Hours Needed To Be A Massage Therapist?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ariana Vincent, LMT, MTI, BCTMB on February 13, 2011 at 1:45pm

I have been a therapist for 30 years and I've been an instructor for 12 years.

 

500 hours seems like a good minimum number of hours.

Permalink Reply by Mike Hinkle on February 13, 2011 at 1:59pm

Thank you, Ariana. Have a question... If Texas was told right now, they have conform to Canada's standards...of 2200 hours to attain entry to massage in Texas... How do you think they are going to react?

Permalink Reply by Ariana Vincent, LMT, MTI, BCTMB on February 13, 2011 at 2:13pm

Not all of Canada has that 2200 hour requirement - only certain provinces. The Canadian healthcare system and the US healthcare system are so vastly different that comparisons aren't valid unless many factors are taken into consideration.

Permalink Reply by Mike Hinkle on February 13, 2011 at 2:45pm

But they are saying our systems are not that different. Why would they say that? I remember about half of Texas being very upset at having to go to 500 hours. I could really see a war if they try to force more on Texas. And they are not alone. NY, NE, LA, MS and now it looks like Vermont are headed another direction and do not wish to be dictated to. It is going to be easier to give those that want this huge change a different name and since most in the field are not medically inclined, we'll probably retain the name and create another for those wishing to go towards being a PT.
It's going to be a controversial time ahead of us if this push from the north, that is gathering strength, continues. This is another reason it is time for the Alliance. Set standards, yes. Try to be Canada, no.
Ariana Vincent, LMT, MTI, NCTMB said:

Not all of Canada has that 2200 hour requirement - only certain provinces. The Canadian healthcare system and the US healthcare system are so vastly different that comparisons aren't valid unless many factors are taken into consideration.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Adams on February 16, 2011 at 9:18am

I have been a body worker since 1996, but I am still a massage therapy student. (last day is March 18!)

Our MT course is 1080 Hours Long (13 months for nights and 12 for days)

I have also been working with a Massage Therapist Friend and learning hands own technique from her. 

 

Honestly, If the curriculum and discipline is there within the staff of the school a shorter curriculum would be ok. 

But if the teachers don't know the subjects they are teaching, it is a waste of time and money. I, myself, am going to have to go back and learn quite a bit from other sources because a few of my teachers were not prepared to teach the classes that were offered. Classes that I feel are important to the therapists like oh, I dunno ... NMT, Kines and A&P. 

 

I made the suggestion to the school board that all teachers should be required to be able to pass the final of the class they are teaching before they waste the time of the students. If they can't pass that test, then they need to retake the class under another teacher before they can teach the class to others. 

 

I also think the testing for licensing should include hands on demonstrations as well as written testing. I am guessing that is not done, because it would slow the process down. Licensing should include technique as well as book knowledge. 

 

Permalink Reply by Lara Rininger on February 16, 2011 at 10:56am

Hi Jennifer,

 

In our massage program, there comes a a point I think when you are in the second to last semester where the students are required to give the instructor a massage. It is a pass or fail class. We also must get a B or higher on all the courses in our program or we are out. We are also required to work at least 40 hours in our student massage clinic that serves the public, give 50 additional massages outside of school and volunteer at least 10 hours doing massage. Now in OH, there were over 700 massage students that just took the state board exam in December. I'm not sure how they would be able to do the hands on demonstration in addition to the written exam without charging even more to take the exam. We take the exam in Columbus at the fair grounds in a large arena that was used to show horses at the fair or something like that. There was no heat provided in the middle of winter where temperatures were in the single digits! I think having a technique component to the testing for licensing would be ideal, however to implement a hands on demonstration into the actual testing process, would definitely slow the process down and I imagine it would be cost prohibitive. They allow candidates to take up to 2 hours and 10 minutes on each portion of the exam Anatomy and Physiology and Limited Branch with a 20 minute break in between the two portions. That's over 4.5 hours for the testing process which doesn't include the time before where they go over the instructions on how to take the test, etc.

 

Jennifer Adams said:

I also think the testing for licensing should include hands on demonstrations as well as written testing. I am guessing that is not done, because it would slow the process down. Licensing should include technique as well as book knowledge. 

 

Permalink Reply by Mike Hinkle on March 7, 2011 at 10:39pm

Thanks for all your help with this one, guys!

Permalink Reply by Molly Dragland on March 31, 2011 at 8:19pm

I Graduated in feb 2009, with 1000 hrs training, but the province might be upping the regulations to 2200hrs.
Ive been working as an RMT for about 16 months?

Permalink Reply by Lori Mears on June 9, 2011 at 9:54pm

1. Still waiting on my license to come in. Been working on friends & family since I was a kid...it just took me a long time before I finally decided to go to school for it.

2. 750 hours required with minimum of 30 hands on in clinic/internship (I did as many hours as possible, the clinic supervisor actually had to throw me out so the other students could have a chance to work) and I feel like it really wasn't enough on both ends...there is so much to learn for just the basics. I managed a GPA of 4.0 & a high MBLex score and Great client evals but I still feel like I'm not ready.

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