There are many different reflexology charts available for use today, but many of these charts do not have matching reflex points.  So how would a practitioner know which chart depicts accurate reflex points?

In this brief 10-minute video, we'll review several different foot reflexology charts to show what are commonly accepted reflex points, and more importantly, what might not be a commonly accepted as a true reflexology point depiction.

For comprehensive reflexology training, please visit and register at: https://ceinstitute.com/collections/reflexology

 #reflexology #reflexologycharts #massage #massagetherapist #bodyworker #massagetherapy #footreflexology

In this freebrief 9-minute video, we'll review several geriatric medical condition changes that occur with age.  Any massage therapist or bodyworker should know these conditions and more prior to working with a geriatric clientele. We'll briefly review cardiac changes, orthopedic changes, changes within the organs and more.

For comprehensive geriatric massage and bodywork training please visit and register at: https://ceinstitute.com/collections/geriatric-bodywork

#massage #massagetherapist #bodyworker #massagetherapy #geriatricmassage #geriatrics

Suggested appointment prices for manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) services are difficult to develop for some practitioners, especially when they first get started in the modality.

In this brief 7-minute video, we'll review some tips to follow if you're trained in lymphatic drainage and wondering what to charge for your service.  This video was primarily created for CE Institute LLC students who train in our MLD application - however some others may find it helpful.

For comprehensive lymphatic drainage training, please visit: https://ceinstitute.com/collections/lymphatics

Here is some basic info about setting prices in general for massage therapy and bodyworker services:

Here are some common questions, answers and tips about setting these massage prices:

What should I charge for a one-hour treatment or service?
Look to your local peers and consider what they are charging? Consider their property amenities, training or years of experience with their one-hour price. Then, look to your own practice and try to determine if your service is the same, less or better than what they are providing and charge accordingly.

It is important to consider your market’s average price for viability of your own.

Should I charge more for specialized work more so than a "regular" appointment?
This can be one of the most puzzling questions and situations in practice today.

One solution would be to charge a fairly high hourly rate and tell the client that they can have any type of service for this charge. Then, I may discount the service if it’s an easy appointment, or they book regularly, or whatever feels appropriate.

Sometimes I feel that massage therapists should charge a little more than their “average” market price so that there is room to offer discounts on slow days/seasons and for repeat/good clients.

Some customers may also be intrigued as to why you “costs” more than average, too. Keep in mind that good pricing involves providing your best possible service for the best possible charge.

How do I explain a price difference for different services?
While I personally charge an “expensive” one-size-fits-all price for services, some therapists will have a low base price for massage, and charge more for additional modalities.

It’s perfectly acceptable to charge more for harder or complicated work. Here are three reasons why therapists can (and sometimes should) charge more:

Additional equipment and/or training was involved to provide the service; therefore, a higher price will recoup the financial investment for training and/or equipment. This is often applicable for prenatal, stone, aromatherapy, NMT and so forth.

The work is physically “harder,” which means you will not be able to provide as many appointments that day. This is often applicable for deep tissue and hot stone work.

Extra time is required to provide the service. This often applicable to mobile appointments, stone work, prenatal, shirodhara, etc. (Be sure to add any parking expenses to a mobile appointment price, too!)

What is the best practice to charge for add-on services?
You should always charge for “add-ons” such as a foot scrub, paraffin or anything else that would not be normally added to the scheduled service.

If you do provide “add-ons,” it’s important to publicly post a detailed price list of these add-on services on your website, at the reception counter and/or in your service menu.

And, if a client requests an “add-on” during service, tell them the additional costs for the “add-on” before it is provided. While it’s never ideal to talk about money during a service, it could also be considered unethical to charge more than agreed without the client’s informed consent.

Setting your own appointment prices can often feel confusing and conflicting.

Using these guidelines will hopefully help make decisions about this important process. Be upfront, honest and clear about pricing.  Regardless of what you charge, you should always provide a professional, reputable service that is reliable for your customers.

Good business usually provides good prices, so don’t be shy to charge what you’re worth, and let those cash registers ring!

 #manuallymphaticdrainage #mld #lymphaticdrainage #massagetherapist #bodyworker

Contact time, also known as dwell time, must be observed to achieve proper sanitation and disinfection. We'll review several different types of disinfectants in this video and how to exercise proper contact times with the various products. This quick, 11-minute video, will also review the differences between cleaning, disinfection and sanitation practices.

For more comprehensive education, please visit and register at for training at: https://ceinstitute.com/

Are You Cleaning, Disinfecting, or Sanitizing?
What is the difference between cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing? The CDC’s report, “Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility,” states:

Cleaning: Physically removes germs, dirt, and impurities from surfaces or objects by washing with soap or detergent and water and rinsing or wiping them away.

