Working as a Massage Therapist

Though most massage therapists prefer to work part time or as an on-call basis, many people looking for more steady work than self-employment can provide often opt for a professional career in the health services and pain management fields. According to the MassageTherapyCareers.com website, many professionally-trained massage therapists find work in the offices of chiropractors where their techniques augment and compliment the techniques compliment each other; one working to adjust bones and joint while the other relieves the pent-up muscle tissue that has cramped in compensation. Massage therapists are also in high demand among retirement homes, assisted living communities, and other places where elderly patients are treated for a variety of afflictions. Massage therapists often help alleviate symptoms and discomfort associated with aging, surgery, and physical injuries in these areas. Massage therapists fill a vital role in eldercare as most pain medications can cause physical discomfort such as nausea, or become potentially addictive as well as necessitate the tight control of such substances. Both chiropractors and medical facilities dealing with elderly people are excellent career opportunities for the massage therapist who desires steady, fulfilling work in the medical field. Average income for massage therapists is around $70 an hour, but others with more extensive training, or specialized training, can earn up to $35 an hour.

One of the ways in which massage therapists progress into the higher earnings brackets is through additional training in different techniques. Doctor Milton Trager, originator of the Trager Method, developed an approach over 65 years of work as a massage therapist. Himself afflicted with physical deformity in his youth, Trager worked to alleviate his pain and disfigurement, laying the foundation for a lifetime's work. The Trager approach is a two-pronged approach in which the massage therapist is both an active participant and an assistant in the patient's well being. The tablework is where the techniques taught by the Trager method are executed by the massage therapist. No lotions, oils, or other lubricants are used; the point of the tablework is to release the pent up mental and emotional energies in the muscles. The massage therapist increases the client's mobility and releases much of the pain associated with these tensions. They then proceed to assist the client in practicing the Menastics portion of the therapy program. Menastics are the portion that is conducted by the patient on their own after being instructed on proper techniques by the massage therapist. Over a series of sessions, both tablework and Menastics aid in the increased mobility of the client and increased freedom from pain-inducing tension. The idea behind the Trager method is to assist the person in becoming active in their own bodily and mental health through physical movement and the application of the Trager method.

The Trager Approach, as it is sometimes referred to, has been taught to literally thousands of students who now practice in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and all throughout Europe. The Trager Method has been lauded as an excellent approach to physical pain management as well as a therapy for skeletal-muscular disorders and neuro-muscular disorders.