Massage School Career Guide

Massage Therapist 101

Massage therapists unlock the potential of their own hands and bodies to encourage health and healing in others. Across age, gender, economic and ethnic boundaries, people are recognizing the profound power of this healing touch.

In order to be a massage therapist, you will need to be able to do the following:

• Communicate effectively with a wide range of people
• Accept all body types and physical conditions
• Work quietly for much of the day
• Maintain healthy boundaries and practice good self-care

As a licensed graduate of a massage therapy school, you’ll have a great deal of freedom to build a practice that works for your lifestyle and personality, but first, you have to find the school that’s right for you.

In the massage therapy profession, you will need to possess the following personality traits:

• Enjoy working closely with people
• Be able to take control of your own career destiny
• Be able to encourage optimum physical and emotional health in others

Massage Therapist Education

What You’ll Study

Although many different types of massage have evolved from all over the world, most schools teach some or all of the following massage specialties:

• Swedish
• Trigger point/neuromuscular
• Deep tissue
• Myofascial release
• Sports massage
• Shiatsu
• Acupressure
• Thai massage

Different massage therapy schools may have different specialties, such as a specific focus on either Western or Eastern medicine. However, any school will provide you with a basic level of general knowledge that will be critical to your practice, including:

• Anatomy – The structure of the body and muscles
• Physiology – The movement and function of the body and muscles
• Massage strokes and their benefits
• Sanitation protocol
• Massage contraindications – Factors that render massage techniques or procedures inadvisable in certain situations

Average Length of Study

Programs can take from a few weeks to two years, depending on their structure and the legal requirements of the state where you will be practicing. Thirty-seven states have specific regulations for the practice of massage. Legal education minimums range from 330 to 1,000 contact hours, but most require that you receive at least 500 hours of training before applying for a license.

Average Tuition

According to Martin Ashley, author of Massage: A Career at Your Fingertips, massage school tuition averages around $9 or $10 per hour of education. Therefore, if your state doesn’t have licensing requirements and you want to take a short program, you may be able to get 100 hours of training for under $1,000. States with licensing criteria commonly require 500 hours of training, which puts tuition in the range of $5,000 to $9,000. Some massage schools include the cost of a massage table. If the one you select does not, plan to spend about $500 more to purchase a table.

Massage Therapist Certification and Licensing

You will need to research the specific requirements of the state where you will be practicing massage. Typically, graduates of a state-approved massage therapy school are required to pass a state licensing exam before they can practice massage legally. In addition to a written exam, some states will also require you to pass a practical exam in which you answer verbal questions and demonstrate techniques on a “testing body.” In order to maintain your license, you will probably be required to meet a minimum requirement of continuing education hours each year.

Massage Therapist Career Overview

One of the key advantages of choosing massage therapy as a profession is the exceptional flexibility it offers. Some massage therapists work for themselves and travel to their clients’ homes. Some work full time in a spa, salon, hospital, group practice, fitness center or chiropractic office. Others carve out a more specific niche for themselves—providing sports massage to professional athletes, working on cruise ships, etc. You can even earn a significant part-time income working only evenings or weekends. Creating your perfect massage therapy career is simply a matter of getting the education, researching the options and finding the best fit for your skills and interests.

Massage Therapist Career Outlook

Today there are more than 240,000 trained therapists providing massage and bodywork in the United States. At an average hourly rate of $60 an hour, these therapists provide about 182 million massage therapy sessions each year. That adds up to a whopping $9.3 billion spent on massage and bodywork each year. This figure has been rising rapidly and grows each year. It is especially impressive when you remember that most insurance providers still do not cover massage. Millions of people are paying for massage out of their own pockets, and many have come to rely on it as a key contributor to their health and well-being. In fact, massage therapy is the most requested service in spas. Sixteen percent of Americans visited a massage therapist in 2006 and thirty-eight percent have received a professional massage at some time in their life.

Massage Therapist Salaries

The total annual income of a massage therapist varies widely depending on where you live, where you practice and how many massages you do each week. The typical hourly rate for a massage is $40 to $90, though it can be significantly higher in a luxury spa. If you are in private practice, you keep that entire amount, minus taxes and expenses such as equipment, laundry, rent, advertising and marketing. If you work as an employee you will probably be paid a flat rate for each massage, usually ranging from $15 to $40 per hour, but you will also receive tips.

Since it is physically almost impossible to give 40 hours of massage in a workweek, most massage therapists deliver between eight and 25 hours of massage a week. Therefore, your annual income might start at $10,000 – if you work part-time and do only a handful of massages a week – and range as high as $60,000 a year for a full-time practice with premium clientele.

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Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007.
Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals