Archive for March, 2008
The Benefit of Good Trades
31 March 2008One nice perk of being a Massage Therapist is that you have the awesome pleasure of taking part in Trades. You will find many people wanting to trade services for a Massage. It’s most important and non-hypocritical to trade with another Massage Therapist. You also want to make sure that you are trading for the right reasons. If you don’t need the money and trading for services is your forte, have at it. On the other hand if you need the money, try managing your trades into needs and wants so you have work to pay your bills as well.
I found this list online for trades and barter, let me know what you think.
For The Love of Massage
26 March 2008It’s been over a year out of school and I can honestly say there is never a dull moment as a Massage Therapist. People may come in with similar issues, I may start on the same limb and end on the neck or feet every time but everything in-between is never the same. Each person reacts to different techniques every time. Because humans are a being of change their body changes along with them. Thank goodness there is not a cookie cutter massage assembly line out side my door. I would be absolutely board.
There is no Template to healing, it is a listen and learn process that will continue to elude you for there is always room for improvement. Once you have a technique down, are you satisfied? Don’t you want to push that knowledge toward better efficiency and lasting results? I know I do. This is an awesome profession, if you’re in it for the right reasons you will not fail. Good Luck my fellow Healers, Heal On.
Alaska MT Information
25 March 2008If you live in Alaska and are an MT, this blog is awesome if you haven’t found it, check it out.
It sounds like they are trying to decide what Exam to use. If I lived in Alaska I would so push for the MBLEx. For those who don’t know, its better priced for one, it is more geared for just fresh out of massage school Curriculum and it is a License given by a the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards not a certificate produced by an insurance owned “non-profit organization. Don’t get me wrong the NCBTMB has done great things most of it in the past, not agreeing to work with the FSMTB is defiantly a mistake. Lets just hope the services and phone etiquette for the FSMTB are more courteous and helpful then the NCBTMB’s.
Massage Practice Planner
19 March 2008Has anyone used Massage Practice Planner Book for your business? I would like to know if it is worth investing in.
MBLEx News
18 March 2008I have had about 50 people subscribe so far on our sister site Massage-Exam.com to practice taking multiple-choice questions and review all their Massage subjects. I have heard back from two of them, they both said the same thing. Both started out taking the National’s NCETMB and not passing it, found our website and they both reported the MBLEx to be a better comprehensive exam and passed.
This is just another positive reason we all need to support the work the FSMTB is doing for all Massage Therapist throughout the US. I also wanted to mention that the amount of money the FSMTB is asking to get a License is far better then the amount you must pay for a certificate from NCBTMB. Let your friends know and check out our state pages as well to see if you qualify to take the MBLEx in your state.
Back up, Back up, Back up!
17 March 2008Did I mention, back up? Yes, I have learned the hard way to backup my hard drive. You never truly know how much you rely on your computer until you don’t have access to your documents and started projects. I thought; my computer is not old enough to quite on me I don’t need a hard drive to store my digital life. Boy was I wrong. So here I am starting over, my calendar is even clean so I have no idea what I had scheduled in the coming month.
This all happened last week and I’m finally coming out of shock. Although, I can honestly express that I have fresh ideas on one of my big projects I have been working on for the last 6 months. Ok, I am trying to think positive and grow from this incident, isn’t that what we are supposed to do? Fall down or crash in this instance,, pick our selves back up, dust off, repair and then prepare for the future from the knowledge you have gained and then share with others. The single biggest thing I am coming away with, is to back up my hard drive and not just one I am getting two. I have a Mac so I am also purchasing Leopard as well.
Moral of the story, learn from my mistakes, get yourself a back up drive. Think of it as my present to you. It doesn’t coast that much compared to the services that are available to retrieve memory from a dead hard drive, whose work isn’t even guaranteed to produce results but you wont get your 2 to 3 grand back.
Massage Business Software
8 March 2008I wondered if there was software out there for Massage Therapists, so I did a little checking. Massage Suite was the first I came across. They compare their product to Massage Office Professional which was created by Massage graduates from DeVry University.
Check these out and let me know what you think. The last one is the one we use in my office. I love it, you might find other software designed for other professions that may work just as well.
List of Resources:
Massage Suite
Massage Office Professional
Customer Pro-File
Massage Manager
Medical Massage Office Billing
MindBody
Client Tracker
Court Order for Massage SOAP Notes
7 March 2008I just got my first ever court order for a SOAP chart. I only massaged them one time and the Acupuncturist had all the other information. I really only had the figures in detail, the rest was one word answers. So I will let you know if I get in trouble for not having more info on them. I probably wont hear from them about it, but I am of course sorry I didn’t have more notes.
Massage Intake Forms
6 March 2008A graduating Massage student asked me where they could get a copy of each form that is needed when you start up your business. I got all my forms from and info on how to use them from the “Hands Heal” book with resource CD-ROM by Diana L. Thompson.
I also use the “Client Tracker” program for all the insurance forms that I could either email from my computer to the insurance company or print them off and mail them in to get reimbursed. It’s a great system, but I think someone should make affordable software that has some kind of QuickBooks/ Client Tracker/ Soap and ROM forms within it so you wouldn’t need files. Ah that would be the day.
Massage Therapist Scope Of Practice Referrals
5 March 2008I was told by one of my PIP injuries Insurance companies that I was not allowed to diagnose and refer my client to a chiropractor. I was shocked and didn’t really know what to say. I was under the impression that I could refer my clients to chiropractors if needed.
So I did some asking around and research. Yes it is well within our scope of practice to refer a client to a Chiropractor. It is however out of our scope of practice to perform Grade 5 manipulations that is well within the scope of practice for a chiropractor in correcting a subluxation.
MTs can go all the way up to a Grade 4, which is manipulating the muscles around the subluxation to get it to release.
So yes if our client is in pain because of displaced bones and we can feel and see that that is the problem we can indeed refer them to a Chiropractor for alignment and an Acupuncturist for pain management. The recovery time is less when all three of these are used along with the client’s homework for strengthening and stretching.
If they are a PIP injury and they are required to get a script from their physician, have them get one so that your work is magnified and not done in vein.