Has Massage Therapy Lost its Roots?

by Mike Hovi

Ever ask a fellow massage therapist what they do? I am willing to bet most don’t say they do massage.

Instead, they respond with, “I do cranial”, or maybe “I do Myofascial Work”, or “I use lots of aromatherapy”, or some other “modality.”

Isn’t it interesting we were all trained as Massage Therapists, yet so many of us don’t do a majority of our work using Massage? I know in my practice, I do primarily clinical based work, or I suppose you could call it medical massage.

Where I teach, we define Clinical Massage as the assessment and then application of massage therapy techniques to relieve soft tissue based dysfunctions. In other words, take an extensive health history, both written and then a follow up with an oral review of the history.

Next, do a postural assessment, Active and Passive Range of motion, resisted testing, and then possibly orthopedic testing (though in the massage world they are called “Special Tests”) if appropriate for the symptoms.

The objective of the assessment is to determine several different things including: 1) What is the source of the client’s symptoms? 2) Can massage help relieve the cause of the problem, and in turn, resolve their symptoms? 3) What Techniques and protocols would be most effective in resolving the source of the client’s symptoms?, and 4) Is the problem beyond my Scope of Practice and I need to refer them out?

So the next logical question should be “So what are the techniques that are used by the massage therapist?”

When you look at the State Massage Licensing Act, it defines massage as:

“Massage or massage therapy means; a system of structured palpation or movement of the soft tissue of the body. The system may include, but is not limited to, techniques such as effleurage or stroking and gliding, petrissage or kneading, tapotement or percussion, friction, vibration, compression, and stretching activities as they pertain to massage therapy. These techniques may be applied by a licensed massage therapist with or without the aid of lubricants, salt or herbal preparations, hydromassage, thermal massage, or a massage device that mimics or enhances the actions possible by human hands. The purpose of the practice of massage, as licensed under this Act, is to enhance the general health and well-being of the mind and body of the recipient.

Massage does not include the diagnosis of a specific pathology.

Massage does not include those acts of physical therapy or therapeutic or corrective measures that are outside the scope of massage therapy practice as defined in this Section.”

Nowhere in the above paragraph (taken directly from the “Illinois Massage Licensing Act”) does it mention myofascial release, or cranial sacral, or manual lymph drainage, etc., yet I bet a majority of massage therapists use many of techniques not mentioned in the licensing act.

Does that mean we are all doing things inappropriately, or worse, illegally? I don’t think so, not at all.

The techniques I have mentioned still palpate or move the soft tissue of the body. We still use many of the individual techniques spelled out in the Act when we do our different modalities. We just don’t necessarily use them in the course of a full body Wellness Massage.

I think what we as a profession have done is to evolve. We use the techniques we were taught in school, but we use them differently, and might I add, more effectively than therapist did in our professions past.

Our results in easing our client’s pain and returning them to a state of general wellness have increased exponentially. Our skills and modalities are now more researched based, explaining why things work, instead of just making assumptions.

So, as I asked in the title of this article, “Has Massage Therapy Lost its Roots”, I have to say yes and no.