the hour of massage I am paying for.” READ MORE…

I spent the weekend with over 1000 massage students and therapists, plus all the great vendors and support staff in Atlanta this weekend at the inaugural American Massage Conference. I’d have to say they definitely batted 1000! A good time was had by all!

There were just too many good moments to talk about them all, so some of my personal highlights:

Teaching my exam prep class Friday and ethics on Saturday, great people in both classes…dinner with Allissa Haines, fellow blogger of Writing a Blue Streak fame…sitting on a panel with Whitney Lowe, Felicia Brown, Les Sweeney, and Tony Zak…sitting with BioFreeze Bob, Lynda Solien Wolf, James Waslaski and his assistant, Michael McGillicuddy and Gloria Coppola at the awards dinner…getting the award for Massage Therapist of the Year and seeing my friends be recognized, including Ryan Hoyme (the MassageNerd) as the winner of the Innovation Award, Anita Shannon as Educator of the Year, Felicia Brown as Volunteer of the year…hanging with Sandy Pearce from Massage Today…hearing the great keynote speech at the One Concept awards…getting a 30-minute foot massage at the Sanctuary…playing music on stage at the gala with Errol N Schroeder of ASOMAssageMusic…eating the homemade ice cream provided by BioFreeze Bob…hanging with Paul Lewis, who is one of the nicest people in the massage business…having a group picture made with all the WIBB bloggers in attendance…eating lunch with Lynda Solien Wolf…getting interviewed about CE by Gloria Coppola…the Pirate Party out on the roof at Stat’s…the totally awesome vendor booths… getting interviewed alongside Angie Patrick by Karen Menehan of Massage Magazine…watching James Waslaski dance the electric slide with about 20 women on the dance floor…getting foot massage of the automatic variety at two different booths…chatting with Glenath Moyle…seeing Michael Reynolds of www.spinweb.com, one of my personal idols…chatting with the folks from FSMTB…READ MORE…

Civil discourse, according to Wikipedia, is engagement in conversation intended to enhance understanding.

I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, when it comes to that. The good took  place recently at the MAAP meeting I attended with the folks at the NCBTMB. It was a great meeting of intelligent people who were all invited to participate in a discussion about continuing education, and not an ugly word was spoken.

The good was exemplified again this past week in the comments on my previous blog post, and on the AFMTE LinkedIn page in response to Rick Rosen’s position paper “Vision for the Optimal Role of National Certification.”

Some very bright minds have weighed in on that. Some of them support Rosen’s position; some disagree; some like parts of it. And somehow, the conversation has managed to take place without name-calling, insulting anybody’s mama, or the rude questioning of people’s ethics and/or credentials in a rude manner. People have been free to express their opinion and have done it in a polite manner.

That is completely contrary to what has been happening on a couple of the other discussion forums that I participate in.  A few weeks ago I made a post on the massageprofessionals.com website, entitled “Stop the Insanity.” It was a plea for people to engage in civil discourse and leave behind the bad behavior. I’m sad to say that it hasn’t happened; the mudslinging has continued, and several people who really have a lot to contribute to intelligent discussions have left entirely on account of it. It happened again this week on another website when the owner sent out a notice to everyone on the site making an accusation against a fellow therapist. He later admitted his error in judgment as an emotional response to something he was passionate about and apologized publicly, and I’m glad.  READ MORE…

Last week, the AFMTE released a position paper authored by Executive Director Rick Rosen, “Alliance Offers New Vision for National Certification.”

The AFMTE also recently announced that it is partnering with the FSMTB in their initiative to begin approving continuing education.

Both of these have attracted quite a bit of discussion on the various social media sites. And like any discussion, people agree, disagree, and agree to disagree.  I’m glad to say there hasn’t been any mudslinging of the nature that goes on at times in some of these venues. I think these discussions are useful and informative.  They sometimes bring to light a lot of misconceptions that people have about which entity does what, and how they do it.

I encourage everyone to read Rosen’s paper in its entirety, but to make a long story short, it is a plea to the NCBTMB to reorganize, and get out of the continuing education business and the entry-level exam business. The FSMTB has been stating the opinion since their founding 5 years ago that NCBTMB exams are inappropriate for licensing purposes, and encouraging the states to drop those exams and use the MBLEx exclusively. That hasn’t happened.  If the map on the FSMTB is current, 33 member boards are using the MBLEx. If the map on the NCBTMB website is current, 38 states are still accepting their exams, meaning the majority of states are accepting both, and offering their licensees a choice. The AFMTE is also supportive of the Federation’s stance, as is AMTA and ABMP. Still, the facts show that either the 38 states are doing the wrong thing, or else they are exercising their undeniable right to conduct their business the way they want to.

