Introduction

Massage therapist is a person who uses their professional skill of musculature to refresh, recover health and reduce the stress of a worried individual.

Careers in massage therapy allow an individual to help people. The popularity of massage therapy is increasing day by day. It can be considered as the most popular career today. Even some doctors suggest patients to go for massage therapy. A massage therapist can have a very pleasing, demanding and rewarding career.

Massages can help people in many ways:

It can help people in reducing tension and anxiety.

Heal from sickness and wound.

Get relief from pain.

Attain a state of comfort and relaxation.

Improves circulation.

Many places are there where a therapist can work. This profession is pretty profitable. Massage is the way to stay healthy and reduce stress. It’s a very unique career. So a person related to this field should posses some unique characters then only he/she will become a successful massage therapist. Massaging is a physically demanding job. Many kinds of massages are there.

Normally people begin with the basic one and after that they go for particular mode. Massage is the best way to reduce tension and anxiety. And due to this reason it’s becoming popular day by day. Massage therapy also helps in getting relief from pain. With the help of massage therapy one can attain the state of comfort as well as relaxation. It also improves the circulation by applying some practical methods and techniques.

The main duty of a massage therapist is to treat patients with deep massage of tissue. And it improves blood circulation as well as creates helpful effects all over the body. Massage therapy can not only reduce stress but also reduce bodily problems as well.

No doubt it’s a traditional system of health care, but people prefer to go for it as it has various advantages and helps in curing constant sickness.

The common massage therapies are:

Relaxation massage: This therapy consists of stress treatment and relaxation management and carried out in spa setting.

Sports massage: This type of massages is performed to boost the performance of the sportspersons and to recover from wounds.

Medical massage: This type of massage is performed in hospitals, doctor’s office and medical clinic to treat people suffering from injuries.

Corporate onsite massage:  This kind of massage is offered to the workers of some big corporations.

There are various skills required by a massage therapist. They are as follows:

Anatomy and functioning: They require great knowledge of human body compositions and its functioning. It’s very important to have knowledge about the different parts of the body.

Pathology: Massage therapist should be able to recognize wounds, poor health and diseases of client and identify whether massage therapy is suitable for them.

Massage modality: They should have knowledge about various massage modalities so that they can meet client’s requirements.

Maintain records: They should maintain a record of client’s health before and after the massage treatment. It will help in further treatment.

Hygiene: Cleanliness is a great factor. They should ensure the sanitation of the work place in order to protect the health of clients.

Business skill: Massage therapists require knowing the business skills as well as interpersonal skills in order to carry out their own practices.

Active listening: They should be attentive toward their clients and should understand what they are saying. They also need to ask suitable questions and should not interrupt at improper time.

Interaction: They need to interact with the clients in order to get effective information.

Service course: Always ready to help people in effective ways.

Significant thinking: By using judgment and reckoning they should be able to find out potency and weak point of solutions.

Conclusion and resolution making: They should be able to make decisions regarding cost and benefits.

Monitoring: They should monitor the performance of organization as well as individual to make perfection and take counteractive measures.

Education required:

How to become a massage therapist? The requirement and the training level for a massage therapist differ to a great extent by zone and state. The education syllabus for massage therapists can be found in both public as well as private postsecondary colleges. And to complete this program it requires 500 hours of study. To get admitted it requires a degree or a high school diploma.

The massage therapy syllabus includes:

Anatomy

Functioning of body parts

The study of tissues and organs

The study of body mechanics and regulation

Managing business

Principles

Practical practice of massage procedures

The program includes some massage modalities too. An individual can have both part time as well as full time programs. The massage therapy program needs to be recognized by board of state and they need to be approved by an autonomous accrediting organization.

After getting a degree from an accredited institution and before practicing massage, the massage therapist must attain a permit or license. For a license they need to pass an examination. The examination may be conducted by the state or it may be nationwide.

