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What are your professional pet peeves?
We need some input for our Round the Table column in the next issue of Massage & Bodywork magazine. Reply with your answers and you just might see it printed in the next issue!
The question this time is:
As a massage therapist, what are some of your professional pet peeves?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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A lot of what we do is confidence in what we can do. I know my limitations now.
Daniel Cohen said:LOL, I don't ask, just want to know if there are issues they want addressed. Then I take care of it and they are happy. With the return rate and referrals I must be doing something right. With KMT Techniques I can do a half hour full body that they often pay me the full one hour rate in appreciation. It is about confidence and how you impress the client.
Gordon J. Wallis said:One of the major complaints about a massage is .. The therapist asked me what I wanted.. I told him(her). And they didnt do it....A major complaint... Along with pressing to hard or not hard enough....I dont know what they teach in these schools now...? Those are major complaints in any spa along with the therapist talking too much...If you want to be known as a great therapist.....forget all the myofacial release stuff... just keep your mouth shut..listen to what your client tells you...and make sure your pressure feels really freakin good....You think they would teach that? Those are the BIGGEST most often complaints......
Pete L Blanco II said:In my case, as a client I will typically request spot work. I have had situations where I've made this known to the therapist while booking the appt by phone, reiterated this during intake and even went so far as to say "I do not want a full body relaxation massage." Each time the MT acknowledged the request and assured me they could/would honor it and then proceeded to perform a full body Swedish massage.
It's not about trying to micromanage the MT; it's about getting not just what you're asking for, but what you're PAYING for and if a full body Swedish gave the results that I was looking for, I would happy to receive that.
Daniel Cohen said:Luckily for me, when I work another spot away from where they tell me to, the pain goes away. Then they say that is amazing. lol
But to say you work the glutes and then during the massage say you don't is fraud. How does one address low back, hip, or thigh problems without including the glutes?
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Cohen on
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Understanding both is critical for doing your best for your client.
Gordon J. Wallis said:A lot of what we do is confidence in what we can do. I know my limitations now.
Daniel Cohen said:LOL, I don't ask, just want to know if there are issues they want addressed. Then I take care of it and they are happy. With the return rate and referrals I must be doing something right. With KMT Techniques I can do a half hour full body that they often pay me the full one hour rate in appreciation. It is about confidence and how you impress the client.
Gordon J. Wallis said:One of the major complaints about a massage is .. The therapist asked me what I wanted.. I told him(her). And they didnt do it....A major complaint... Along with pressing to hard or not hard enough....I dont know what they teach in these schools now...? Those are major complaints in any spa along with the therapist talking too much...If you want to be known as a great therapist.....forget all the myofacial release stuff... just keep your mouth shut..listen to what your client tells you...and make sure your pressure feels really freakin good....You think they would teach that? Those are the BIGGEST most often complaints......
Pete L Blanco II said:In my case, as a client I will typically request spot work. I have had situations where I've made this known to the therapist while booking the appt by phone, reiterated this during intake and even went so far as to say "I do not want a full body relaxation massage." Each time the MT acknowledged the request and assured me they could/would honor it and then proceeded to perform a full body Swedish massage.
It's not about trying to micromanage the MT; it's about getting not just what you're asking for, but what you're PAYING for and if a full body Swedish gave the results that I was looking for, I would happy to receive that.
Daniel Cohen said:Luckily for me, when I work another spot away from where they tell me to, the pain goes away. Then they say that is amazing. lol
But to say you work the glutes and then during the massage say you don't is fraud. How does one address low back, hip, or thigh problems without including the glutes?
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Yea. A skilled Massage Therapist has a lot to offer to the general public....And despite its popularity. Massage Therapy is still underutilized and even un-recognized for its true healing capabilities....If you rule out any underlying pathology. Its a skilled Massage Therapist all the way...I know it.
Daniel Cohen said:Jeff we already have a term. It is massage but in this label hungry world we continue to seek to qualify and identify ourselves to differentiate where there is no need but self gratification and profits. The numbers will grow just like the needless identification and subdivisions of illness. It is a modern sickness that we think identification is the cure. In massage it is thought to somehow justify us. Rather than seeking to remold ourselves into a medical mold, we should be presenting ourselves as the alternative for general health maintenance and let insurance companies come to us rather than seeking physician referral to the insurance companies.
Jeff Baldwin said:Professionally, I have one pet peeve that has become prevalent in the last few years; the idea of having multiple names for nearly identical modalities.
It seems an ever-growing number of therapists or allied health providers are creating their own modality or technique based on an what they claim to be of their own development and then pawn it off as the latest and most effective technique in the industry. I don't know how others out there will react to this, but I am growing increasingly tired of investigating continuing education in advanced bodywork modalities only to find that the newest, most innovative technique is no different to the last newest, most innovative technique that I learned a year ago.
