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The future of the massage profession??

I sometimes wonder about the future of the massage profession and where it might be in another 20 years. I know when I first started in 1987 with my little 250 hours of training, I would have never thought I'd last this long. Back then there was no such thing as getting a job in massage - a real employee job. Any job back then was an independent contractor. My rent was $100 in my first office space in a gym and that was split between 2 people!

I think the biggest change was in having more jobs be available and the growth of massage franchises.
With more jobs available and the many massage franchises popping up looking for workers and more massage schools than ever trying to stay in business what will be in our future? (See other thread on that.!)

I also wonder about the so called 'medical massage therapist'. I know being in WA I am 'lucky' to be able to be a contracted provider and be able to bill for my massage services. I don't have to be trained in anything specific to do so. I do have a bunch of extra training but don't even really feel like I use it anymore. I just do massage. Other massage therapists always think that they want this in their states. Here it has been a mixed blessing. Ins. companies are constantly reducing what they will pay us and the allowable benefits making it harder to work with clients and make a living.

I have a website on becoming a massage therapist - www.massage-career-guides.com and I get more questions from people right out of high school asking if they have to take math or wanting to know what jobs are like that I had to start a section for high school students. ( I actually have mixed feelings about people right out of high school going into massage. The average age for massage therapists has been around 45 for many years. I wonder how that affects classes and how things are taught.)

I know we are working on things like the BOK which I still don't really know what it is doing or how it will be used to influence our future. I know that more research is being done and the Massage Therapy Foundation is holding their first conference. I still don't really get research. How can you measure touch? If one person does the exact same thing to 10 different people it will feel different to everyone!

I used to be totally against licensing and having more rules and regulations mainly because I was able to be so successful on just 250 hours. I have also heard horror stories of people going through 1000 hour programs and being so afraid to touch anyone that they never went into massage even after getting through school. I tend to hear more stories of MT struggling to make a living even after longer classes so I don't know what the answer is. I am a big fan of Keith Grant's White paper on licensing (www.ramblemuse.com/articles/masg_governance_rev.pdf) but now adays I am even starting to think that a 4 year program is needed if more high schools students are wanting in.

Where is our future headed? Where do we want to go as a profession?

Julie
http://www.massage-career-guides.com/future-of-massage.html (this link has a few links to other articles on the future of massage and more of my thoughts on it.!)

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Comment by Vlad on March 30, 2010 at 1:39pm: Where do we want to go as a profession

If I could say what do I want I would say better standards in education and more research are the 2 big things. As far as research goes, I know where you're coming from, but from the way I see it, research is always about looking at cause and effect and the effect of massage can be measured to a certain degree (pain levels, posture, range of motion etc), but I also agree that there is something that is different from person to person and from giver to receiver. I also think that research can be a double edged sword. Even though there's now attention being paid to it (which is long overdue), if it's not done correctly or handled correctly it can be a bad thing. Awareness of the good from the bad and whether we're being bombarded by a lot of studies that carry low levels of evidence and are badly executed is a biggie. Our ignorance of research needs to be recognized by the whole profession and then a huge push by everyone (not just those in the MTF and AMTA ) to fix that ignorance should be addressed.
That being said, I hope that it's handled right, that we're all empowered by it and that it is a huge lever that will bring the profession the level of credibility that it deserves.

Education - I hope there are degree programs in massage in the future.

As far as what I think is going to happen (which is different from what I want) I think there will be segregation. Whether it be medical from spa or evidenced based from energy workers, I don't know, and although I don't really want it to happen, I think it's inevitable at some level. There are lots of ramifications of it and there are pros and cons.

As far as the BOK goes, I think having it is a good thing. I think a blueprint for where we should be as a baseline is good. It's influence will depend on the movers and shakers in the industry and the amount of attention that is paid to it. I hope that it is used in the way that it was intended since it sets standards and standardization throughout the industry is needed.

As far as franchises go? Meh. I don't get my knickers in a twist over them the way some people do. I think prostitution is a bigger deal or unprofessional therapists (the flakey ones - you know - they annoy the *^(# outa me!). Seems to me that there's enough room for all types of professional businesses and competition amongst us is a good thing really.