Education

In the first few years of my career in esthetics, I thought of massage therapy in a purely relaxation sense. That was the technique I had been trained in, and in the spa that I worked at, this was the kind of treatment that people were looking for. There was nothing truly therapeutic about it, apart from stress relief and the healing aspect of touch- which I suppose I shouldn’t down play, these are very valid and necessary things.

The break through for me when I was introduced to massage as being capable of more than putting me into la-la-land, was when I found myself suffering from debilitating head aches. I would work 8-9 hours a day, sometime treating up to 20 clients in that time-frame. The services I was giving were very physically demanding, whether it was pedicures, body treatments or massage, tension and repetitive strain in my upper body was breaking me down.

At the time I did not have any kind of medical coverage, I didn’t even know what a Registered Massage Therapist was, but I found a great practitioner and started going for massage every two weeks. I made it a priority and looked forward to each visit.

At first, I was not used to the therapeutic approach that my RMT took. She focused on specific areas of concern, rather than my whole body (which I was used to, coming from a swedish massage back ground). She also used techniques such as fascial work. This technique involves no lotions or oils, just a direct, slowly applied pressure, usually with the palm of the hand to the skin. The fascia is the tissue between your muscles and skin and by doing myofascial release techniques, RMTs helps to relieve muscle tension as well as heating up the muscle tissue and bringing circulation to the area.

Even though I wasn’t being directly reimbursed by an extended medical plan, I made room in my budget for these regular massages. The headaches I was getting were diminished and only came up when I had missed a regular appointment. I felt better physically and I felt happier- I think mostly because I was doing something nice for myself. I made ME a priority.

Not many people realize this, but you can also claim medical expenses on your taxes. I saved up all of my receipts for massage therapy and included them in my tax return. This really only works if you spend a lot of money- and the amount you need to spend will vary according to income- but it is still a nice perk for those of us without benefits.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across people who have health benefits, but do not use them! Most plans will have a limit to the amount of treatments they will cover for different types of extended medical treatments. It’s quite common for plans to offer $500 per calendar year. That could mean roughly one 60 minute massage every other month over the year. Or it could be treated as a supplement to regular massage therapy, budgeting $50/ month over a calendar year for massage therapy and sending in claims for every other treatment.

Whatever your situation may be, I can say from experience that regular massage therapy with a Registered Massage Therapist or Massage Practitioner, is good for body, mind and soul and is well worth the investment in YOU.

Learn more about massage therapy- visit the Massage Therapy Association of B.C.’s website: http://www.massagetherapy.bc.ca/

Tags: headaches, medical coverage, medical plan, muscle tension, myofascial release techniques, registered massage therapist, stress relief, swedish massage, therapeutic approach

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.