to train or not?

Hi Canard - reading your post I just get the impression that you have niggling doubts about doing the sports massage course. If in doubt - don't! During my life in this business I have met therapists who have done courses on this that and the other and either never used what they learned, or gone back to their original basic training and stuck with it - a large number, sadly, have not continued in therapy work at all and took up other careers.

Have you ever had a sports massage treatment? I have only ever trained in therapies that I have personally experienced and enjoyed. It started with remedial massage (a long time ago!), reflexology, MLD (manual lymphatic drainage) and latterly Bowen Technique. I have to say that 80% of my work is in lymphoedema treatment (using MLD) for cancer patients.

Have you thought about Shiatsu, which would compliment your yoga work - I have several colleagues who trained in both and love it.

Thanks for your reply, Jabba. That's good advice - I'll certainly bear it in mind. No, I've not had sports massage treatment, although I have had totally ineffective swedish style massage for issues back in the past before I knew better at health centres that should have known better, so I know I won't simply be returning to my initial training! I definitely want to build on it...I'll look into Shiatsu - it's certainly worth a thought. Thanks again.

Are you really enthused by Thai massage? You may find that shiatsu is a bit too similar to really add to what you do.
Are you after more massage you can do on the floor? Or do you want something you can do on a massage table?

You'd have a good A&P basis from your yoga teacher training, wouldn't you? I'd suggest fascia as being something to look into. You'll probably find it helps with the yoga teaching too. Anatomy Trains has some fantastic short courses, just 2 or 3 days where you could get an idea if you want to persue it. They are running the intro 2 day course next month in Bristol and Oxfordshire, and the longer courses in Oxfordshire next year. I got a huge amount of benefit from the courses I did with Tom Myers. Highly recommend them 🙂 The courses I did had a lot of sports massage people on them, but also osteopaths, physiotherapists, yoga teachers, chiropractors, personal trainers, etc

You already have a lot of experience!

Thanks Cola!

Yes, fascia is definitely an area of interest. Thanks for pointing out the training days. Found the Myers book a little impenetrable, so would be great to go along to a course.
I think in my case the Shiatsu would definitely complement the Thai massage - for me a bit of overlap would be a good thing. I think I can safely say that I'm now far too confused to take on anything major immediately, which is probably good! I'll spend a bit of time exploring options and somehow find a way to save up a bit of money! :confused:

Sports massage will open up a whole new world for you in terms of clients - and yes it's entirely possible to focus on everyday people rather than sports people (my ratio of clients of prob about 70/30 in that respect).

There are always going to be people out there who are more qualified than you, I'd say even with your existing Holistic and Thai Massage qualifications, the very best thing you can do is get out there and start treating people, to get some experience and build up your confidence - walk before you can run. In my experience, it's quite common for people to go straight from Holistic Massage training straight into Sports Massage training (I did), without any experience of treating people in between, and it can leave a lot of people not feeling confident enough to get out there and treat people/compete with existing therapists once the course finishes.

Sports Massage is pretty technical in itself, and will give you a very sound base from which to go on to further training. From Sports Massage, I have gone on to specialise in structural myofascial work, and that is my usp where I live, and draws in the clients. I get numerous clients coming disallusioned from their physios, chiros and even osteopaths at times, so no longer have aspirations to re-train within those fields. At the end of the day, you'll get from this career what you're prepared to put into it - but the scope is massive.

ps I tried to book a Thai massage for myself, 4 weeks ago, not one of the 3 people I contacted got back to me! 😀

Hello
Just wondering whether anyone could give me some advice. I'm new to massage. In the last year I've completed a Thai massage diploma and ITEC level 3 holistic massage. (I'm also a yoga teacher) I've enjoyed this, but I'm aware that these skills aren't really enough to start putting myself out there as a massage therapist just yet. So I'm starting a voluntary placement with the holistic massage and am considering applying for a sports massage course at nlssm (this is to do with timetabling so I'm not really looking for provider advice). Being skint and in debt, I don't really want to add to my financial woes - I don't really want to pay another small fortune and emerge in a year's time to find that there are few opportunities, and it's just another unused qualification to add to my considerable stack!:( So I guess my question is, do you think training as a sports massage therapist is realistic in terms of career/financial renumeration? I should probably add that I'm not a sports person. I'm not necessarily terribly interested in working with professional sports people (although, of course, this may change). I'm more interested in being able to help ordinary people feel better in their bodies, in the same way that I feel (passionately) that yoga does. While I'm aware there are other modalities that do this, I'm drawn to the anatomical grounding of SM - I'm looking for a more solid foundation than what I've got at the moment. (For this reason I've also considered physio training, but that's an even bigger plunge.) Any thoughts very very gratefully received!:)

In my experience as a trainer, I have found that lots of sports massage therapists have to go on to further training to compete in this industry. I train lots of massage therapists myself, and find they come to me as they just can't make massage alone work.

As a clinic owner, I find that relatively few people come in for massage, compared with lots of people coming in with musculoskeletal problems, many of which, regardless of what training schools tell you, cannot be corrected with sports/remedial massage alone.