Disinfecting: Generally uses chemicals to kill germs on surfaces or objects. Surfaces or objects must be cleaned prior to applying a disinfectant for efficacy. Disinfectants do not work properly through the physical debris that must first be removed during cleaning.

Sanitizing: Lowers the number of germs on surfaces or objects by either cleaning or disinfecting to lower the risk of infection.

Contact time, also known as dwell time, for disinfectants, is the amount of time a surface should remain wet to achieve a sanitization product’s desired result. Disinfection is less effective when proper contact times are not observed. Contact times also require a proper amount of disinfectant, which is just as important as the contact time itself.

For example, some products advertise that they kill 99.9% of germs; however, to kill those 99.9% of germs there is usually a contact time where the surface area must remain wet with the disinfectant.

A contact time, on average, can last between 30 seconds to 10 minutes—or more. The Environmental Protection Agency notes: “If you are using an EPA-registered disinfectant, the product label will contain the dilution and contact-time information along with other critical safety information.”

Sanitizing is less effective when proper contact times are not observed. Contact times also require that a proper amount of sanitizing product is applied, which is just as important as the contact time itself. Here are some examples of products you might be using where contact times should be practiced and adhered to:

Disinfecting Wipes: Some of the most popular household wipes (including those made by Lysol and Clorox) recommend that the surface being disinfected must remain wet for four minutes after being wiped. Disinfectant wipes are perfect to wipe down your massage therapy table, face cradle (including its handles), table leg knobs, door handles or any other hard surface in your massage therapy practice room.

Disinfecting Sprays: In addition to contact time, sprays may have further directions, such as distance to spray a surface to sanitize it. Lysol recommends spraying for three to four seconds within 6 to 8 inches of the surface being sanitized and a contact time of three minutes where the surface must remain wet.

Bleach Solution Soak: When one-third cup of household bleach is mixed with 1 gallon of water, objects should usually be immersed for not less than 60 seconds and not more than 10 minutes, depending on what is being disinfected.

Hand Sanitizer: Hands should remain wet with a hand sanitizer for at least 20 seconds after application. Contact time language is usually not used with hand sanitizer, but I feel it’s appropriate because many will not wet their entire hands with hand sanitizer—nor keep them wet for at least 20 seconds with plentiful product. Our sparing use of sanitizing agents today is mostly born from the appalling shortage of sanitizing agents available during this pandemic, which has not been helpful in preventing the spread of germs.

If You Don’t Use Contact Time, Are You Really Sanitizing?
The four sanitizing products and practices listed above have contact times that range from 20 seconds up to 10 minutes, where the surface areas or objects being sanitized must remain wet. Proper sanitation is regularly not achieved if a product’s contact time is not provided.

Some massage therapists will spray or wipe a surface area with a sanitation product and then wipe it dry without allowing for contact time. Are you one of them? This is one of today’s most widespread and improper uses of a sanitizing product. It is important to not rush the sanitization process and instead adhere to proper contact times, or else the entire effort could be an expensive waste of time and leave you exposed to a dirty or infected workspace.

Hard surfaces versus porous objects can have different contact times. Different kinds of sanitizing agents, as well as different sanitation-product manufacturers, could have contrasting instructions.

It is extremely important to follow each product’s individual instructions to keep yourself and your clients safe and healthy, especially during this viral age of COVID-19. It only takes a few seconds to read and practice these various uses, but those few seconds could make the difference of properly sanitizing your business—or leaving it exposed to germs. 

#sanitation #disinfection #cleaning #contacttime #dwelltime #massage #massagetherapy #massagetherapist #spa #cosmetology #esthetics

In this 23-minute video, we'll review ice massage and other cryotherapy applications to help relieve pain, swelling and other acute diagnosed injury. We also discuss theory of why ice can cause reddening in soft tissue and more.  Practitioners should seek greater cryotherapy treatment training prior to applying. 

For comprehensive training in soft tissues treatments, please visit and register at: https://ceinstitute.com/

 #icemassage #ice #cryotherapy #sportsmassage #athletes #athletictraining #icebath #coldwaterbath #contrastbath #massage #massagetherapy #massagetherapist #therapy

We have a new free 30-minute training video that teaches massage therapists and other practitioners about several various heated thermotherapies that are easily available for business practice today.  Adding heated thermotherapy applications to your practice is easy and affordable, but should only be practiced with adequate training to ensure efficacy and do no harm.

