How to Become a Massage Therapist
If you love to work with your hands, perhaps you should be in a
profession that does exactly that such as massage therapy. In fact, the US
Department of Labor has shown in their latest report that there is demand
for such professionals until the year 2012. If this sounds appealing to
you, then you should know how to become a massage therapist.
Those
who want to become massage therapists should enroll in a program that is
accredited by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and
Bodywork or NCBTMB. To become a licensed professional, you must complete
at least 500 hours of training including subjects such as ethics, anatomy
and physiology among others.
If you happen to study massage therapy
in a school that is not accredited by this body, you will not be allowed
to take the national certification exam. This may prevent you from
practicing in states that require this prior to employment which is why
you should check first if the school you plan to enroll in is in the
program.
Should you somehow be able to find work without getting a
license, you could be penalized with fines and even be banned from every
practicing there.
The advantage of enrolling in a program under the
NCBTMB is that you can apply for federal financial aid if you don't have
the funds to pay for your schooling.
But the big question is how
much do massage therapists earn? One research group has pointed out the
median salary is $45,611. The report also says that half of those working
earn between $36,930 and $55,920 as this varies with experience. If you
are new, you will probably just have one or two clients a day while more
experienced individuals will have more than 5. This isn't bad because
massage therapy program can go as high as $12,000.
If you are
serious about pursuing this as a career, ask yourself some questions. Are
you patient? Are you customer oriented? Do you really want to help the
patient? If your answer to all three questions is yes then the next thing
you have to do is check what specific interests do you have.
Just
like medicine, massage therapy has various specialties and these include
sports massage, clinical massage and Swedish massage to name a few. While
you will probably learn all of these in school, you should already see
which one you want specialize in after graduation.
To help you out,
it will be a good idea to visit massage parlors and talk to those who are
already working. You can also do some research online as there are
articles that have been written about the profession.
Once you get
your degree and the license, you have the option of working for someone or
opening up your own establishment. This will be easy if you had the
capital since you will need to buy your own massage table, chairs,
pillows, sheets and lotions. But if you want to learn first, then go find
work, learn the tricks of the trade and then set up shop.
Now that
you know how to become a massage therapist, the ball is already in your
court. The right attitude will get you through school because with that
you will be able to understand the techniques in helping a
customer.
Get expert advice about massage therapy at http://www.articlefog.com/category-massage-therapy.htm.
Here you can find all information about what you should know about massage therapy,
different types of massage therapy, massage therapy benefits and many more.
Article Source: www.ArticleFog.com.
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