Five Ways to Improve Your Massage Therapist Skills

Written by Shawn White, LMT

If you’re searching for new ways to improve your massage therapist skills, we have you covered. In this article, we will explore five ways to help transform how you perform a massage.

Improve Your Massage Therapist Skills

Shawn White, LMT teaches couples and mentors massage therapists. His goal is to help the massage industry enter its greatest age by helping people master the art of touch. More massage-related articles may be found at the end of the page. Are you ready to discover five ways you can improve your massage therapist skills?

Self-Exploration

One effective way to enhance your massage therapist skills is through self-exploration. Think about the various types of pain you have experienced throughout your life. Now, reflect on what you did to help alleviate it. Experiencing pain and discomfort as a massage therapist is a gift. It offers us the opportunity to experience new, uncomfortable sensations, allowing us to experiment and practice ourselves. This self-exploration enables us to find new ways to address the discomfort. As a result, it may provide us with valuable information to help alleviate our client’s pain.  

Research

Another way you can improve your massage therapist skills is through research. A wealth of information is available about pain science. One of the best places to begin is the biopsychosocial model of pain developed by Dr. George Engel in 1977. This theory suggests that pain may originate or be increased by biological, emotional, and social influences rather than tissue damage alone. Another great source of information on pain science is the writing of Lorimer Moseley. He presents the idea that our brain can be retrained with positive stimuli, effectively transforming how we perceive pain and helping to reduce its impact on our lives.

Shifting Your Core Understanding

The third way you can improve your massage therapist skills is by experimenting with a different core approach. Massage therapists typically fall into two camps of thought: those focused on research and those who are intuitive. Both have their merit. Existing too far to the extreme of either may hurt your practice. I believe sitting somewhere in the center is best. It is wise to be evidence-based, or evidence-informed, with adequate research skills, rather than requiring a research article to substantiate every claim. There are massage therapists who will not believe any alleged benefits of massage unless a research study has been performed to prove its efficacy. On the flip side are the intuitive massage therapists who primarily make their decisions based on feelings. This opens them up to con artists and charlatans who may take advantage of them, and as a result, steer their clientele down expensive and ineffective avenues.

If you exist on one side of this extreme, consider shifting your core beliefs for a little while. This requires empathy, discipline, and a willingness to learn. If this seems too complicated, consider it a professional roleplay, simply trying to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Avoid casting judgment, open your mind, and try it. You may discover wisdom that you would have otherwise never found by doing this.

Teach Your Techniques

The fourth way to improve your massage skills is by serving as an instructor. One of the best ways to advance any skill is by teaching someone how to do it. When teaching, we must break down complex ideas into smaller, more easily grasped concepts. By doing this, we gain the opportunity to observe how we are performing a technique. We often employ our methods instinctively, relying on muscle memory, but when we analyze them, it reveals details we may be unaware of. This may reveal ways we might be at risk of injury and provide new opportunities for improvement.

Get A Massage

This one is tricky, especially if you are a massage therapist. Many massage therapists will refrain from using their best techniques if they know you are a practitioner. This is because they are afraid someone might steal their precious techniques. It is a silly behavior, because everything we do in a massage has already been done by someone else. If you are hiding your best techniques, you are hoarding your knowledge. An activity that seems selfish to me. For one, you are choosing to withhold peace from someone who has paid for a service; secondly, it is awfully haughty to believe you are the sole owner of any technique. Thousands of people have done it before you, and thousands will do it after. The more we share with each other, the stronger our profession becomes, and the more trust the public will have for our industry.

Receiving a massage from someone is one of the best ways to develop your ability to give. When they massage you, imagine how they are holding their hands, standing, and applying pressure. Create a three-dimensional image in your mind so you can explore what they are doing and replicate it later. If you loved it, there is a good chance someone else will too.

Massage Therapist Skills Near Me

Jennifer Brand Spa is located at 2717 Hwy K, O’Fallon MO, 63368