Fit to Print Volume 25 Issue 2 June 2016

Massage continued from page 4 With Jen, exposure began early and occurred frequently. “When I was a little girl,” she says, “I would come with my aunt to work out at the gym. This was about 25 years ago, so I've always known about the gym and then the spa because I grew up in the area.” Once again, word-of-mouth is a factor. “I discovered Incentives Organic Spa & Salon through a close friend of mine,” says Mehgan. “She’s been a student of Cor’s since the gym began on Grove Place, and she suggested I check out Incentives. I liked it, and I have practiced there exclusively for the past ﬁve years. Part of my thinking was that Fitness Incentive, which is directly related to Incentives, has a fantastic reputation. I ﬁgured Incentives would also be of similar quality. I quickly knew that Incentives was a wonderful place to work.” The Working Life It’s often easy, when we are the recipient of a product or service, to overlook how the provision of products and services is experienced from the point of view of the providers. I asked the therapists to talk about massage therapy from the therapist’s perspective. How did they combat getting tired from working long hours on patients? Did they get massages themselves when their muscles get tired? “Unfortunately,” says Mehgan “I think the "shoemaker has no shoes" syndrome comes into play here. I do combat aching muscles and long hours with massage therapy as often as possible, but not often enough!” “Even the ﬁttest massage therapist will burn out or risk injury after 25 hours of massage a week,” observes Jen. We alI sometimes get tired, yes, agrees Susan. “I have established a maximum workload for myself. This is something I worked out when I ﬁrst began. And then, I just try to get enough sleep, and, I can push through it. I love what I do. I also “practice what I preach” and will get massages myself, generally once a month for either 60 or 90 minutes. Because it is very physical and rigorous, you have to try to stay in shape to get through your day. Oddly, though, because you enter your treatment room and it’s so serene in there, as physical as the 16 The Art & Science of work is, you’re also relaxed. You’re caught up in that environment of dim lighting and soft music. The challenges are better met if you love what you’re doing.” For me,” continues Mehgan “the most challenging part of being a massage therapist is obtaining and retaining clientele. It’s challenging to realize consistent work and wages, but, having said that, I can honestly say that I’m not ‘in it for the money.’ Deb divides her time between vocations. “I work as an Occupational Therapist during the day, and do this only a couple of hours during the week. I can sometimes see approximately 2-4 clients a week. This helps with the challenge of physically being able to do the work.” We live in an age of specialization, and I was curious about whether the therapists considered aspects of what they do to be specialties. Deb identiﬁed Hot Stone and Maternity massage right away, but others spoke a bit more generally. Mehgan spoke more in terms of preferences than specialties, saying that she found administering prenatal massages especially satisfying. “I’m a Swedish Massage Therapist,” says Susan, “and I try to tailor my treatments to the speciﬁc and individual requirements of my clients. No two are the same.” “As for me,” says Jen, “I consider myself a holistic medical massage therapist. I combine western and eastern medicine into my treatments. Really, all massage can be considered medical—even if it's just for stress reduction. Medical is deﬁned as of or relating to the science of medicine, or to the treatment of illness and injuries. At a minimum, massage affects circulation throughout the body, and proper circulation nourishes your organs, muscles, ligaments and so forth. My specialty, and I think it’s true for all of us, is helping others achieve their goals on their road to wellness, and I agree with Susan: it's different for each person.” Evolution I mentioned in the introduction about Summer 2016 FIT to Print Nicole Broderick Kelly Prizzi my using the archaic term masseuse. Clearly massage has evolved over the years. What was once current and accepted is not necessarily any longer. I asked the therapists to talk about how the industry has changed. As will be seen, they identiﬁed a couple of alterations they regard as especially impactful. “I have one word,” says Mehgan. “Licensing. The schooling associated with licensing is essential to the knowledge and practice of massage therapy. The uneducated could apply pressure to the skull, the spine, and muscles resulting in, at the least, pain. The potential to harm someone is quite real.” “Our profession has been inﬁltrated by people who aren’t licensed, and who lack training and experience,” says Susan. “They have no anatomy background and are, frankly, hurting people. Clients are ﬁnding their way back to us now, saying, Hey…I’m injured. What can you do for me?” “Licensing means you're LEGIT and you are educated in the ﬁeld,” agrees Deb. “It’s important because it upholds a therapist to laws, standards of practice, and ethics, says Jen. “A licensed massage therapist has received an extensive education that includes but is not limited to myology, neurology, kinesiology, anatomy,

Fit to Print Volume 25 Issue 2 June 2016 | Page 16