CAN WE PLEASE STOP…

By Mike Hovi, 2nd V.P.

I wanted to catch your attention with the title of this article, hence the BOLD letters and continuation dots.

There are many things we say we do as massage therapist that just drive me crazy, so I wanted to share my thoughts and reasons, so here we go….

First, can we please stop saying we do “RELAXING MASSAGE.” When we say this, I assume most people think of the massage as being a luxury. A luxury is something often associated with the rich, or something done once in a great while, such as part of a vacation. When people think of massage as a luxury, they are not likely to get them on a regular basis, and that is bad for both the individual, and for massage therapists.

We as therapists should be educating people that massage is a healthy activity, something that can be received to keep someone healthy in body, mind and spirit. Look at it this way, people now change the oil in their cars so the car runs well and is less likely to break down (this mind set likely started way back when Fram Oil Filters started advertising the slogan, “You can pay me now, or pay me later.”). We need to use this same thought process as an educational tool to teach our clients and patients that getting a regular massage can also help keep the body from breaking down.

So what should we say we do instead? We should say we do “WELLNESS MASSAGE.” When someone asks what that means, just tell them the example I just sited, and watch their eyebrows go up as they think to themselves, “Wow, that makes a lot of sense.”

Second, so many times I hear massage therapists refer to the work other therapists do as “FLUFF AND BUFF.” When you say that, you can be insulting some of your own colleagues, and down grading work they do. I agree there are therapists out there that do nothing but effleurage strokes when they give a massage (and I would not want to receive that type of work myself), but that does not mean you have a right to put people’s work down.

So what option should we use instead of “FLUFF and BUFF”? These therapists do “LIGHT WORK”, and some clients prefer this style of session. And if you are now thinking that the client might leave that “LIGHT WORK” session and complain that they got a bad massage, that is a possibility.

So be vigilant, and if you ever overhear someone makes a statement to that effect, educate them on the fact there are many different styles and they should look into other options when choosing their next massage. After all, you might use a lot of deep work and the client will leave your session and say they got beat up and complain they got a bad massage. Does this mean the therapist doing LIGHT WORK should call your work “TAP OUT MASSAGE”? I hope not. In the end, both terms are meant to be a put down and needs to stop.

Finally, and I know this one will likely never happen, but I wish we would stop saying we do “DEEP TISSUE”. If you are saying to yourself right now “SELF, what is he talking about”? Go out and ask 5-10 massage therapists if they do Deep Tissue and most will say, yes. Then ask them what exactly Deep Tissue means and I bet you will get 5-10 different answers. Next, go out and ask 5-10 people what Deep Tissue means, and I bet you will find that to the general public, “DEEP TISSUE” conjures up the image of elbows digging into the flesh, finding sore spots, and grinding away at them until they are “WORKED OUT.” In reality, digging in and grinding it out means they will likely end up with a kick-back response for several days.

I hope you are wondering what is the alternative might be? What about saying we do “TARGETED MASSAGE”? It means the same thing, seeking out the sore spots and working on them, but it takes away the connotation associated with grinding away at a spot that might not have actually been sore until the therapist actually pushed so hard they made the spot sore.

“TARGETED MASSAGE” has a positive connotation. As a profession, let’s start changing what we say and how we say it and let’s promote a more positive image for Massage Therapy and Massage Therapists.

SO, to summarize:

Relaxing massage…BAD        WELLNESS MASSAGE…GOOD

Fluff and Buff…BAD               LIGHT WORK…GOOD

Deep Tissue…BAD                  TARGETED MASSAGE…GOOD