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Overwhelmed during massage therapy school.
I am in my first two months of my massage therapy program and am doing well. I have gotten mostly As on all the tests. However, my teacher, although very knowledgeable about the information, seems disorganized with lesson planning. We are constantly starting new body systems/info before completing others and I am getting burned out. We commonly have 2-3 tests a week as well. We are told to review old material but have no time to do it because of the amount of homework assignments and new chapters given. I am working on cutting back my hours to 32 hours/week and only work three days a week to help. We just got a new pathology book yesterday which will require more reading. My program is 750 hours 10 months 4 five hour days/week.
As for the actual massage aspect, so far we are doing faces. I wish we had a way of following the teacher on a projection or tv at the same time as they do it as I am struggling to do it right. I'm thinking about videotaping as the teacher shows the movements (although the teacher does not like being taped) I don't know, I am feeling discouraged. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for me to help?
Thanks!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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I don’t know what to say. I have long been against our education system. This is all my opinion. What you are experiencing is pretty much a perfect example of what I’ve been saying. Way overly complicated, with excessive amounts of unnecessary information. All designed so you can pass an exam, instead of knowing how to massage.
I was lucky because I went to school 30years ago. I had about a month of very basic anatomy and physiology. Not anything near what they are teaching now. After that month, I served an apprenticeship for about eight months. That apprenticeship was actually working in an established massage clinic under the supervision of an experienced therapist.
Unfortunately with the nightmare school system you are in now. You just gotta keep going. Everyone in your school is in the same boat. Just keep getting the good grades. You will in time, learn your profession after you have passed your exams and received your license. Oh, that’s another thing. I actually had to Massage an experienced massage therapist and pass their standards in order to receive my Hawaii state license. Your school is set up to pass a written test. Not actually massaging people. Just do what you gotta do. Get that license. If you can afford it. Get some massages by experienced Therapists. You will learn a lot that way. Keep us informed as how you are doing.
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Permalink Reply by Laura Garza on
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Jeremy - hang in there. I know my last semester in school I had the "blessing" of an unorganized instructor and felt the same way. I learned a lot more that I thought I had. I'm assuming you get to practice on fellow students and at clinics? That's where you will learn the most!
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I have to disagree with you on some points. I had A LOT of A&P in my massage program at the community college I went through. As a matter of fact, I had to take the same A&P that the nursing, radiology, etc. students took as a prerequisite for entry to the program. Then we went over it again in the massage program as we actually had to be able to find the bones/muscles.
We also had a lot of hands on time massage other students, school clinics (free to public - don't get me started on the schools that charge for it) and were required to work on other health care providers (LMTs included) before we could get our certificate. In addition, we were required to receive massage from LMTs as homework each semester. And we also had the option to work an internship if we wanted (or for the people that were having trouble making clinics). I believe it was 200 hands on hours out of a 608 hour program?
But I have to admit the obsession of 750 hours for schools is excessive if that's not required by the state. Few states need that many hours (NY is 1000). I think most still require 500 hours. And I get really angry regarding the for profit schools charging for student massage, my school didn't. The students aren't getting those $$$, it's going in the schools pockets. Again, I chose to go to a community college program over private massage school because 1. it an allied science program
and 2. it was cost effective.
Gordon J. Wallis said:I don’t know what to say. I have long been against our education system. This is all my opinion. What you are experiencing is pretty much a perfect example of what I’ve been saying. Way overly complicated, with excessive amounts of unnecessary information. All designed so you can pass an exam, instead of knowing how to massage.
I was lucky because I went to school 30years ago. I had about a month of very basic anatomy and physiology. Not anything near what they are teaching now. After that month, I served an apprenticeship for about eight months. That apprenticeship was actually working in an established massage clinic under the supervision of an experienced therapist.
Unfortunately with the nightmare school system you are in now. You just gotta keep going. Everyone in your school is in the same boat. Just keep getting the good grades. You will in time, learn your profession after you have passed your exams and received your license. Oh, that’s another thing. I actually had to Massage an experienced massage therapist and pass their standards in order to receive my Hawaii state license. Your school is set up to pass a written test. Not actually massaging people. Just do what you gotta do. Get that license. If you can afford it. Get some massages by experienced Therapists. You will learn a lot that way. Keep us informed as how you are doing.
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Well, my grades are slipping from As to Bs. Most of the students (90%) in the class are doing poor to terrible. I had to learn 6 muscles in a week plus starting nervous system and have a test tomorrow on integumentary system pathology. I studied all weekend for hours, skipped class for two days just to be prepared for the muscle test tomorrow (which includes 9 muscle groups including origins, insertions, action, location and nerves). I almost want to just give up. I have no support, no life, no social time, no gym time, just studying.
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