Future Of Massage

The future of massage is of course unknown and we can only surmise what it will be like in another 20 years. When I started in 1987 there was no thing as a massage job where you were a full employee. If there were any jobs they were all sub-contractor positions. I became a massage therapist mainly for the lifestyle of helping people with their health and well being. I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life.

Massage therapists were often not concerned about making money as just doing something so meaningful was enough. Massage therapists were intuitive and somatically aware. They were usually kinesthetic learners meaning that you use your body and sense of touch to learn about the world around you.

Massage was covered by most auto accident insurance policies even back then and now more medical insurance is covering massage but we still have a long way to go. As the medical profession becomes more aware of what massage can do as we do more massage research, they will also demand higher levels of education and training. I think massage will someday become a 4 year undergraduate program. (It is currently that way in Japan).

Massage therapy is a $14 Billion Dollar Industry with "Sixteen percent of U.S. adults visited a massage therapist in 2006, and 38 percent have received a professional massage sometime in their life." as reported by the Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals website (pdf file) (ABMP).

Back in 1987 in WA State I only needed 250 hours of initial education to go through the licensing process. I also had to take a practical exam and give someone a massage. Today most states require 500 hours of training and massage schools keep offering even more hours.

While the average age for a massage therapist is 45, I think that more younger people right out of high school are looking at careers in massage. With the number of massage franchises increasing, most will probably find employment with places like that mainly because they are entry level positions with low rates of pay.

There are starting to be a few community colleges offering 2 year massage programs which would probably be more appropriate for younger massage students to take more time in getting their training.

More and more opportunities are opening up as we study massage and it's various applications. Massage is now being used with cancer patients which it was totally and strictly contraindicated 20 years ago. Most of our contraindications will be proven wrong except for contagious diseases I would surmise.

The massage therapist of the future will be more technically inclined as more massage schools offer more training. The mind body connection will be addressed more and combining massage with various psychological practices will be more common. (It is already starting to happen slowly.) We are getting more training in understanding the therapeutic relationship and learning about healing and wholeness.

The last I saw, there were over 250 different types of massage. Every day more types are being developed by combing various therapies and seeing what works.

For more on the Future of Massage:

The Future of Massage for the New Millenium by Robert Calvert. (Chapter from his book The History of Massage: An Illustrated Survey from around the World on Google Books)