CE INSTITUTE LLC BLOG

by Sandy Fritz

There are many ways to measure success and Massage Therapy as a career offers many many ways to create success from employment to self-employed, from a home office or mobile to working in a hospital. Satisfaction is a measure of success. Only you can determine what being satisfied means to you.

Massage Therapy is a one-on-one people career about one hour at a time and most stable with a retention client base serving the same group of people over and over. There certainly are other practice options such as a hospital based practice where clients pass through your hands after one or two sessions or in the resort practice with clients on vacation. The massage practice can be presented as a short term intervention targeting a specific issue. Even in these short term interactions connection and compassion are the foundation.

However, in my experience, the long term retention client practice is the most stable . Any one person can only sustain a relationship-personal or therapeutic (like with massage therapy clients) with a limited number of people. Many experts put the limits on group experiences at 12 people.

I limit my classes to 12 participates. Over my many years of practice my client base has hovered between 20-40 clients seen on a regular basis (weekly, every two weeks or monthly). There have been times when 10 -12 clients have filled my schedule.

Clients also have to be satisfied for a massage therapist to have a successful practice. A huge part of client satisfaction is connection. So, a successful massage career often involves a small circle of people. Keep this in mind as you develop and or redevelop your career vision. Some feel isolated or stagnant in this type of practice. Having a part time massage practice and another part time career focus is an option.

Some may find that it is time to move on into a different career path. There is some career pressure right now that is pushing massage therapists to question if the small massage practice is viable and the pandemic has created a time of reflection on your career satisfaction. Certainly it is fine to pivot and or expand or change career focus entirely.

It is also fine to realize that you are satisfied in your massage therapy career. The current circumstances will pass and we as a society will learn to adapt.

Massage Therapy creates connection - communicating through touch. We are valuable.

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

by Sandy Fritz

If you are contemplating a career shift in 2022 and are interested in massage therapy, now is the time to investigate. Learn about realistic career expectations related to scheduling, income, employment compared to self-employment, part time or full time, educational options, etc.

Massage Therapy is a wonderful career—IF—you really want to compassionately work with people within a health professions occupation in the health and wellness sector. But-- it is a physical occupation and one that requires focused attention to the clients.

Massage Therapy can be your first career, a career change or a retirement career. Income potential is similar to other vocationally trained health professions with realistic expectations for $30,000-$35,000 per year FULL TIME and at the lower range at entry level and certainly lower if working part time. Be skeptical if anyone tells you different.

Career advancement over time will influence income but realistic expectations are important in the beginning. And income is similar whether an employee or self-employed. Full time is generally considered 25-30 hours of actual massage time in a 35–40-hour work week. Many massage therapists work part time.

Health Enrichment Center School of Therapeutic Massage is a small school targeting quality education now and into the future. The instructors, Sandy and Luke Fritz, are the authors of a major textbook line. It is rare to be able to learn from the textbook authors.

The tuition is $7000 including books with no interest school payment plan available because we want students to own their education when they graduate. Schedule of classes is parttime primarily 1 day a week-Thursdays for the spring start and Wednesdays for the fall. The base monthly schedule plan is 3 days of class in Lapeer facility and 1-2 days ZOOM remote.

Additionally, there are clinic classes after midterm scheduled on first week of the month on Wednesdays for spring start and Thursdays for fall. Job shadowing hours have flexible schedule. The curriculum is updated every year to reflect the most current information. Graduates from all over the state have been able to successfully adapt their schedule, including travel time, to attend.

We only enroll 12 students in each class. The expectation is that students are self-motivated, committed to self-teaching by completing all online and homework assignments, accountable for their own educational success and want to be excellent massage therapists.

The instructing staff (Sandy and Luke +assistants) are committed to quality education and focused on individual student success BUT we will not babysit or tolerate students’ behavior that does not reflect the same level of commitment. This program is not for everyone.

Since the school is privately owned, we have ability for flexibility which is an advantage. However, before enrolling it is important that each student has self-evaluated readiness for the commitment required. Begin by investigating the school web page. We encourage you to investigate other schools as well. https://www.healthenrichment.com/

To learn more, you can view our post-graduate CE training for massage therapists at: https://ceinstitute.com/

by Sandy Fritz

Specialization in massage therapy practice is NOT about methods. It is about adaptation of foundational massage.

I acquired many specializations over my 40+ years of practice by being an excellent self-teacher, learning from clients with shared experiences, trial and error and classes about the specifics such as how to swing a golf club. Never was good at it but understood it better.

I ended up as a specialist for football by working with professional teams for 25 years. Same with basketball and golf.

I learned about sports injury because I looked up each one, over and over, thinking about how to help with massage application and not make it worse. I certainly learned from mistakes.

I learned about interdisciplinary care by being in the settings and working with others. I learned about pain both acute and chronic by staying up to date with research. This takes time.

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

by Sandy Fritz

My family owns a massage therapy franchise as well as a massage therapy school. I am very protective of the massage therapists that work for us. This includes injury prevention.

