Is Massage Therapy the Career for You?

If you are considering training for a career in massage therapy but aren’t sure if it’s the right move for you, there are things you can do to help inform this important life decision. Massage therapy helps millions of people cope with physical ailments, sore muscles, and emotional distress, but how do you figure out if your heart’s in the right place?

You might be good with your hands, but are you also patient and empathetic? Massage therapists need to be concerned about other people’s holistic wellbeing. Receiving a massage is a very intimate experience. A good massage therapist respects that the art of massage is both physical and emotional.

A great way to learn more about the massage arts is to talk with a massage therapist, and get a massage yourself. Ask plenty of questions about what the profession entails, and start thinking about what type of massage therapist you want to be.

Do some research. Look online for information about different types of massage, or check out massage books at your local library. You can learn a lot about massage therapy just by reading about it.

Perhaps some aspects of being a massage therapist aren’t as interesting to you as others. Fortunately, there are many specialties in massage therapy, and most massage therapists concentrate on one or more of these, especially when starting out.

Different types of massage are used to achieve different results; some are geared toward healing muscles, some toward easing stress, and others toward helping with specific physical ailments. While you can, and probably will, learn more than one massage style, it’s a good idea to think about what you’re most interested in so that you can be sure to get appropriate training.

Here are a few different types of massage to look into:

• Sports massage. This form of massage is designed to help athletes recover from injuries and everyday play, allowing them to perform at their physical best at the next game.
• Clinical massage. This focuses on using massage to heal physical ailments. A thorough understanding of anatomy is required.
• Swedish massage. This is the most common type of massage, and is used for both healing and relaxation purposes. Deep tissue massage is a similar form of massage, but more pressure is exerted on the muscles.
  Reflexology, reiki, acupressure, and hot stone massage are all special types of massage that serve specific purposes.

Call 702-202-2455 to learn about European Massage Therapy School’s curriculum. We offer a specialized approach to massage therapy education. Our program includes the advanced techniques necessary to succeed in the massage therapy industry of today and tomorrow!