- By Martha Kent

Don was a middle-aged businessman who was divorced and lived alone. His favorite “stress buster” was a regular therapeutic massage. Don shares his experience, “My medical massage therapist insisted that I see a dermatologist to have a mole checked out. I couldn’t even see it because it was on my back. She was right. It was a malignant melanoma, a type of fast-killing cancer. My doctor told me they got it just in time. If my massage therapist hadn’t recognized the changes in that mole and “nagged” me until I had it checked…,” he added, a little embarrassed, “I might have died!”

Massage Therapy training has taken a new turn in the road to professionalism. As more states require licensing, most recently Georgia, the profession has found a new direction–Medical Massage. The term is so new that it is still looking for a listing in Wikipedia.

A Medical Massage Therapist (MMT) has advanced training. An MMT will have a more in-depth knowledge of musculoskeletal disorders and other conditions.  For example, they are taught to recognize fundamental changes in the body and skin, such as in moles. An MMT may specialize in sports performance enhancement or rehabilitation and trauma. Your MMT will be trained in CPR and have an understanding of basic lab tests. In addition, they will have skills in kinesiology, visceral manipulation, cranialsacral therapy, or other pertinent techniques.

The Athens Institute for Massage (A.I.M.), in Athens, Georgia, has a unique Medical Massage Therapy program. Students study medical massage in clinical settings, both at a chiropractic office and in a physical therapy suite.

Dr. Heather Koeppel, D.C., the owner and Academic Director for the Athens Institute for Massage (A.I.M.) explains, “We teach Medical Massage and prepare our students to work in doctors’ offices or in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Our instructors hold dual credentials in bodywork and the healthcare field. The massage therapy technique teachers at A.I.M. are either Nurses or Chiropractors.”

Dr. Koeppel continues, “We have created a new image for the profession in our area. Our favorite comment came from an owner of an art gallery where our students had an “Anatomy in Clay” exhibit.     They sculpted the muscles of the body onto a skeleton and layed out the nervous system with an overlay of acupuncture points and the lymphatic system. The owner of the gallery exclaimed that after seeing our hard work, she had ‘a greater respect for massage therapists.’ It was the best compliment she could have made.”

In the field of Massage Therapy, the “R” word, as in “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”, is huge. For the past fifty years, the profession has been struggling to reclaim its niche in the healthcare field. Medical Massage is a “high touch”, not “high tech” therapy. It leaves a client refreshed and enhances their healthcare program. A well-trained MMT is an allied healthcare professional. The emerging field of Medical Massage Therapy may be the tipping point to bring massage therapy back to greater recognition and acceptance in the public eye. In the future, a Medical Massage Therapist may be “just what the doctor orders!!”

Martha Kent is a free-lance writer and retired health care professional and contributes feature articles on trends in the healthcare field.

Tags: massage therapy, massage-school-athens, massage-school-georgia, massage-therapy-school

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