How many times can we honestly do this? Therapeutic Massage, Clinical Massage, Medical Massage, Orthopedic Massage, Remedial Massage, Rehabilitative Massage... it goes on and on and on and without much difference between them. Isn't "Medical" also "Clinical"? Isn't "Remedial" also "Orthopedic"? Isn't "Injury" also "Rehabilitative"? Can't one of those titles encompase them all? Aren't all of them "Therapeutic"?
I personally would like to see this industry somehow come to an agreement on one name that describes a generalized, yet specific enough, approach of manual therapy that treats injury and dysfunction of soft tissues?
I think it would benefit all of us greatly if we can bring an end to the continuous relabeling of modalities and create common names and definitions for the work we do and then allow personal variation and adaptation to occur by the practitioner.
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And many pathologies respond to massage as well. Diagnosis belongs to Doctors but using a Doctors diagnosis to determine what modality is most useful from your tool box is our scope of practice. We can assess and apply our skill where we know it is applicable. Many illnesses respond well to Abdominal work & lymphatic massage reducing need of medication and surgery. This is the area we need recognized so we can do what we are capable of. With state licensing we are no longer called entertainment, recognition is growing.
“The physician must be experienced in many things, but most assuredly in rubbing.” Hippocrates
Rubbing has been left in our hands.
Gordon J. Wallis said:Yea. A skilled Massage Therapist has a lot to offer to the general public....And despite its popularity. Massage Therapy is still underutilized and even un-recognized for its true healing capabilities....If you rule out any underlying pathology. Its a skilled Massage Therapist all the way...I know it.
Daniel Cohen said:Jeff we already have a term. It is massage but in this label hungry world we continue to seek to qualify and identify ourselves to differentiate where there is no need but self gratification and profits. The numbers will grow just like the needless identification and subdivisions of illness. It is a modern sickness that we think identification is the cure. In massage it is thought to somehow justify us. Rather than seeking to remold ourselves into a medical mold, we should be presenting ourselves as the alternative for general health maintenance and let insurance companies come to us rather than seeking physician referral to the insurance companies.
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Exactly...
Daniel Cohen said:And many pathologies respond to massage as well. Diagnosis belongs to Doctors but using a Doctors diagnosis to determine what modality is most useful from your tool box is our scope of practice. We can assess and apply our skill where we know it is applicable. Many illnesses respond well to Abdominal work & lymphatic massage reducing need of medication and surgery. This is the area we need recognized so we can do what we are capable of. With state licensing we are no longer called entertainment, recognition is growing.
“The physician must be experienced in many things, but most assuredly in rubbing.” Hippocrates
Rubbing has been left in our hands.
Gordon J. Wallis said:Yea. A skilled Massage Therapist has a lot to offer to the general public....And despite its popularity. Massage Therapy is still underutilized and even un-recognized for its true healing capabilities....If you rule out any underlying pathology. Its a skilled Massage Therapist all the way...I know it.
Daniel Cohen said:Jeff we already have a term. It is massage but in this label hungry world we continue to seek to qualify and identify ourselves to differentiate where there is no need but self gratification and profits. The numbers will grow just like the needless identification and subdivisions of illness. It is a modern sickness that we think identification is the cure. In massage it is thought to somehow justify us. Rather than seeking to remold ourselves into a medical mold, we should be presenting ourselves as the alternative for general health maintenance and let insurance companies come to us rather than seeking physician referral to the insurance companies.
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I was only thinking about pain relief and removal. Primarily where I'm at now.. Massage is an encompassing field. Uh.., I say that right?
Gordon J. Wallis said:Exactly...
Daniel Cohen said:And many pathologies respond to massage as well. Diagnosis belongs to Doctors but using a Doctors diagnosis to determine what modality is most useful from your tool box is our scope of practice. We can assess and apply our skill where we know it is applicable. Many illnesses respond well to Abdominal work & lymphatic massage reducing need of medication and surgery. This is the area we need recognized so we can do what we are capable of. With state licensing we are no longer called entertainment, recognition is growing.
“The physician must be experienced in many things, but most assuredly in rubbing.” Hippocrates
Rubbing has been left in our hands.
Gordon J. Wallis said:Yea. A skilled Massage Therapist has a lot to offer to the general public....And despite its popularity. Massage Therapy is still underutilized and even un-recognized for its true healing capabilities....If you rule out any underlying pathology. Its a skilled Massage Therapist all the way...I know it.
Daniel Cohen said:Jeff we already have a term. It is massage but in this label hungry world we continue to seek to qualify and identify ourselves to differentiate where there is no need but self gratification and profits. The numbers will grow just like the needless identification and subdivisions of illness. It is a modern sickness that we think identification is the cure. In massage it is thought to somehow justify us. Rather than seeking to remold ourselves into a medical mold, we should be presenting ourselves as the alternative for general health maintenance and let insurance companies come to us rather than seeking physician referral to the insurance companies.
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Permalink Reply by Nick Balzer on
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When someone asks if I give " happy endings" oooh! Does this irritate me!
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Yea, a certain part of the population still associates massage with sex... or something like that. I hear it in joke form every once in a while....But I think that is happening less and less ..I think?