For comprehensive training in soft tissues treatments, please visit and register at: https://ceinstitute.com/

 #thermotherapy #heat #heattreatment #massagetherapist #massage #massagetherapy #hotstones #hotstonemassagetherapy #paraffin #hottowel #hydrocollator #bodywraps #aromatherapybath #aromatherapyshower #biomat #heatedfleece

This free 30-minute training video shares how to setup Massage Therapy Valentine's Day Appointment Specials.  Creating Valentine's Day Specials can help massage therapists:

• Diversify work
• Boost income
• Increase business exposure
• Gain new clients

Valentine’s Day Appointment Specials Supplies Needed to Offer these Valentine's Day Specials Include:

1. Red Paper
2. Valentine’s Day Decorations
3. Foot Soak Bucket(s)
4. Reading Materials
5. Individually Wrapped Chocolates
6. Water, Apple Cider, Other Beverage Options
7. Container for Individually Wrapped Chocolates
8. Recycled or Reusable Beverage Containers
9. Chocolate Massage Oil
10. Unscented host Oil or Massage Cream
11. Scrub Abrasive: Salt, Sugar, Ground Chickpea, Coffee Grounds

To learn more, please register for quality, affordable, professional training at: https://ceinstitute.com/

Earlier this year, CE Institute LLC Instructors Jacqueline Tibbett & Selena Belisle were published in Massage Magazine for Cryotherapy Applications.  Their article discusses applications of ice massage and creating cold packs with benefits, contraindications and more.

Cryotherapy is an age-old medical practice, first documented for use after surgery by Hippocrates in the fourth century BC. Physician James Arnott (1797-1883) was a pioneer of cryotherapies and described the use of cold for headache, skin infections, and other painful disorders.1 Sebastian Kneipp used cold water therapies around the same period for both animal and human health.

So, how does a modern-day massage therapist use cryotherapy to provide health benefits?

Ice Massage
The cryotherapy practice of ice massage can provide natural, opioid-free, pain relief for clients in need. Anyone can apply an ice pack or follow R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation) to treat their own injuries; however, ice massage uses a slightly more skillful approach and can be additionally applied to treat areas where a client may not be able to comfortably reach on their own.

Ice massage is inexpensive and easy to apply when properly trained. There are a variety of applications or supplies that can be used to add ice massage to your practice:


1. Purchase paper Dixie cups, fill with water to the top of the cup and freeze. Tear away the top three-quarter-inch of the cup, turn the ice cup upside down and massage the surface area with the exposed surface of ice.

2. Purchase the re-useable plastic cups available on such retailers as Amazon and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

3. Use regular ice cubes with a small piece of paper towel or jar gripper.

It is recommended to keep a towel close to your ice massage to absorb melted ice from running over the client’s body or your equipment.

When applying ice massage, the standard is to lightly massage the skin with small, circular movements in a small, local area. Leaving ice in one place for too long can damage underlying tissues, causing greater pain and problems for the client.

Ice massage can be uncomfortable when it is first applied, as it is very cold. However, after prolonged exposure of two minutes or more, the analgesic effects usually begin, with pain relief and other benefits.2 Never massage an area with ice for more than 10 minutes and confine the treatment to lesser times depending on the client’s medical condition and response.

Cold Pack Options
When ice massage is contraindicated, such as working directly over new surgical stiches, a cold pack might be another cryotherapy option. Cold packs should be applied on top of a barrier such as a towel, on top of the body for a limited period of time to prevent tissue damage.

A cold modality should never be placed underneath a client, nor should a client ever lie on top of cold packs or any form of cold or hot thermotherapy. Common household items that can be used to create a cold pack include:

1. Fill a clean sock with rice then tie or knot the sock to seal the rice inside.

2. Pour any brand of liquid dish detergent into two overlapping zip lock bags to prevent leakage.

3. Place a wet sponge or wet towel in a zip lock bag.

4. Use a bag of frozen peas.

Just toss any of these cold pack options into a freezer for an hour or longer to allow them to become cold. You can also purchase reusable cold packs from retailers. Using moldable flexible packs are the best option. Be sure to sanitize the outer surface of a cold pack if it is reused.

How Does Cryotherapy Affect the Body?
Physiologically, cryotherapy has been shown to decrease tissue blood flow and reduce tissue metabolism.3,6 This results in a reduction of inflammation, muscle spasms and pain perception.2,4,5

One study showed a 20-minute knee ice-wrap decreased soft tissue blood flow by 26%. The study concluded that by decreasing blood flow, ice theoretically can limit hemorrhage and cell death after injury.3 Decreases in blood flow after cold treatment have additionally shown to reduce swelling and slow the delivery of inflammatory mediators (such as leukocytes), reducing inflammation in the affected area.4

Why Do Iced Areas Redden?
You may have seen local reddening of tissue after a few minutes of cryotherapy application. How is this possible when there is supposed to be a blood flow reduction?

