What's up Logan good question. Personally I think that a massage therapist who works for a chiropractor are different from one that works on a cruise ship or spa. This has nothing to do with who is better it just means their different (every massage therapist have a purpose whether they work in a spa or in a chiropractic office). As for those who work with chiropractor/osteopathic doctors, orthopedic doctors, etc. Our knowledge of the muscular skeletal system, muscles imbalance/posture distortion, pain, referred pain, muscle texture, is imperative for complementary therapy.

When I see a client after they've seen the chiropractor I perform my own initial assessment on them. I personally would rather perform 45 mins. addressing their muscular problems than just giving them a 60 min. full body relaxing massage. I rely on my assessment of the client’s range of motion, end field off joints, flexibility. I look for head tilt, shoulder height/rolled shoulders, pelvic distortion as they walk in the office. While on the table I also compare the difference in hip and height and angle and also do the same with the shoulders and look at the feet and how they set compared to each other. I do all this in conjunction with talking to them about what brought them to the office. I do this for all my clients on their first visit and some on their second visit. Some clients wonder why I'm spin more time on muscles like piriformis, hamstring, adductors/abductors, and hip flexors and less or very little on their low back where they are having pain.

I do this same evaluation 3-6 month later and I see the difference in their range of motion, flexibility, and the hips begin to appear even and the client experiencing less pain. But with all that I like you am constantly looking for improvement. Thanks for the post Logan.

I've been a clinical massage therapist for 20 years, the last 17 at a local chiropractic clinic in Lake Charles, Louisiana. My routine is to perform 1 or 2 units of 15 minute manual therapy treatments to area specific problems. I do about 10 clients in a half day session. We bill insurance using the 97000 series codes and charge about $50 per 15 minute treatment. I usually focus on one area for each 15 min of work: 1. Low back, glutes, legs, psoas 2. Shoulder, rotator cuff, traps, levator rhomboids, scalenes, pecs, delts, biceps, triceps 3. Neck, traps, levator, splenii, scm, suboccipitals.

My routine consists mainly of trigger point compression, crossfiber, and effleurage to the limit of the client's pain threshold.
I also use towel traction for cervical injuries when indicated and find Paul St. John's pelvic stabilization protocol indispensable for leg length descrepancies.

Personal injury clients (those hurt in automobile accidents, maritime accidents, or workplace accidents where another party is liable) constitute about 60 to 70% of my clientele. The rest are major medical insurance policy holders. Although I am crosstrained, we have several chiropractic assistants that take care of ice, heat, ultrasound, cold laser, and electrostim..This leaves me free to do what I'm best at - massage. We also have a DTS traction machine as well as an excercise and rehab room. We have 3 chiropractors and 1 other massage therapist on staff. Note about Personal Injury - in Louisiana a person can also get pain and suffering compe$ation for their injuries as well as payment for their treatment and attorney fees.

I've worked in hospital, physical therapy clinic, and chiropractic clinic settings. I also have a private practice where I do clinical and sports massage as well. I've had the good fortune to work with some very talented people, including my wife, Susan Salvo. I specialize in post surgical rehab (everything from plastic surgery to joint replacement to clients in halo braces) and sportsmassage (most of the ladies PGA, an Olympic silver medalist, a professional javelin thrower, and lots of triathalon and marathon runners, college and high school athletes, etc). If you've got a question, ask and I'll try to help.

This is a good question since all chiropractors differ so much, just as we massage therapists do. I work in two different offices. One doesn't do any manual treatment, just adjusts. There it it always 30 or 60 minutes of whatever I find necessary for the best therapeutic result for the patient. This may be relaxation, D.T., heat, ice, you name it. On the flip side, the other doc uses Graston on the patients, e-stim, ultrasound, Kinesio Tape, heat, ice, Thumper Pro, manual stretches, TrP therapy. That being said, she let's me do whatever too, but tells me sometimes to do specific work, D.T. Or circulatory type massages, usually for 50 minutes, occasionally 25 minutes and rarely 80 minutes.
I started incorporating Gua Sha techniques, and even some form of cupping eventually.