MASSAGE TRAINING USA V UK

stages rather from day one. This offers a breadth of vision and depth to each practitioner when working with the public as well as extensive opportunities to study pathology, conduct research projects and develop complex assessment skills. The USA or Canada has very

marked differences in training compared to the UK. Most courses are full time and require basic training in many different areas of expertise before specialisation in specific fields. Most of the massage standards come from the state licensure which has been around in some states for the last 50 years. Even in states where there is no licensure, there are training institutes and schools of massage that provide programmes with a minimum 500 hour attendance. Some states like New York require 1000+ hours of supervised training. In Vancouver, the state has registered massage therapists (RMTs), with 3000 supervised hours. These professionals are in many ways more like nurses in the way that they are registered. A 500+ hour programme will contain essential anatomy, physiology and psychosocial aspects of touch in supervised clinics as well as varying modality programmes including perhaps Swedish massage, neuromuscular

SEEN AS A VIABLE INTERVENTION FOR HEALTH CARE

therapy, sports and orthopaedic massage, neo-reichian bodywork or shiatsu. This allows a practitioner to develop many skills of touch and variations in ways in which to approach the care of patients. The focus in the USA and Canada is increasingly on competency. This has led Canada to try and create a national standard for massage therapy. The Canadian Massage Therapy Alliance (CMTA) advocates a 2200 hour programme which includes regulation and stipulations on continuing education. There is also an interest in Canada for a multi-tiered category system for massage therapists. This could promote different levels of training from a basic therapeutic massage practitioner through to an advanced clinical massage therapist. There are undoubtedly pros and cons for singular or multi-tiered education which this article doesn’t have the opportunity to explore at this time. Whitney Lowe, from the Orthopaedic Massage Education & Research Institute in the USA, states that “the divergence in practice of massage as health or personal care is one of the largest issues facing the profession”. This may well be the case even though legislation and the development of professional bodywork practice is many years ahead in the USA.

North America reflects

this divergence through the varied programmes that offer 500 hour therapeutic massage courses through to associate degrees. Many

massage schools see the inclusion of kinesiology, movement and psychosocial studies as key

to their programmes, bring together different disciplines to educate the student in both the science and art of working with the body. The Boulder College of Massage Therapy in Colorado is one school that runs a degree programme with advanced

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MASSAGE THERAPY IN NORTH AMERICA, IS INCREASINGLY BEING

programs in neurophysiology, trauma and medical applications of massage, through to specific 150 hour modules in massage for orthopaedic conditions or massage through pregnancy. The course requires students to have a certain level of competency before embarking on the associate degree programme. This degree allows the massage therapist to explore their profession in more depth. According to Whitney Lowe, writing earlier this year, ‘massage therapy programmes in this case also start to prepare practitioners to be able to conduct, read and integrate research to their practices. This commitment to the development of massage in the wider health care communities and within medical establishments is mirrored by the programme at the University of Westminster where a research project is fundamental to the degree. This can be undertaken as an interdisciplinary model with students conducting research with the Acupuncture or Herbal Medicine departments at the School of Integrated Health for example. Massage therapy in North America, is increasingly being seen as a viable intervention for health care, with therapists working within a myriad of settings including hospitals, addiction clinics, sports medicine and neurological rehabilitation amongst other places. This is alongside the more traditional place of massage for wellness and relaxation in spas and natural health centres. In the UK we have relatively limited access to massage in healthcare services apart from in private sports settings and specific local health projects. It seems that massage has fallen from favour in the modern era with increasingly less specific soft tissue manipulation being conducted by physiotherapists or osteopaths, not assisted by, in my view, a lack of high quality training for massage therapists in the UK. I have noted a significant difference in competency and knowledge between therapists from North America

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