Depending on the state where you reside, to be licensed to practice massage therapy requires a number of credit hours that range from 500-750. Your entire massage therapy course of study covers every topic that you need to know, from the history and ancient practices of “healing touch” to the modern methods that have been developed over the past century. After accumulating the required hours of education, you must pass the National Certification Exam before any state will issue you a license to practice massage therapy. Remember, massage therapists are licensed medical professionals; this is a lot different than asking your spouse to rub your shoulders!

What Techniques Will I Learn In My Massage Therapy Courses?

After you’ve studied the anatomy of the human body, you will begin learning the many techniques of massage therapy. You must first know how to diagnose a patient’s physical and/or emotional pain in order to treat the condition effectively. Most of the time, you will have a physician’s referral that helps you in determining which technique to use. Thus, you will take a massage therapy course on evaluation and diagnosis. Once you’ve learned to do this, you’ll be ready to learn the techniques of massage therapy.

Aquatic massage therapy uses the benefit of water, which has an “anti-gravity” property for patients in severe pain. Your massage therapy course in aquatic massage will teach you to support the patient’s head and neck in a specially designed pool while the patient does exercises such as flutter-kicks. Patients can improve their range of motion and relieve muscle/joint pain. The best candidates for aquatic massage are those who suffer from fibromyalgia, arthritis, osteoarthritis, and pregnant women.

In your massage therapy course you will learn the popular Bowen technique, a soft-tissue remedial type of therapy that focuses on key points in the body to stimulate energy flow; it is accomplished by a series of gentle rolling motions and very light touches. The Bowen technique helps the body heal itself naturally by improving blood circulation and maximizing oxygen flow. This technique has demonstrated improvement in muscle empowerment among patients who suffer from multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Learning Swedish massage is a popular massage therapy course because it benefits just about everyone and is easy to learn. This massage therapy course covers the five basic hand strokes and gentle pressure on the patient’s “target” areas. The strokes all lead to the heart to maximize blood flow and increase oxygen levels to major organs.

Your massage therapy course in Deep Muscle Therapy will teach you how massage can help patients with damaged muscle and soft tissue injury throughout the body. This therapy corrects damaged muscles on a cellular level. Deep Muscle Therapy is the foundation of corrective massage and is used to treat sports injuries, circulatory problems, chronic neck and back pain, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS, brain injury and stroke.

In a massage therapy course, you will first have these techniques explained by the instructor, and then you will see a hands-on demonstration of how it’s done. Then you will be able to practice on one of your classmates or the instructor. Only with practice can you gain full benefits from your massage therapy courses.

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