Thoughts on Therapeutic Massage

A few months ago, I wrote a blog defending the merits of working for a chain like Massage Envy. I got quite a few positive comments--more than I thought I would, actually--and one remarkably negative one. This last comment opined that nothing "therapeutic" could possibly happen in a 50 minute massage, and that to say so would be taking advantage of the poor, dumb therapists and clients who believe that. Well, lady, I don't know who died and made you Goddess of Massage, but let me tell you this: I've got better things to do than sitting around with my thumb up my butt, going through the motions, and if I didn't believe what I do for a living made a tangible difference in clients' lives, I would have hung up my holster and gone home a long time ago. But the following I have, and the progress I've seen, keeps the fire burning under me.

As I've shared before, I have two jobs: one is at Massage Envy, the other is a private business I work at with a friend of mine. While I prefer the later, I appreciate the former (for reasons I stated in the previous blog.) Moreover, I don't find that work to be absent of any therapeutic benefit, and I will explain why. First, all definitions of therapeutic include basically the following words: "of or relating to the treatment of disease or disorder by remedial agents or methods" and "providing or assisting in a cure." And no matter where I do it--or whether it is accomplished in 50 or 60 minute sessions--I believe my massage always treats disease or disorder and assists in a cure.

Yes, I prefer to work in longer sessions. But does that mean I can't accomplished anything in a shorter one? No. Do people usually have the time and money for the 3-4 hour sessions our hands tell us they need? Can we undo the affects of years of stress and over-work in an hour? No. That's why people come back and follow treatment programs of multiple sessions.

Or, if for any reason, a client cannot afford an $85 session, does that mean the client does not deserve massage and should not seek touch through a $40 session? Uh, no, I hope not, because all our belief in touch would seem somewhat hypocritical and useless at that point. Do I have the right to say what is therapeutic for any individual person? No. I personally don't get much out of light touch, but there are clients who seem to "take up their beds and walk" after getting little more than petting. Does that mean these super-sensitives are not experiencing healing? That the absence of pain and depression is only in their heads? Yes and no, because a lot of pain and dysfunction are LITERALLY IN OUR HEADS, meaning they derive from nerves and the brain's processing of information.

I will say it again: there are good therapists, mediocre therapists, and poor therapists. I've seen poor ones making a lot of money per session, and good ones making little. And I've seen it the other way around. But when it comes to therapeutic benefit, even chair massages can be helpful, and that is really saying something in my opinion. So if you're out there--anywhere--will powerful skill and pointed intention, you are working in some aspect in therapeutic massage. Don't worry too much about the Goddess of Massage: I hear it's a self-appointed position.