What to do If a Client Needs to Use the Bathroom During a Massage or Bodywork Appointment

By Selena Belisle, CE Institute LLC Founder & Instructor

I recently had to go to the bathroom during a massage on a cruise ship!  People enjoying cruises are often eating and drinking more than they should on cruises, and I was no exception!

First is, to prevent this situation, clients should be asked if they need to use the restroom upon arrival at the massage establishment, especially if they are early. This is to help prevent their need to use a restroom during the actual massage or bodywork appointment. 

Unfortunately, if the client needs to use the restroom during an appointment, regardless of reason, practitioners must allow them to use it immediately, as soon as it is requested.  Denying the use of bathroom facilities at any time during a massage or bodywork appointment is simply bad business practices, if not inhumane or possibly even illegal to hold someone anywhere against their will.

It is good business practice to have a clean robe and slippers available for the client to use to get to the bathroom during an appointment, if the bathroom is not immediately accessible with privacy in their treatment room.  

Having a clean robe and slippers readily available in the treatment room will save time, given it’s usually quicker to slip on a robe instead of having to dress again in the client’s street clothes. Time is important because bodywork and massage appointments are usually provided for a specific period of time, and the time to use the bathroom should be INCLUDED as part of the client’s appointment time.  If they didn’t want that bathroom time included during their appointment, then they needed to show earlier for their appointment to use the restroom facilities before the appointment time started. Clients must recognize the fact that the therapist is working on a timed schedule.  That means that the therapist or other clients should not fall behind schedule because of one person’s need to use the restroom during their timed appointment, nor should a therapist's compensated time be affected by client’s bathroom break mid-appointment. This is why it’s important to ask a client if they need to use the restroom before they get on the treatment table, hopefully before the appointment time starts. Then, having a robe and slippers readily available in the treatment is recommended if a bathroom is not immediately accessible inside the treatment room, so that the effect or loss of paid treatment time is as minimal as possible to the client.  

It’s also important to make sure the bathroom is properly stocked at all times. There are some massage therapists in larger establishments that might say this is not their responsibility, but I beg to differ.  As a former Ritz Carlton Spa employee, the Ritz emphasized that all clients' needs are ALL staffs’ responsibility. The Ritz Carlton’s business philosophy was attempting to pass a patron's needs onto other staff when you could easily provide their request yourself is simple bad business.  Addressing a client’s needs with priority is the best service. As such, once a therapist dismisses themselves from the treatment room so that a naked client can dismount the table to use the restroom, it would be important to check the bathroom they will use quickly if you haven’t already, to ensure there is toilet paper, hand cleanser and a means to dry their hands after using the rest room.  

A robe will also help protect the client’s clothing if a greasy medium is on their skin, when they need the session to stop to go to the bathroom. Appropriate slippers will also help the client’s safety and stability, if they alternatively tried to use the restroom with bare feet or without socks, if greasy residue remains on their soles of their feet. Make sure that the slippers provided have good traction on harder floors, so that they do not slip, especially if they are rushing to use the bathroom! Providing items like paper slippers on harder floors can be extremely slippery, and create unnecessary risk for a client to fall while they might be drowsy or relaxed from their massage session too.  Afterall, being relaxed might have triggered their immediate need to use the rest room too.

Massage therapists who have lowered the lighting or changed the height on an electric treatment table should also readjust these items so that the client can safely dismount the table to use the rest room. Sometimes LMTs panic a little when a client says they need to use the restroom during a treatment, and they will quickly exit the room to try to save the most amount of time for the client’s hands-on service; however, this is not good or safe practice.  While we want to make a bathroom break as quick as possible for the client during a massage, especially seeing that bathroom break will count as part of their treatment time, it’s important to make sure they’re doing this safely, so that their needs are accommodated with best practices.  A client should not be exposed to injurious practices by a therapist who tried to help save a client’s time, but ended up exposing them to a higher risk of injury while doing so.

To learn more professional massage therapy practices and ideas, please visit: https://ceinstitute.com/