a community of practitioners

Outraged...Educating The Masses

How can we educate the general public, the common consumer when healthcare professionals THEMSELVES are ignorant to the benefits of massage therapy??

Case in point, I myself have had fibromyalgia symptoms, disc degenation, loss of cervical curve, stenosis, etc. due to a long standing herniated disc injury/surgery repair numerous years ago. I go every three months to an orthopeadic doctor. To make a long story short, I have ONLY been offered physical therapy as my only course of action, oh and of course, all the pain medications I could ever ask for. The physical therapy did absolutely NOTHING for my muscles as they only focused on my bones. It is my contracted muscles, as many of you know, that are CREATING the problems with my bones. I have gone through many courses of PT before I realized what a waste of time it was. They weren't doing anything for me that I couldn't do at home. Electric Stim and heat applications was all they were doing. (I already HAVE a TENS unit at home and a heating pad)

It wasn't until last year when I became a student of massotherapy and getting some minor work done in practicals did I realize this very concept underlined above. I actually felt so much better, but I needed more.

I went to my doctor to have him write a prescription for massotherapy treatments and to have them approved by workers comp.. A few weeks later I received the approval letter but since the doctors staff are so used to only referring to physical therapy, I got........

Yep, you guessed it. PT sessions, 3x a week for 6 weeks (for a total of 18 sessions)

I was able to have it changed back to massotherapy sessions but was so upset and angry when I finally received my approval letter. My doctor ordered massotherapy sessions only 1 time a month for 6 months (for a total of 6 sessions)

This is completely ridiculous of them to think that this will be of any benefit to me. There is way too much time in between sessions for it to help me!

I will have to tell you that this is a reputable doctor in our area who is well respected in the community. I am both shocked and outraged to think that even the highest healthcare orthopaedic doctors and staff think so little of our profession and what neuromuscular massage therapy can do.

So again, my question remains, how are we supposed to educate the common client when even the healthcare professions refuse to aknowledge us as being an integral part of medical care?

It looks as though I will be seeking out another doctor, but I still welcome and appreciate any and all of you to comment for input and advice

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert Chute on August 16, 2010 at 2:42pm

oh yeah. We aren't so high and mighty up here in the cold attic over the party (er, Canada.) We aren't so high and mighty unless we're talking to each other...in a vaccuum.

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Permalink Reply by Emmanuel Bistas on August 17, 2010 at 8:49am

I am in complete agreement with Robert.

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Permalink Reply by Alexei Levine on August 17, 2010 at 2:09pm

Laurie,
You need to seek out a PT who does manual work. Just as in Massage Therapy, there is a diverse range of styles and abilities within the Physical Therapy community. Where I went to school, The College of St. Catherine in Minneapolis, we always focused on treating the muscles, not the bones. Perhaps your outrage over others ignorance of Massage Therapy can be somewhat mollified by the understanding that just as many Massage Therapists are somewhat in the dark regarding PT.

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Permalink Reply by Karen DeGrandpre on August 31, 2010 at 10:28pm

I have a lot of clients who believe that without massage therapy on a regular basis they would not feel as well as they do. I have clients who will tell anyone who will listen that massage therapy has helped them tremendously, and that they should give it a try for themselves. I have clients who have been to every type of doctor they can think of, and haven't had the results that they have received from massage. I also have clients who have been referred to a massage therapist by their medical doctors - all kinds. I haven't been in the field for a long time so I don't have the frame of reference that a lot of you do, but I have heard that we have come a long way. As a massage therapist I definitely see and hear a lot of negative, dismissive attitudes, but my clients give me positive feedback every day and they are spreading the word. It is a slow process, unfortunately, but I have hope.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Cohen on September 1, 2010 at 7:30am

This is a great thread. Certainly there is a problem of recognition from the medical field. Yet there are Physicians who recognize the benefits. I have had people come in saying their doctor told them to get a massage. The big problem I believe is getting insurance companies to recognize the monetary benefit of a prescription for Massotherapy 2 x per week for 3 weeks or more. The issue isn't as much whether massage helps people stay better, get better quicker, and reach a higher level of healing. But who will pay the bill.

If insurance and medicare paid better for massage, we would see a big turn around in physician referrals. As a profession we need more influence, as well as, more savvy dealing with insurance companies and laws.

With that I hope we never lose the art for the science. But a balance of both is valuable.