This reddening could be explained by something called cold-induced vasodilation, also known as the hunting response. The hunting response is thought to be the body’s attempt to use specific thermoregulatory areas of blood vessels to create homeostasis and defend against tissue damage, hence the reddening of a cold-induced area.6

Soft Tissue Compliance in Cryotherapy Applications
Recent studies have shown that cold application may increase muscle tissue stiffness.7,8,9 As such, massage therapists should be cautious about stretching and manipulating soft tissue after applying cold.Cold application can also decrease sensitization, which can reduce the client’s ability client to feel or provide accurate feedback about bodywork intensity or pressure. Inadvertent soft tissue injuries are possible if a practitioner manually manipulates stiff musculature in a cold-induced, desensitized area.

Because cold application can adversely affect soft tissue compliance, we do not recommend massage after full body cryotherapy applications unless there is no need to consider tissue compliancy. As such, cryotherapy modalities such as a cold stone massage may be best applied to a local area such as a cold stone facial to relieve mild facial puffiness as opposed to a full-body cold stone treatment.

The same applies to cold water baths. Smaller cryotherapy baths may be wonderful for a local area such as swollen ankle or sprained wrist, especially if the bath could be elevated and administered above the client’s heart. Full-body immersion cryotherapies, such as a cold plunge that may flush the client’s tissues with vasoconstriction, may be best administered post-massage, when the practitioner is no longer stretching, kneading or manipulating the soft tissues of the body.

Caveats and Contraindications for Cryotherapy Applications
There are some standards that should be observed when practicing ice massage. There should be no signs of infection and the skin must be whole or intact. Applying ice massage over a recent surgical incision that is unhealed or any practice that could increase the risk of infection or cause greater tissue damage is ill-advised.

Acute post-surgical cryotherapy would use methods such as a stationary cold pack application to recently incised skin, instead of an ice massage. Once the skin is healed and intact after surgery, ice massage may then become a cryotherapy option.

The timing of the cryotherapy application such as before or after other soft tissue modalities should be considered in addition to the length of exposure to avoid tissue damage.

There are other medical contraindications for cryotherapy such as circulatory insufficiency, cold allergy, and advanced diabetes. Practitioners should seek proper training in cryotherapy modalities prior to practicing.

In Summary
Adding cryotherapy to one’s practice could expand your number of clients seeking opioid-free, non-invasive pain relief treatment. Learning the science behind how cold works within the human body, as well as the various applications and contraindications, may help boost your practice to reach and help a greater population than with just massage alone.

To learn more, please register for quality, affordable, professional training at: https://ceinstitute.com/

Please click HERE to view the article in full detail.

1. Evans PJD. Cryoanalgesia: The application of low temperatures to nerves to produce anaesthesia or analgesia. Anaesthesia. 1981;36(11):1003-1013. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2044.1981.tb08673.x

2. Nadler SF, Weingand K, Kruse RJ. The physiologic basis and clinical applications of cryotherapy and thermotherapy for the pain practitioner. Pain Physician. 2004;7(3):395-399. doi:10.36076/ppj.2004/7/395

3. Ho SSW, Coel MN, Kagawa R, Richardson AB. The Effects of Ice on Blood Flow and Bone Metabolism in Knees. Am J Sports Med. 1994;22(4):537-540. doi:10.1177/036354659402200417

4. Deal D, Tipton J, Rosencrance E, Curl W, Smith T. Ice reduces edema. A study of microvascular permeability in rats. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2002;84(9):1573-1578. Accessed August 27, 2021. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12208913/

5. Hubbard TJ, Denegar CR. Does Cryotherapy Improve Outcomes With Soft Tissue Injury? J Athl Train. 2004;39(3):278. Accessed August 22, 2021. /pmc/articles/PMC522152/

6. Daanen H. Finger cold-induced vasodilation: a review. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2003;89(5):411-426. doi:10.1007/S00421-003-0818-2

7. Lee SU, Bang MS, Han TR. Effect of cold air therapy in relieving spasticity: Applied to spinalized rabbits. Spinal Cord. 2002;40(4):167-173. doi:10.1038/sj.sc.3101279

8. Point M, Guilhem G, Hug F, Nordez A, Frey A, Lacourpaille L. Cryotherapy induces an increase in muscle stiffness. Scand J Med Sci Sport. 2018;28(1):260-266. doi:10.1111/sms.12872

9. Drinkwater E. Effects of peripheral cooling on characteristics of local muscle. Med Sport Sci. 2008;53:74-88. doi:10.1159/000151551

Earlier this year, CE Institute LLC Instructors Jacqueline Tibbett & Selena Belisle were published in Massage Magazine for Heated Thermotherapy Applications.  Their article discusses applications of hot towels, hot stones, paraffin bath, heated poultice, hydrocollator packs, table warmers, body wraps, cryotherapy comparisons, contraindications, and more.

Please click HERE to view the article in full detail.