Massage and Physical Therapy

Many people wish that they had their own personal massage therapist when they get home after a long and tiring day. This is because they know the benefits to being pampered after a busy day. It is commonly known that massage therapy is beneficial for, amongst others:

• Relax tired and tense muscles
• Reduce stress
• Treating sports injuries
• And generally assisting with your general health.

There are 80 different types of massage therapy which includes reflexology, acupressure, Swedish massage and deep-tissue massage. All of these therapies are designed on the health and well-being of the patient being treated.

Many massage therapists try to specialize in as many types of therapy as possible in order to use them either separately or combined to provide the patient with the best therapy as possible. This is because each different type of therapy has a different way of stroking and pressurizing the muscle to induce a variety of muscular responses which would indicate healing or well-being.

Therapists often treat injuries caused by sport and accidents and in these cases they need to know the best method of inducing healing to the respective injured muscles.

Appointments

As with any kind of doctor or therapist, massage therapists work according to a schedule of appointments. It is seldom that you will be able to see a therapist without an appointment. Most therapists keep a suite of offices that contains their own chairs, therapy tables and other professional necessities. Some therapists will do home visits and bring a portable table with them to enable them to deliver a quality service.

Usually an appointment will start with a short discussion about the aims of the therapy and your expectations. The therapist will explain the type of therapy that is going to be used and how it will benefit you and reach the aims and objectives of the session. Then the session will start. As professionals, the therapists will keep on checking your progress and level of comfort throughout the session.

Interpersonal Skills

Massage therapy jobs require that the therapist has exceptional interpersonal skills. From the first moment of the session the therapist should start building a relationship / rapport with the patient. This helps when you need to describe your injury or needs to the therapist. Somebody that you like and feel comfortable with will be make is easier for you to talk about the process (and possibly embarrassing or uncomfortable topics).

It is also important to have good interpersonal skills when it comes to dealing with the emotions of the patient. Many injured patients who are seeing a therapist for the treatment of injuries may become despondent or dejected and good interpersonal skills will help to keep the patient co-operative and positive about their recovery.

Workplace

Most physical therapy jobs are done in an office. Physiotherapists often share offices with either doctors or other types of therapists. However, they could also have multiple places that they practice, e.g. the treatment room at a sport field, a private home or office, nursing home and fitness centers etc. No matter where the therapist practices, s/he should always have access to the necessary tools and tables for the work that they plan on doing.

Working conditions

Massage therapy is physically very demanding and therapists often work less than the 40-hour week. They need enough time between treatments in order to prevent themselves from sustaining a painful injury themselves.

They also need to maintain an acceptable level of fitness as the physical nature of the work means that you will use a lot of your own muscle power to help the patient. This puts a lot of strain on your cardio-vascular system, as well as the muscle groups that you use to do the actual massaging.

Further training

As with any other profession massage therapists need to keep up with developments in the field of therapy, new techniques etc. In order to do this, they need to attend at least one reputable conference a year, or look out for further training courses that will keep them up-to-date with their trade.

Massage therapists are an important part of our lives. At one point or another we will need to revert to a massage therapist – whether for pure enjoyment, or for treating an injury. As such you need to be confident and comfortable with the therapist’s skills and qualifications. Don’t be afraid of asking for references. The best way to judge anybody’s work is hearing how other people experienced the service.