Remember when you were in school you had the inter-student exchanges, clinics, in class exchanges to practice specific techniques and the sporting events or speciality clinics that you attended.  During the school year, how often did you actually get a full body treatment?  Now that you are out in the work force, do you find you have more control over your personal time? Therefore, giving you greater opportunity to receive the much needed self pampering? Or are you too busy to receive or exchange with other therapists because you don’t want to take a break.  If many of the therapists are too busy to seek treatment, what are you doing to relax and relieve tight muscles?
What ever your situation, I think it is important to be the client once in a while. Â Similar to how you care for what you love and protect, you need to care, love ! and protect your body, your livelihood. Â Just like the client that comes for their once-per-month preventative and maintenance massage, don’t you think you too should be treating yourself to massages?
I have attached a link to an article that describes a self care exercise that has helped clients with range of motion, muscle stiffness, stress levels and circulation. Â Â Lewis Circles: Self-Care for Health Care I believe that if the exercise can help the client, why not the therapist. Â Who takes care of you?
July 5th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Practicing what we preach, as massage therapists, is vital to have a long successful career as LMTs! There was a time, when I was a new LMT, that I did not put myself first, but I quickly realized that if I didn’t make it a priority to get regular massage my body was not going to hold up to full days working in a spa. I committed to getting at least one massage a month, and now, four years later, I trade massages with a dear friend and awesome LMT every two weeks! This is how we can stay in our field and prevent injuries and burn out! We give, give, give every day… remember to nurture yourself often! Thank you for the reminder, Paul, and the Lewis Circles article! I’ve done them several times since you showed us in class!
August 3rd, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I really like the Lewis Circles exercise, Paul. Thanks for reminding everyone of the importance of self-care. Self massage and receiving massage are important elements of the holistic, multifaceted approach to injury prevention that Rick and I advocate and that has been proven to be most effective. Therapists should also be sure to take care of themselves by getting enough sleep, eating well, taking care of any health concerns, and getting regular exercise (which also has the effect of providing overall relaxation and increasing circulation to help heal any inflammation that has occurred due to massage work).
September 19th, 2011 at 9:07 am
Well put, sir, well put. I’ll certanliy make note of that.