Sports Massage is a great starting point for a career, but expect to spend more money once you have graduated, learning the skills needed to compete.

Hi,

Here is my tuppence worth - I trained in 1995 in therapeutic massage and that was when I did my A&P training then too. I then found when I did my sports massage training ten years later that my massage skills advanced by leaps and bounds. Due to the fact that I learned more in depth about the muscles and their relation to the skeleton, their actions, possible injuries etc etc. Having read various books on acupressure and massage and having done a traditional thai massage course in Thailand, I have then developed my style of massage into what it is now. I am going on a myofascial soft tissue release course in Brighton with Andrew Chick this weekend and cannot wait!! I think with any form of massage there are a couple of reasons why, IMHO, you will want to add to your skill set. Firstly, only ever learning one routine and one style can leave you bored after a while. Secondly the information you learn in future short courses can whet your appetite; more is discovered about the body and the way it functions and new techniques are taught as science and massage therapy advances.

The long and short of what I am trying (somewhat badly) to say is; like Jabba said, if your gut says no, then don't do it. However, like MikeOC says, the majority of my clients aren't sports people, they are just people who present with bad necks/backs/shoulder injuries etc etc and what I learned whilst doing my SM was invaluable. So, if as you say, like me you are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo not interested in sport :D, then you don't have to pretend to be! (I once thought there was a fight on a football pitch until someone explained it was rugby.. and don't even get me started on the amount of times I committed numerous faux pas (pl?) on the rugby field (pitch?) when volunteering for the local rugby team whilst doing my SM training... such as running on with the water.. and giving it to the wrong team :rolleyes:).

Good luck in what you choose to do 😀

Thanks mikeoc, sportstherapy and Delighted,

Useful stuff and more to think about. Good to know you've all found sports massage useful outside of a sports setting, and, Delighted, good to know you can be a bit clueless about it!! The other team probably needed water, too;) Lots to think about and even more confused, but kind of in a good way!:confused:

Hi canard,

For what its worth, I think you should consider starting to practice now.
The therapies you are qualified in were meant to be practitioner courses afterall. Ultimately, I believe it is only by getting practice and lots of it that you will gain confidence, more so than doing course after course. Who knows, you may even get to make a bit of money, and you will certainly start to get to know the industry and also be able to weigh up what interests you with what provides opportunities. Sometimes when we are still studying, we have certain interests which change or get replaced by others as we gain more experience. You may be familiar with this in your yoga teaching where we mostly learn the basics of teaching yoga and as we practice and teach, maybe become drawn to a particular style which we want to explore. So it is with therapies, I think. You may start off with Swedish and find you want to know more about fascia, but another may decide on handsfree techniques. If you decide to do more courses straight away, you may find that by the time you have practiced for a while, your interests or capabilities have changed so much that you are not so interested in some of the things you have studied, but are being drawn to something else. So I think you should stop waiting and just go for it.........the other courses will still be there!

Love
Crystal elf

Fantastic post CrystalElf... hear hear!

I definitely think you should start practicing now Canard. (Why have you chosen the name Duck? :p) - Get stuck in! (And yes the other team did need water but I don't think there was any need for the laughter that ensued - or the swear words emitting from my team)..

Hi Canard

I don't know where you have trained but having Thai, Holistic and Yoga should be a high skills base. Thai is partly a myofascial-based treatment and a highly effective sports & remedial technique, and is easily integrated into a Holistic/Swedish massage treatment. Massage clients may be interested in your Yoga classes. Yoga students may be interested in your massage practice. Teaching Yoga is a form of holistic anatomy that is alive and those skills can be introducted into massage and bodywork. Massage develops good palpation skills, which in turn allows the Yoga teacher to feel and align the student.

So like the others have said just get out there and do it. Experience counts for lots. As for sports massage and industry. Well at least being sports aware is useful for the bodyworker, but more than that is a big commitment, and what you have said doesn't suggest that you are. Utilise want you have got, enjoy what you are doing, and get some dosh in, and then you will see clearer your career development.

best wishes

RP

Hi Canard,

I know nothing about massage of any sort - but I can relate to training and not getting the chance to use your skills. It has taken me 3 years hard work to get to the point where I have paying clients for reiki I qualified as a hypnotherapist 18 months ago and am just now starting to get people contacting me for hypnotherapy.

Up until this year I have relied mainly on the income from my pharmacy work.

No-one can survive with only one therapy to offer, but you already have more than one and I agree with everyone who has said use the ones you have and just get out there and practice. It may take time but you will get there

Good luck

Thanks Crystal Elf, Reiki Pixie, and Tashanie,
And everyone...hat a lovely lot of responses - I feel honoured! 🙂
Yes... I really should get out there, I suppose! Maybe with a few top-up courses to deepen th skills I already have :rolleyes: okay...okay! Still feel that I've not a clue what I'm doing, but the longer I leave it the worse it'll get, and you're all right, it's only by practising for a while will I truly work out what my interests are. Thanks!