Massage Coalition Releases Statement on Entry-Level Analysis Project (ELAP)

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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on February 10, 2014 at 6:33pm

thanks ,Abram.  Email today (?) gave the new hrs standard as 625?

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Permalink Reply by Abram Herman on February 11, 2014 at 11:23am

Yep, that was the recommendation! The final report just came out yesterday (what I posted above was only the coalition support statement), and is availabel at www.elapmassage.org

Gary W Addis, LMT said:

thanks ,Abram.  Email today (?) gave the new hrs standard as 625?

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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on February 11, 2014 at 12:17pm

Maybe not enough.  But, sadly, the cost for that education will be upwards of $25,000..in student loans, because who has that much lying around. 

No offense to those who entered the profession thru a 100-hr course-- the best massage I ever received was in Bolivia, from a 17 yr old who had never attended a day of massage school (she couldn't read or write either).  But, I fear that  small investment in time and money from unqualified single-instructor schools sometimes results in, rate-cutting, incompetent, unqualified skin rubbers. 

Also true that 1200-hour courses occasionally graduate an incompetent skin-rubber as well--less likely, but license to practice and degrees and certifications hanging on a wall are no guarantor that the MT will be the least bit concerned about the well being of clients.  After all, Harvard medical school has graduated a lot of folk who eagerly perform needless surgeries in order to become wealthy. 

The answer, then, is more emphasis on "therapeutic" than on "massage."  Less classroom and more clinic hours.  More emphasis on kinesiology and less on anatomy of internal organs. More hours spent studying Werner's excellent pathology textbooks and less time wasted studying algebra.  And more careful screening of applicants to schools to weed out those who enter our profession with avarice shining in their eyes. 

The next step undertaken by the consortium of membership groups such as ABMP should be towards true license portability--not toward individual state regulations but true national licensing.  Logistics are prohibitive in our present system-- too many people to test and too few to do the testing, so we are unlikely to ever see wide-scale practical exams.  A suggestion?  Take the power out of state bureaucracies and put it where it belongs.  On a rotating basis, licensed ,experienced massage therapists drafted to conduct hour-long practical testing of license applicants. 

Far too many excellent massage therapists are blocked by inability to pass written exams. For what is more important to clients? Paper hanging on a wall, or adequate palpatory skills?

 

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