Choosing the Right 건마 Massage Therapy School For You
You’ve decided to go to 건마 massage therapy school, so you begin researching and find there are more than 300 accredited massage schools and programs in the United States. With so many options, you need a game plan for choosing the right massage therapy college for you.
Begin by learning about the massage therapy profession in general and the different methods of massage therapy. The United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics provides an in-depth overview of the occupation of Massage Therapist. Here you can find out about the nature of the work, training and other qualifications, employment, job outlook, projections Data, Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) data, related occupations, and sources of additional information. Another good source for obtaining information about the massage therapy industry is the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA). The National Center for Complementary And Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) also provides an overview of the vocation, including the history of massage.
Next you will want to learn more about the different methods of massage therapy. There are more than eighty different recognized massage modalities, according to the NCCAM. Some examples of the most common modalities include Swedish massage, sports massage, shiatsu bodywork, deep tissue massage and reflexology. You can find a glossary of types of massage and bodywork on the Massage Therapy website provided by the Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP).
Research the requirements to practice massage therapy in your state or where you plan to practice. As of October 2009, 44 states in the U.S. and the District of Columbia regulate the practice of massage therapy. According to the 2009 AMTA industry fact sheet, massage therapists have an average of 633 hours of initial training. For a complete listing of state practice laws, education requirements, contact names and other useful information, go to the AMTA website and click on Legislation/Regulations or call 800-458-2267.
Consider your career intentions and determine your goal. Do you see yourself managing a private practice? Do you want to work in a medical environment? Do you want to work with specialized populations such as elderly care or pre- and postnatal massage? Setting your goal will assist you in evaluating the cost and value that each school offers. Some programs focus exclusively on relaxation massage, others focus on orthopedic modalities.