Had a client last week insist on a 90 min. session with the massage therapist only using hands and thumbs. We teach that excessive use of the hands is to be avoided and the thumbs should rarely be used.

I called the client and told them that their request has the potential to harm the massage therapist and they said that that is what they want as well as deep pressure so I told them we would not book them for a session. TADA!

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

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Sandy Fritz a well renowned massage therapist with more than 35 years of experience. She dedicates her time to writing massage texts for Mosby Publishing (Elsevier), educating, consulting, teaching, and providing massage to a mixed clientele. You can view or purchase Sandy's textbooks at: https://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/catalogsearch/result/?filter_multi_product_type=&q=sandy+fritz

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the views or opinions of CE Institute LLC.

#massage #LMT #bodywork #bodyworker #massagetherapy #scopeofpractice #communications #business #safety #health #wellness

 by Sandy Fritz

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

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Sandy Fritz a well renowned massage therapist with more than 35 years of experience. She dedicates her time to writing massage texts for Mosby Publishing (Elsevier), educating, consulting, teaching, and providing massage to a mixed clientele. You can view or purchase Sandy's textbooks at: https://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/catalogsearch/result/?filter_multi_product_type=&q=sandy+fritz

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the views or opinions of CE Institute LLC.

#massage #manualtherapy #manualtherapist #LMT #bodywork #bodyworker #massagetherapy #scopeofpractice #certification #learning #education #health #wellness

by Sandy Fritz

Understanding the client's history, medical conditions, past and present injuries and so forth are most relevant for understanding what NOT to do instead of what to "fix".

Also remember that many clients have goals for massage that have very little to do with their "conditions".

Remember to ask, " What is the outcome for you today?"

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

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Sandy Fritz a well renowned massage therapist with more than 35 years of experience. She dedicates her time to writing massage texts for Mosby Publishing (Elsevier), educating, consulting, teaching, and providing massage to a mixed clientele. You can view or purchase Sandy's textbooks at: https://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/catalogsearch/result/?filter_multi_product_type=&q=sandy+fritz

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the views or opinions of CE Institute LLC.

#massage #manualtherapy #manualtherapist #LMT #bodywork #bodyworker #massagetherapy #scopeofpractice #certification #learning #education #health #wellness #goals #communication

by Sandy Fritz

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Sandy Fritz a well renowned massage therapist with more than 35 years of experience. She dedicates her time to writing massage texts for Mosby Publishing (Elsevier), educating, consulting, teaching, and providing massage to a mixed clientele. You can view or purchase Sandy's textbooks at: https://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/catalogsearch/result/?filter_multi_product_type=&q=sandy+fritz

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the views or opinions of CE Institute LLC.

#massage #manualtherapy #manualtherapist #LMT #bodywork #bodyworker #massagetherapy #scopeofpractice #certification #learning #education #health #wellness

by Sandy Fritz

I have been involved in the massage therapy community for a LONG TIME. This provides a perspective of how massage therapy has evolved over time as well as a platform for the future.

Opportunities for a shift in paradigm rarely occur, but I strongly believe the International Consortium on Manual Therapies is an important development.

It is important that the massage community does not ignore the impact of this interdisciplinary global collaboration among those who use manual therapy in professional practice.

Who founded the International Consortium of Manual Therapies?
Brian Degenhardt, DO, Paul Standley, PhD, and Francesco Cerritelli, PhD, DO(Europe) founded the ICMT after collaborating at several osteopathic manipulative medicine conferences. They surmised that to truly advance the manual therapy field both scientifically and clinically, the 20th-century silos between professions needed to be removed and communication and collaboration needed to be established.

To begin this process, they decided that fundamental yet critical issues needed to be overcome, such as variation in nomenclature systems within and across professions, and to build a platform to improve communication between clinicians and basic scientists. It is from this perspective that ICMT’s first conference program was developed.

Practitioners who provide manual therapy are encouraged to attend:

• Athletic trainers
• Chiropractors
• Doctors of Chiropractic
• Doctors of Oriental medicine
• Doctors of physical therapy
• Manual medicine physicians
• Massage therapists
• Occupational therapists
• Osteopaths
• Osteopathic physicians
• Physiatrists
• Physical therapists
• Structural Integration practitioners

Importantly, the scientific community will be involved supporting evidence informed practice and identifying gaps for future research design.

What makes this conference different? / Why should I attend?
The ICMT is interactive; in most conferences, participants just watch and listen to lectures but at ICMT, participants actively engage in the entire program. You will be working with respected colleagues and peers from across the many manual therapy disciplines to collaboratively discuss the latest insights into manual therapies and to help shape future collaboration and research.

Committed to delivering a groundbreaking conference to members of the manual therapy community, we have identified a new “virtual venue” for the ICMT Inaugural Conference. We are enthusiastic that under these circumstances, we will be able to better engage the manual therapy community in May 2022 and achieve the conference’s goals using this format.

The ICMT website is: https://www.icmtconference.org/

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

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