Touchpoints: A Massage Therapy Blog

At the beginning of their careers, almost every massage therapist faces the question of how to build their clientele on a meager or non-existent marketing budget. To help get the word out there without breaking the bank, consider the time-tested technique of barter - the exchange of services and goods for the same.

Massage Therapists can broaden their word-of-mouth clients through their barter buddies while cutting back on their own personal expenses.

To start with, you might exchange a massage for a small ad in a local paper, or get your business cards or other printing done by a local printer in dire need of touch therapy. Branching out, the possibilities are endless:  personal training sessions, acupuncture, chiropractic, reflexology, facials, hair care, nail services, gym memberships, oil changes, dry cleaning, and all the while you are adding more and more people to the list of clients who will recommend you.

One drawback, though, is that barter is fully taxable. According to the IRS, income from barter arrangements must be reported as income in the year in which the goods or services are exchanged. Arrangements on a noncommercial basis are exempt and fewer than 100 commercial transactions in a given year do not need to be reported.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a symposium of integrative medicine professionals in New Mexico. Since I was there representing National as an exhibitor, I did not attend the many exciting and innovative workshops, but I did speak to many exciting and innovative health care practitioners who are inspired to bring their practices to another level in patient care. Making the adventure even more interesting was the diversity of the participants. In attendance and conducting workshops were MDs, PhDs, RNs, dietitians, chiropractors, naturopaths, nutritionists, oriental medicine practitioners, acupuncturists, and yes, massage therapists.

Of most interest to me was the fact that a good portion of the workshops were lead or assisted by MDs. I think that I have unfairly grouped MDs together as practitioners who prefer to work with other MDs and shun complementary and alternative care providers. Nothing could have been further from the truth in this setting. If I were from Mars and came to earth for the first time landing smack dab in the middle of this group I would feel their unity, their deep and abiding desire to help and nurture. and be very impressed with the quality of care offered to earthlings.

The only things that resembled any other conference or symposium that I've ever attended were a continental breakfast, refreshment breaks and lunch on your own! Seriously, this was so far off the beaten path and so intense in its purity and energy that I felt privileged to rub elbows with these forward thinking professionals.

The first day started with a keynote presentation on the future of integrative medicine. Workshops included: Integrative Pain Management; Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction; Native American Healing Practices; and Mexican Folk Healing. The afternoon sessions concentrated on cardiology with an Integrative Cardiology; Yoga Therapy for Cardiovascular Health; and Prayer, Healing and the Soul. Day two covered oncology and pediatrics and these sessions included: Chinese Herbal Medicine in Integrative Oncology; Restorative Qualities of Oncology Massage, Yoga for Breast Cancer; Chiropractic Medicine in Adults and Children; Homeopathy in Daily Practice; Healing with Hypnotherapy in Children; and Indigenous Healing Traditions.

Day three addressed women's health issues including nutrition, osteoporosis, chronic stress, and core strength. The symposium concluded with a look at integrative pharmacy with workshops that included The Herbal Kitchen, Ayurvedic Pharmacy, and a Botanicals Panel.

Being a huge supporter of complementary and alternative care, I was in awe of the amount of information that was exchanged by these leaders in integrative medicine. There was an outpouring of support for one another, an eagerness to learn from each other, and a yearning to create a new model of health care together.

Some of the additional benefits offered at this conference were sunrise yoga and meditation at 6:30 am. Our continental breakfast had background music from a harpist one day and a flutist another - and there wasn't a sweet roll or donut in sight. Complementary chair massages were offered by students of the massage program at the University of New Mexico. One evening there was a community ritual for healing offered offsite at the Dragonfly Sanctuary and participants were asked to fast for the day for optimal success. There was much buzz the next morning about how extraordinary the experience had been.

The best part for me was meeting massage therapists who use their practices to improve the health of their clients and, in this setting, were accepted and respected for their part in integrative care. As groups like this one take up the challenge to engage their patients in a wide variety of holistic care, massage therapy will be elevated to its proper position in the health care system. 

So get on board and explore the possibilities of this profession - the sky is the limit! Join the growing list of professionals who call themselves massage therapists and use touch as their healing art. We make it easy for you with our Intro to Massage mini course where you can be a student for two weeks, fall in love with the profession and unleash your inner healer.

