Relaxation massage - a blessing or curse for the massage industry?

Massage Therapy is one of the few health professions that bridges the gap between strictly therapeutic and relaxation/stress reduction. You wouldn't think of calling your chiropractor if you were stressed and wanted to unwind, would you? Or your Dentist because you had recently dealt with a loss in your life and needed some TLC? You wouldn't expect to see a Physiotherapist at a spa, either. But you could see a Massage Therapist.

We RMT's live in this hazy world somewhere in between "service" and "therapy" that is sometimes a tricky place to be. RMT's are employed in a wide range of settings from hospitals to high end spas and everywhere in between and because of this there is often a confusion within the public as to what massage is and also how to behave as a client. For example, one issue that has come up in the industry is tipping and whether or not it is appropriate or necessary to tip your Registered Massage Therapist. The College Of Massage Therapists of Ontario cmto.com that governs the profession, while not having a formal position on tipping, does asks registrants to "carefully think about how accepting a tip contributes to the perception that Massage Therapy is not a regulated healthcare profession but part of the service industry." This is why, in my clinic, we have instituted a no tipping policy for all services. We simply tell our clients to "come back or send a friend", because that is the best tip we can get. It is amazing how often the clients at our clinic are surprised at this and ask us why not? We simply explain that just as you wouldn't tip your Dr. or Chiropractor, you don't need to tip your RMT. A fair portion of the population does not know if RMT's are health professionals or service providers. Think about that for a second and think about how that affects our profession as a whole. RMTs are often not taken seriously by other health professionals - people who are governed by the exact same laws as we are, the Regulated Health Professionals Act RHPA. If they won't take us seriously, how can we expect the general public to?

It is both our blessing and curse that we are present in health and spa settings. We may not be taken seriously sometimes but we are, increasingly, everywhere.  Have you ever looked at a spa menu before? Have you ever NOT seen massage on that menu? On the opposite front, how many Chiropractic or multidisciplinary clinics do you know of that have several RMT's working for them? We are the bread and butter of both the health and spa industries and most people still have no idea about the range of conditions that can be helped by Massage Therapy - psychological, physical and emotional. We are able to help with all three and treat the body as a whole - body, mind and soul. And this is why the massage profession is booming. There are more schools popping up then ever before, the demand for RMT's is high and there are more jobs available, in a wider range of settings. But how do we define ourselves as RMT's if we don't know where we fit in? It's not always easy! I've had a hard time justifying certain treatments that present as mostly "relaxation" to my fellow colleagues and staff. I've not been taken seriously at times. But as I thought about it a little bit longer I realized that relaxation massage should be something to stand up for, be proud of. In my mind, "relaxation massage" is just as therapeutic as any "medical" massage treatment. And here is why:

Stress is a silent killer. Heart disease and stroke (which can both be caused from prolonged stress) are two of the three leading causes of death in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2008). Massage reduces stress and lowers blood pressure allowing our "rest and digest" parasympathetic nervous system to kick in which handles many of our internal body processes. Sadly, most of us are in a stressed state a large portion of the time (fight or flight sympathetic nervous system). Stress is ok in small doses, like when you need to make a deadline or are in a situation where you need to run for your life. But staying stressed all the time is deadly. Chronic stress exposes your body to unhealthy, persistently elevated levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that over time puts you at risk for numerous health problems such as anxiety, depression, heart disease, sleep problems and weight gain. It's like your body is constantly in "attack" mode and doesn't know how to shut off, as if you were running from a bear 24/7. And we get so used to feeling that way that it seems normal when it is far from it. Relaxation massage treatments in particular can help stop the stress cycle and allow your brain to switch off, returning to the "rest and digest" state that we should be in most of the time. Not to mention the fact that most clients that are in a stressed state are also suffering from chronically tight muscles, trigger points and other musculoskeletal complaints that massage can help with.

So the next time you write off a relaxation massage as being too "fluffy" - think again. It may just be what the Doctor ordered.