Scooter-nomics

         

Massage therapists take a big risk every time they do a house call – it is the time they are most likely to be injured on the job. Not by doing a massage but from lifting and carrying massage tables.

           

Anyone who has negotiated the front steps and the doorway only to find a long staircase inside knows the pain – Carrying a bulky table, even with the best body mechanics in the world, doesn’t negate the risk. Eventually table-wrangling will get you.

           

Therapists can mitigate their risks. For instance, I have always carried the lightest table on the market – it has aluminum legs that reduce weight by about 10 pounds over the standard wooden tables.

Many therapists learn early in their careers that the nice, expensive table their school recommended is also the heaviest and bulkiest to carry. One day a sharp-eyed classmate pointed out to our little study group that our teacher kept an aluminum-legged table in the car. Guess which type we bought.

Also, I use those funny-looking straps on the table cover. FYI, the long one goes over the opposite shoulder, the short one over the front pocket is for the arm closest to the table and – this is the one many people forget to use – the short handle on the upper inside of the table cover is used by the opposite arm. You may not be able to run through an airport with it, but at least the weight is distributed enough to reduce the risk of wrecking the quadratus lumborum.

Carrying the case with the long strap on the same side as the table – while ignoring the other straps leads to lumbar and flexor injuries.

Not much has changed in the technology of carrying cases in the past 10 years until recently. In the past, cases could be bought with optional “skates” little skateboard attachments that strapped on a table and allowed a therapist to scoot it along. These skates became nightmares when you got to stairs. They added to the weight and you had to take them off and leave them at the bottom of the stairs where someone in the house could trip over them.

Now I notice that manufacturers are adding built-in wheels like the ones that come on suitcases. These new covers make the transition from floor to stairs with very little added weight. I love the scooter cases.

Best of all, there are those rare clients who have a massage room in their home. This is massage therapist nirvana. They have their own tables; linens and a few even have an electric (yeaa!) table.