Nick Balzer said:When someone asks if I give " happy endings" oooh! Does this irritate me!
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Permalink Reply by Lee Edelberg on
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Ah, I see, Linda......your original assessment was right :-) Too bad!
I bought a Groupon coupon for a massage last year from a young woman with a new practice. When she asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted I asked her to include some abdominal work since in my experience it's not always a given in a full-body massage. She told me that she hadn't learned any ab work in school so she couldn't do it. And she didn't!
Linda LePelley, RN, NMT said:I told her I'd expected to get the full hour that had been paid for. She explained to me that a full body massage was composed of body sections that have their own amount of time. She said a massage therapist can't spend too much time doing the same maneuvers because of the risk of injury. So, it is all right to spend 60 minutes doing different areas, but not 60 minutes on just 1 or 2 areas. It would have "overworked" my tissues, and injured her hands. It was a surprising perspective for me to consider. I told her that what I thought I'd communicated was that I wanted the full hour spent working on just the arm and shoulders, but she did not look at that as an option. Therefore, when she finished my arm and shoulders, she was done. So, what happened? I couldn't be angry, I was too genuinely surprised, I could almost say I was delightfully surprised, except for the part where I didn't get my massage, I didn't want a partial massage from someone who didn't want to do it, and I wanted to get away from the weird atmosphere that occurs when people know they have had an epic misunderstanding. I just said “OK, I see”, and left.
Lee Edelberg said:Linda,
In fairness to her, it sounds as if she might have simply misunderstood what you were saying. What I want to know is, what happened next?
Linda LePelley, RN, NMT said:I can relate to how irritating that would be! I received a gift certificate for massage a few years ago. When making the appointment I told the therapist that all I wanted her to work on were my shoulders and left arm, absolutely nothing else. She said it would be no problem. I reminded her of it at the beginning. Twenty minutes into the one hour massage she asks if I am sure there is no other area I'd like her to work. I told her no, just the arm and shoulders. She said OK, and left the room! I thought she must have had to go to the bathroom or needed to get more oil, but several minutes later she returned, looked confused, and asked me if I needed help getting off of the table. I told her I did not, I was sure my GC had been for a full hour. She told me she'd given me all of the massage I'd asked for, that I'd declined to receive the full massage! I was amazed that her mind was so inflexible that she would interpret a request to work on one area in that way!
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Lee, I wonder what school she went to and how many hours the course was. I also like ab work and would regard that as a terrible omission. But I have had new clients who filled in my intake form with "often" for massage frequency. Later they say "that was great, I have never had my stomach worked before". For some reason it is the most neglected area.
Lee Edelberg said:
Ah, I see, Linda......your original assessment was right :-) Too bad!
I bought a Groupon coupon for a massage last year from a young woman with a new practice. When she asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted I asked her to include some abdominal work since in my experience it's not always a given in a full-body massage. She told me that she hadn't learned any ab work in school so she couldn't do it. And she didn't!
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Daniel,
I have similar experiences with clients who have never had ab work. Enough so that I include the question "Are you comfortable with work in the abdominal area?" on my intake. In many ways it is the center of our body: hara, tantien, emotional seat and home to the "fight-or-flight" muscle, the psoas.....the soft underbelly that is protected when you're a 4-footed animal. It deserves our attention!
Massachusetts has a 650-hr training requirement for licensure so I know she went to an accredited school somewhere !
Daniel Cohen said:Lee, I wonder what school she went to and how many hours the course was. I also like ab work and would regard that as a terrible omission. But I have had new clients who filled in my intake form with "often" for massage frequency. Later they say "that was great, I have never had my stomach worked before". For some reason it is the most neglected area.
Lee Edelberg said:
Ah, I see, Linda......your original assessment was right :-) Too bad!
I bought a Groupon coupon for a massage last year from a young woman with a new practice. When she asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted I asked her to include some abdominal work since in my experience it's not always a given in a full-body massage. She told me that she hadn't learned any ab work in school so she couldn't do it. And she didn't!
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Permalink Reply by Linda LePelley, RN, NMT on
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LOL! I remember in my first year of practice, I was terrified of doing abdominal work! It hadn't been done in school and I wasn't a nurse yet, so -- I was afraid I would rupture someone's organs!! It wasn't until a client complaining of chronic constipation asked for a light "tummy rub" that I attempted it. I had my body charts out and was nervous and shaky, but as soon as I calmed down and checked with her on the pressure to use and location of discomfort, it was very easy to do and beneficial to her. I look back and see where a massage mentor would have been a big help. The young woman who massaged me needed a mentor, as well...
Lee Edelberg said:Ah, I see, Linda......your original assessment was right :-) Too bad!
I bought a Groupon coupon for a massage last year from a young woman with a new practice. When she asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted I asked her to include some abdominal work since in my experience it's not always a given in a full-body massage. She told me that she hadn't learned any ab work in school so she couldn't do it. And she didn't!
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