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Posted on: July 18, 2012

The massage industry is an exciting field that continues to experience rapid growth. Hundreds of thousands of patients suffer from muscle soreness, stiffness, lack of range of motion, as well as other similar symptoms that make receiving a massage from a trained professional worth investment. A large part of becoming a massage therapist is understanding exactly which massage services will help the client the most. It is very important to make the distinction between the two basic categories of massage: clinical massages and wellness massages.

The clinical massage is an extremely important approach. The job of a massage therapist, in this case, is to reduce or remove the tension in muscles that have been mildly to severely injured for <u>any reason</u> strong enough to gain a doctors recommendation. It is also common for these massages to treat over-use injuries. Students that study massage therapy will need to know the requirements in their state for obtaining a license to practice this type of massage, as these requirements vary from state to state. This field of work is for serious medical relief, rather than personal relief. This type of massage involves working with deep muscle tissue, meaning that students must become familiar with many muscular disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome and plantar fasciitis.

Wellness massages, on the other hand, are massage services meant for personal relaxation. This is to reduce stress and tension in the muscles and improve the mood and livelihood of the client. This is a lot like “routine maintenance” for the body, as clients will often schedule return visits. These clients may have problems such as soreness from exercise, muscle pains caused by pregnancy, and most commonly, stress and general tension. These clients may also be regular people that have been given spa time as a gift, and will commonly refer to the massage as “bodywork.” This may cause some confusion, but realize that “bodywork” is no more than a common buzz-word used to describe any kind of treatment that involves moving and manipulating parts of the body as a method of treatment. Those that study massage therapy will understand that these are much less serious massages meant for relaxation, but should still be done with care for the client. The recommended approach to a wellness massage will vary from educator to educator and client to client, which makes it an absolute priority to find what works for the client and is practical for the masseuse.

The requirements and exams for both of these massage types will vary from state to state. It is important to research exactly what is required in the state that the masseuse will be practicing in.

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