British Airlines has teamed up with a leading skin care company to offer customers spa treatments as part of their travel experience. These "Travel Spas" are located in terminals and treatments are offered on a complimentary basis to First Class and Club World customers or other Executive Club members traveling on long haul flights.

Services include Flying Facials to combat the dehydrating effects of flying and also a Stress Away Shoulder to Scalp massage, Flying Feet, Exotic Hand and Arm Re-Energizer, and a Spot on Power Back Massage.

A cancer patient is at the mercy of their disease. Their life is bombarded every day with appointments, managing medications, tests, chemotherapy, radiation and scans, not to mention their physical and emotional disintegration. And this isn't evenconsidering the financial end of things and dealing with insurance companies.

Enter Angie's Spa, named in memory of Angie Levy who tragically lost her life to breast cancer in 2007 at the age of 27. It was Angie's upbeat attitude and love for life's small indulgences that inspired the idea of Angie's Spa. Angie felt so much better when she looked her best. Even through chemotherapy, her nails and toes were always "done" and her makeup was always "on." Knowing that this spa will give that extra boost of self-esteem to other patients would have made Angie extremely proud.

Angies's Spa provides free spa services for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Their first program is being hosted by the Leavey Cancer Center at Northridge Medical Center in Northridge, Calif. The hope is to start programs at other cancer facilities throughout the country, to provide a silver lining on an otherwise dark and cloudy chemo day.

For further information or to donate please go to www.angiesspa.org.

If you are planning a career in massage therapy, you'll be glad to know that research supporting the therapeutic and health benefits of massage is growing. However, a special group of experts believes that the most important research might be found outside of the lab, in data collected directly from the day-to-day practice of massage therapists and their clients.

Several research professionals from National University of Health Sciences (NUHS) received a $30,000 grant from the Massage Therapy Foundation to create MassageNet a new practice-based research network for the massage therapy and bodywork professions. NUHS has a strong commitment to "evidence-based" practice and research, and is one of the sources for important new research in the field of massage therapy.

Recognizing the invaluable role therapists play in the health and wellness field, MassageNet will use data gathered from massage therapists and their clients in real world settings. MassageNet's mission is to develop a channel for communication between massage therapists, students, researchers, educators, administrators, and health care policy makers.

The site's founder, Jerrilyn Cambron, DC, MPH, PhD, is a professor in NUHS' Department of Research and also a licensed massage therapist. She has served as a principal investigator in research studies focused on massage and chiropractic care for over 20 years. "We've received an overwhelmingly positive response from the massage therapy community," says Dr. Cambron, who hopes to apply for additional funding from the National Institutes of Health so that MassageNet can continue to build research efforts within the massage therapy profession.

The website will collect survey information directly from its members. Some survey studies will be open to specific therapists based on practice parameters, and therapists can choose to participate in those studies that are most interesting or relevant to their practice. Participation is always voluntary and MassageNet does not charge a fee to join or to be part of its studies.

Jennifer Dexheimer, the site's co-founder, is also a licensed massage therapist who has worked as Clinical Research Coordinator at NUHS for over 10 years. She has been involved in managing the day-to-day operations of NUHS clinical research studies on chiropractic and massage. Jennifer reports that MassageNet recently completed a demographic survey of field therapists and their clients in Illinois. "The survey asked therapists about the types of clients they see, the types of techniques they use, their specialty areas, as well as personal demographic questions. Each therapist who completed a survey was asked to invite 20 clients to participate by filling out a separate survey," says Ms. Dexheimer. "The client survey asked demographic questions and questions about the effects of massage, including how the client felt prior to their massage, how they felt immediately after the massage, and how they felt 24 hours later." The survey results are currently being assessed for a final report.

In addition to surveys, MassageNet will also conduct primary research and share latest research findings in the field to expand the body of knowledge available to the massage therapy profession and other health care specialists.

Imagine how exciting it would be to not only launch a new career as a massage therapist, but to also be part of a network contributing to ongoing research in your profession. That's why NUHS is proud of its faculty, students, alumni, and staff who are working together in projects such as MassageNet.