So before practicing massage therapy, the massage therapist should fulfill all the prerequisites for the locality or state in which they plan to perform.

Tagline: The massage therapist need to posses various skills and should attain the required education qualification.

The career opportunities of massage therapist are likely to grow. The massage therapist with formal teaching programs will get higher opportunities. Those who pass an examination which is recognized professionally are likely to have more chances. Those who are new to this field should anticipate working only part time.

There were 122,395 jobs for massage therapists in 2008. Near about 57% were freelance. There are a lot of people who carry out massage therapy not as primary source of earnings. Some are self employed and have their own business and some are employed in individual care service, hotels, and sport centers and physicians office.

No doubt the massage therapist can get jobs all over the country but job opportunities are very much higher in resorts and metropolitan areas.

In the period from 2008 to 2018, the job opportunities for massage therapists are likely to grow by 19 percent. Employment is increasing as people are getting knowledge regarding benefits of massage therapy. The demand for massage therapy is increasing day by day and hence the job opportunities for massage therapists are also increasing.

In current years the demand of spas are increasing which has increased the employment of massage therapists as it requires great number of massage therapists.

Massage is very costly at resorts and spas so massage clinics are increasing day by day where one can get massage for lower cost than the massage at a resort or spa. The massage practice is expected to be established and appreciated by the people to a greater extent.

Tagline: The career opportunities for massage therapist are likely to grow. The massage practice is expected to be established and appreciated by the people to a greater extent.

In May 2008, the average hourly earnings of massage therapists were $16.80. The earning of middle 50% ranges from $11.40 to $25.15. The earning of lower 10% is lower than $8.00 and the earning of upper 10% is greater than $33.48. The yearly wages of massage therapists may vary as they work part time. The salaries of massage therapists can vary depending on various factors like schedule, work place and locality. The massage therapist whose work place is a hospital or clinic gets some part of the earning as benefit.

Benefits are:

Helping people: Stress is the main eradicator of our generation. And it’s very important to get relief from stress. And being a massage therapist you will get the opportunity to help people in order to decrease their anxiety level.

Helping own self: A massage therapist can go for therapy treatment in order to maintain continuity of their study and education and help other massage therapists.

Standard of living: They don’t need to live a corporate lifestyle. They get flexibility of time and scheduling freedom.

Financial benefits: It’s an economically satisfying profession. They can earn lot of money.

Career constancy: Massage therapy is a rising field. And due to this reason the demand of massage therapists is growing.

Massage therapists play an important role in reducing the stress and curing chronic diseases of afflicted individuals. Massage therapy is a unique way to reduce tensions and cure the chronic illness of people, so it demands an individual with some unique qualities.

The roles of massage therapists vary from one another. A massage therapist who works in doctor’s office or hospital may not have to do any other work beyond real massage work. But it’s their duty to meet the requirements of their clients.

The basic roles include:

Customer care: Massage therapist should be professional, well-mannered and conscientious. She should respect the privacy of the clients. And the massage therapist should be able to meet all the requirements of the clients. To provide proper client care should be the main duty of the massage therapist.

Self care: The massage therapist should be attentive towards self care. The massage therapists need to work for long hours so they need to be attentive and should take proper self care. A healthy diet is very much important to them. To maintain energy and muscle they must do some other exercises. Hygienic as well as stress free activities play an important role in maintaining the routine of self care.

Business management: A massage therapist must maintain a record of their work after every session. It helps in knowing the conditions of clients and the treatment arrangements.

Responsibilities of a massage therapist:

They are authorized to carry out those tasks and services that signify their education and skills.

If necessary they refer the customers to suitable health expert.

They need to cooperate with other health expert in a specialized way.

They should maintain a record of client’s health history after and before the massage treatment.

They should meet comfort level of customers.

The communication with the customers should be understandable and sincere.

They should not prescribe drug, medicine and treatment.

Tagline: Massage therapist is an individual with unique personalities and plays various roles and responsibilities.