A mildly humorous public service announcement from the treatment room
If you are a massage therapist, I’m sure you can relate. If you are a client… welcome behind the curtains…
People often imagine that massage therapists spend their days in a candle-lit paradise, floating around in a permanent state of zen while gently rubbing lavender oil onto grateful humans.
The reality is… a little different. Massage therapists from all over the world were asked: ‘What do people NOT know about your job?” Here’s the most mentioned attributes and comments. I will relay their message and follow it with my opinion and commentary.
Disclaimer: I love listening to others’ opinion, even though I don’t always agree. This is definitely not every massage therapist’s stance; it’s merely an over-all ‘majority-rules’ take.
1. We genuinely don’t care if you shaved your legs
This one needs to be said first because apparently it causes people enormous anxiety. Your therapist does not care about leg hair. Men have hair. Women have hair. Humans have hair and that’s perfectly fine!
Ironically, the only thing that does sometimes bother therapists is when someone shaved recently and now has sandpaper-level stubble. Fresh stubble can shred forearms like a cheese grater.
Natural hair growth, winter length leg hair and grizzly bear back hair… are all perfectly fine… Sandpaper is not fun; but STILL FINE!
Some therapists hate hair, period. I judge them, (side eye, dismissive smirk) all while saying: “Each to their own.”
2. Hygiene matters more than appearance
You don’t need to arrive looking like you’re going to a photoshoot. But please… shower. Massage therapists spend an hour within intimate proximity of the human body. We develop the nose of a bloodhound.
We can smell whether you showered, whether you flossed, what you had for lunch and occasionally… things we would rather not discuss in polite society. Have some respect please.
Maybe I’m in the wrong mood today. But WHAT?? Come on ‘therapists’, get over yourselves. NO ONE is coming for a massage, with bad body odour, JUST to demean and disrespect you. Of course I appreciate my clients who are able to and prefer to have a shower before their massage; as much as I appreciate the ones coming in from their run, the ones who hasn’t had water for a week, the ones whose psoriasis is flaring, (search conditions causing body odour and insert here)…
I appreciate them all because they are taking steps to take care of their bodies. It cannot be easy; therapists need not make it any harder.
3. This job is surprisingly hard on the body
People often say things like: “Wow, you must have strong hands.” Yes, but the pressure in massage doesn’t come from hands alone. Good therapists work from their legs, core and use their body mechanics advantageously. It’s basically slow, controlled martial arts, performed over a massage table.
After a full day of treatments, many therapists go home and ice their hands, stretch their backs, and wonder why they didn’t become accountants.
4. There is an unbelievable amount of laundry
Sheets, towels, blankets, face cradle covers, bolster etc Repeat this cycle several times a day. If massage therapy had a mascot, it would probably be a washing machine!
And it’s the worse kind of laundry; we work with oil. Therapists can recognize that rancid dead-skin-cell-oil-sweat smell anywhere. We’ve all done ages of research and tried everything from Coca-Cola to engine cleaner. We celebrate when we find our perfect mix, we pretend we know the trick to folding a fitted sheet and we do a LOT of laundry.
5. We are thinking the entire time
Clients sometimes assume therapists switch off and enter some kind of trance. The reality is closer to assessing muscle tension, adjusting pressure, tracking time, remembering injuries, monitoring breathing patterns and adapting techniques so we can avoid your brand-new bruise.
All while making sure you stay comfortable and relaxed. Massage is actually constant problem-solving in slow motion and we love it!
Personally, I’m trying to listen to what your body and your mouth is saying and respond accurately respectively. A skill I would never have learnt behind an office desk.
6. Clients tell us everything
Sometimes people relax so deeply that they begin sharing their entire life story. Which is fine… until someone asks: “So what would you do about my divorce?” At that moment we must gently remember: I am a massage therapist. Talk therapy is usually down the hall, fourth door on the left.
Another sentiment I don’t necessarily agree with; whether it’s my experience, personality or location’s fault, I can’t say… What I do know is that you are welcome to say, be and express whatever the fck you want while lying on my plinth.
Off load, vent, complain about your mother-in-law or your neighbour, moan, cry be a meanie or share a hurt. Firstly, thank you, I feel privileged to be trusted. I will honour your trust.
I will also honour myself and not pick those truths up or take them ‘home’ with me.
I do agree with the preference to not be asked for my advice though… unless it’s about your body, diet, movement patterns and such.
7. The emotional energy is real
Massage therapists spend hours every day working with people who arrive stressed, overwhelmed, exhausted, rushed or in pain.
You would be surprised how much emotional energy passes through a treatment room. We take responsibility for our spaces and ensure it remains a safe and neutral room. We also take responsibility for ourselves and ensure we don’t transfer the emotional load from client to client either.
It’s challenging when we start out, but we do learn how to stay grounded and not carry every client’s worries home with us. Some days we succeed better than others. (because we’re still humans)
8. Please talk to us during the massage
Therapists are good… but we are not psychic (not all of us anyway) If the pressure is too much, too little or the table feels like a frying pan; please say something.
Your massage therapist actually wants feedback. Silent suffering helps nobody.
I actually agree with this; although my arrogance and mood want to add a few cents. New therapists need more feedback; give it to them! Help that therapist become the best they can be, talk, express, say what felt good and what didn’t. I promise you, if they’re in this industry for the right reasons, they will appreciate your feedback so much.
Same goes or a new-therapist-to-you… even if your therapist has had years of experience, build a relationship and be straight with your feedback.
Most experienced therapists receive the best kind of feedback from your body, your muscles and all the other small tells. You can feel the difference, and when you do; when you can feel that this therapist ‘hears’ your body, don’t interfere, just enjoy.
9. Professional boundaries are very real
Let’s address the elephant in the spa. Massage therapy is a legitimate health profession.
It requires training, anatomy knowledge, licensing, continuing education and professional ethics.
Unfortunately, therapists still occasionally encounter people who confuse therapeutic touch with something else. Those conversations end very quickly.
This is a whole blog subject on its own. It also gets some focus in the blog about Red flags for New Therapists.
10. Despite everything… we love this work
For all the challenges; the laundry, the sore hands, the occasional awkward client conversation and the heavy emotions; most therapists stay in the profession for one simple reason:
Helping people feel better is incredibly rewarding.
Sometimes you see someone walk into your room in pain and leave standing taller, breathing deeper and smiling again. That moment never gets old.
‘The post-massage-face’; when a client walks out after their session, there’s a face…. We love it!
Massage therapists are not mystical gurus, mind readers or miracle workers. (Some of us are.)
We are simply skilled professionals who care deeply about helping bodies move, recover and relax.