Taking Responsibility for Your Profession

By Kathryn Feather
May 29, 2009

Taking Responsibility for Your Profession

By Kathryn Feather
May 29, 2009

The massage and bodywork profession is currently enjoying quite a nice spike in popularity. Studies abound describing an increase in use by the general public - all ages, both male and female - an increase in doctor referrals, and it still is the most popular treatment option offered at spas all around the world.

In the more than two years I've been covering this profession, I have definitely noticed an increase in the caliber of therapists entering this profession. More and more therapists are educating themselves on a variety of topics related to the massage profession, including a better understanding of human anatomy, the latest research studies available and how those results can be integrated immediately into practice. I've seen more and more therapists developing specialties including infant massage, cancer massage and elder care massage. The mainstream media also has picked up on the increasing popularity of massage. A simple Google search will yield thousands of articles in mainstream publications all over the world. Here at MPA Media, publishers of Massage Today, we've received inquiries from the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Consumer's Digest magazine, just to name a few. In short, this profession currently has tremendous forward momentum.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, people can get information on any topic almost instantaneously. And thousands of them are looking for more information about the massage and bodywork profession. For example, just in the month of July, massagetoday.com received 203,619 unique visits. This equates to more than 600,000 page views, as massagetoday.com contains more than 2,700 pages of information available to the public. People seeking to learn more about the profession can learn all about massage therapy, find a therapist in their area, investigate massage schools and programs, ask a therapist a question on the "Ask a Massage Therapist" forum and sign up for the To Your Health e-newsletter. The e-mail newsletter alone has a combined subscription of more than 21,000 people. The newsletter then directs these 21,000 people back to massagetoday.com, where they can access almost 1,400 articles.

With this many people - no matter their background - taking such a close look at the profession, it's time for all those involved to maintain the highest educational, ethical and professional standards. It's time for individual therapists to consistently take advantage of continuing education opportunities so their clients can receive the best care possible. It's time for the leaders of this profession to lead with integrity, professionalism and foresight. The current momentum can push the massage and bodywork profession to even greater heights, but it's up to those within the profession to make it happen.

With the public, the press and the allopathic community taking more notice of the massage profession and the health benefits it can provide, who is taking responsibility for the growth of the profession and who will maintain this forward momentum? Does the responsibility lie with the individual therapists or those in leadership positions within the various massage and bodywork organizations?

The answer, of course, is all of the above. Individual therapists and massage organizations, including but not limited to the NCBTMB, COMTA, AMTA, ABMP and FSMTB, will truly help advance the profession only by doing all of the following:

  • upholding ethical standards;
  • appropriately educating the public;
  • displaying true leadership;
  • striving for excellence;
  • caring about your clients; and
  • caring about each another.

Essentially, whether you're a massage therapist or a massage organization, your responsibilities are the same. Shared responsibilities, shared vision, shared passion - that's what defines a profession. And that's what the massage profession is all about - isn't it?

I look forward to what the next few years will bring for this profession. I hope that I can look back in another couple of years and see even greater achievement. You and I know firsthand the benefits of massage; it's time to make sure the rest of the world understands and embraces these benefits as well.

I welcome your thoughts on the state of the profession. Do you feel the massage and bodywork profession is headed in the right direction? Please share your insights by contacting me via e-mail at editorial@mpamedia.com, or by regular mail at:

Massage Today
P.O. Box 4109
Huntington Beach, CA 92605