I haven’t been in this profession nearly as long as Rosen or some of the other players here. I became a massage therapist in 1999, and it seems like I joined at a time when everything was just really starting to swirl. I was in the first wave of licensees in North Carolina.  Mr. Rosen actually has license #00001…first person licensed in our state. He has seen and been instrumental in a lot of things happening. I would never try to minimize the contributions he has made to this field. I won’t criticize his career, his integrity, or his belief that he is suggesting something for the good of the profession on the whole.  READ MORE…

I just got back from Chicago, where I participated in the Massage Approved Provider Panel convened by the NCBTMB. I have to say it was one of the best meetings I have ever attended. Everybody left their egos and their agendas at the door…not one single moment of tension or dissension occurred, in spite of the fact that competing entities were represented.

I spent the weekend sitting next to Bill Brown, Deputy Director of the AMTA. I’ve heard through the grapevine that Bill has wanted to strangle me a few times over my blog, and I’m glad he got the opportunity to know me a little better. I might have managed to convince him that I have a few redeeming qualities and I’m not just the crazy blogger he thought I was.

Cynthia Ribeiro, President-Elect of AMTA, was also present, and what a class act she is. I had supported Cynthia during the AMTA election, and there’s no doubt in my mind that was the right move. She is one fine lady who has made many contributions to our profession, and had a lot to contribute to the task at hand this week.

Bob Benson, Chairman of ABMP and Anne Williams, Director of Education for ABMP were there. Bob brought his considerable business acumen to the meeting. I’ve worked with Anne before and she’s just a go-getter who shares my philosophy of “make it happen.” She has a great sense of humor, too. There was a lot of laughing this week, which is always a great ice-breaker and good for the cohesiveness of the group.

The facilitator, Drew Lebby, provided exactly the right balance of keeping things moving, listening, and explaining. We had breakout groups and larger discussions and the whole meeting just had a great flow. Having been in meetings with some very boring facilitators in the past, I thought he was wonderful and I would highly recommend him to groups who are looking for a great facilitator. He has 35 years of experience at it and it shows.

I heartily applaud the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards for sending Kathy Jensen, VP of the FSMTB, and kudos to the NCBTMB for inviting the Federation to participate. Since the MBLEx has taken a huge chunk of the NCBTMB’s exam market share, and the Federation has also recently announced plans to jump into the CE approval arena, I can think of past administrations at the NCBTMB that would have spent the time sniping about the Federation as competition instead of inviting them to attend, all the more reason why I appreciate their willingness to play in the same sandbox. That theme was reiterated by Ribeiro and several others this week–this isn’t about your organization, or my organization, or who’s the biggest or the best–it’s about massage and increasing the quality of massage education. READ MORE….

Actually, I’m from the south, where we often say “mater.” A ‘mater sandwich should be on white bread, slathered with an artery-clogging amount of mayonnaise, and eaten standing over the kitchen sink so it can run down your chin and drip appropriately.

Everybody has their opinions…I’m out here regularly expressing mine, and not everybody agrees with them. That’s fine by me. The world would be a boring place if we all thought the same thing, and the world of massage is no different. This morning, as is my habit when I’m drinking my coffee, I looked at the comments on my blog, hung out on FB, checked out the massageprofessionals.com website to see what kind of arguments were brewing, all a part of my usual routine.

There are so many wonderful and dedicated people in our profession.

Some of them think the standards for entry-level education should be raised, and some of them don’t.

Some of them think massage therapy should be regulated to the nth degree, and some think it shouldn’t be regulated at all.

Some think continuing education requirements are nothing but a burden on their time and finances, and some look forward to taking it. READ MORE…

The massage profession has a plethora of organizations these days.

AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association) is a non-profit organization that has some executive staff at the top, a board elected by the members, and a hearty band of tireless volunteers that keep the wheels turning. AMTA has about 57,000 members.

ABMP (Associated Massage & Bodywork Professionals) is a for-profit concern, and frankly I’m just sick and tired of hearing that fact stated as a criticism. What is inherently wrong with making a profit? I want to make one in my massage therapy practice, don’t you? ABMP has around 77,000 members.

The NCBTMB (National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork) , for 17 years, was virtually the exclusive provider of certification exams that were used for licensing in many states, and the approval body for continuing education providers. A few states had/have their own exam. About 90,000 massage therapists are nationally certified. The NCBTMB also has a board elected by their certificants.

Then along came the FSMTB (Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards) with the MBLEx test as a route to licensure, which many of the 40 or so member states have adopted. The Federation also recently announced plans to get into the business of approving continuing education, and they are creating a model practice act. They also have a board, which their state delegates elect.

The new kid on the block is the AFMTE (Alliance for Massage Therapy Education), which aims to advance the quality of education and develop a model of teacher standards. The Alliance has announced that they would be collaborating with the FSMTB on the continuing education project. They still have their first board seated; that’s how new they are.

We’ve also got COMTA (Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation) in the business of giving accreditation to schools and programs who meet their standards of excellence. Getting COMTA approval is voluntary, expensive and time-consuming. There are only 100 or so that have earned it. Read More….