Massage industry statistics

Hi Henry

If you could, I would suspect that it would not be very reliable information as most of us do not pay the subscription fees of the trade associations 🙂

Paul, I think you've hit the nail on the head... unfortunately
Thanks for the quick response
H

I’m afraid that I can’t answer Henry’s initial query. But I am surprised by Paul’s claim that “most of us do not pay the subscription fees of the trade associations”. My impression (based mainly on conversations on CPD courses) is that most therapists are members of a professional association. And personally I would definitely recommend all therapists to join one of the associations. My principal reason for recommending this is that (as we have discussed at length on this forum) there are a lot of women who advertise “massage” but who are actually offering sexual services. For example, ‘Daisychain’ commented on the thread [url]How to advertise Swedish or holistic?[/url]

“I've been putting my details on the free ad sites on the net, but always check them out fully first.
One of the sites I looked at yesterday horrified me completely. In the massage category they had about 50 people offering every type of exotic massage you could imagine (for those with no imagination, it was a site for sex) but sadly tucked away in amongst these ads were bona fida massage therapists offering holistic therapies, and with all the correct credentials.

Now, I could tell straight off who was a legit therapist and who was a prostitute, but the majority of people going onto that site wouldn't differentiate between them.”

Similarly, I commented on one of the ‘male client’ threads:

“I still think that it is somewhat naive for a legitimate therapist to advertise massage in a local newspaper, unless she is willing to accept that she will have to spend a lot of time on the phone explaining that she doesn’t offer sexual services. I still have the impression that the majority of women who advertise ‘massage’ in local newspapers are actually offering sexual services. Looking at my local paper for last week, there are several women advertising massage. None of them mention any professional qualifications. None of them mention membership of any professional association. Some of them use expressions such as ‘all services offered’. I would like to think that by ‘all services offered’, the advertiser means that she offers remedial skills such as ‘soft tissue release’ or ‘myofascial release’ as well as basic massage. But somehow I doubt it.“

As a rule of thumb (for advising prospective clients), I would think that any therapist whose website or advertising mentions that they are a member of a professional association is likely to be a legitimate therapist. If a website or advertisement doesn’t mention professional qualifications or membership of a professional association, callers may well assume that the advert is a ‘front’ for sexual services.

Regards

Alan

Hi Alan

I think a lot of therapist might take exception to your post, there are literally thousands of genuinely qualified therapists in this country that choose not to part with their hard earned cash by being members of trade associations.

If you employ a builder who is a member of the master builders association, does their membership fee guarantee that the work will be professional or acceptable?

Embody did a survey a while ago but I know I didnt bother responding
I can give you a few facts and figures from it if you are interested but obviously it was on Embody members that were surveyed - it might just give you a snapshot

I think that Paul and I are going to have to 'agree to differ' on this one (just as I know that we differ about the value of CPD). Personally I still agree with what Leon Chaitow (a very experienced lecturer and writer) wrote on
[DLMURL="http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Regular/chaito36.htm"] http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Regular/chaito36.htm [/DLMURL]

Quote:
"The truth is that standards of training in the UK compare badly when contrasted with some European countries and more notably with what is found in North America.
In the USA itself standards also vary, since individual states demand quite large differences in their training requirements (ranging from 900 hours to none at all), and almost none of the US standards equate with what is generally agreed to be the highest standard of all - the Canadian (which itself is not uniform but which is uniformly better than anywhere else). In Canada (British Columbia at any rate) there exists a 2200 hour training requirement (with plans in place for over 3000 hours of class time).
Think about that as you ponder your training choices in the UK, where several hundred hours in class to learn massage is regarded as a pretty intense level of training and many courses function on under 100 hours!

... many British massage therapists practise to a high standard, and can compare favourably with the best anywhere, however, the majority have poor training and they and their patients deserve better.
If massage therapy is ever to be incorporated widely into mainstream settings in the UK, NHS or private, criteria generally have to rise. For this to happen the profession has to set its own agenda – including establishing basic massage therapy competencies, standards (including compulsory continuing education), regulatory machinery and goals."

Personally I would prefer to hire a builder who was a member of the appropriate association. And while I would certainly agree that membership of a professional association does not automatically mean that a therapist is of good quality, I think it is a pretty good indication that they are a genuine therapist (and not someone who misuses the word 'massage' as a front for sexual services).

Regards

Alan

Hi Alan

No I don't have a problem with cpds, I have done two courses this year myself, obviously someone like Leon Chaitow who earns there living out of teaching is definitely going to promote education in the classroom, after all it keep them in a lucrative job 😉

I feel that therapist should update there skills as they feel they are ready to integrate new techniques, or to take on new disciplines to enhance the range of treatments they offer, regardless of if they pay an annual subscription to a trade organisation or not.

Saying that IMO the skills need to be appropriate to what we are doing, not just something where we choose the nearest and possibly the cheapest cpd training, just so we fulfil the trade organisations requirements that we do so many days a year cpd, regardless of the content.

hi guys,
getting back to the original question, and not wanting to join the organisational and cpd debate, (well i do but im not going to), i was recently given figures by the gcmt, but only for numbers of massage therapists, and not where they worked etc, and it seems there are approximately 20,000 'registered' massage therapists.

Speaking from the "coal face" - I can attest to the fact that even though I list my qualifications in detail and belong to the No Hands Massage Association and Embody and my ads are worded in such a way that you'd have to be a moron to think I offer anything other than bona fide massage I still get calls from witheld numbers and texts from men who are indeed morons.

I simply let all my calls go through to voicemail - as genuine callers will leave a message, as they assume you are busy with clients - and thereby avoid speaking to unwanted callers altogether. My business is taking off I'm pleased to say. I used free online advertising only. Gumtree is doing a great job in trying to clean up their ads. You have to state your qualifications and that you are not offering a sexual service but of course anyone can state any qualification they like and you still get the sex trade advertising but to a lesser, less overt extent. They've banned fotos altogether - thank god - as some of the sights were incredible/very amusing.

P.S I agree with Paul regarding CPD.

an interesting article in The Times newspaper today, regarding the regulation of the complementary therapy industry, which im happy to say im involved in. The government is in favour of regulation, and part of the criteria is being a member of a professional body.

Unfortunately, yes, you have to pay membership fees, however, if we want to be treated as professionals, then we have to pay the price.....

Just searched and read that Times article online. Very interesting stuff and I believe the publicity and regulation will elevate our therapies into a different league. I also believe it is a fine alternative to the old question of HPC regulation.
Plus Happyfingers will have an answer to his question.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3134337.ece
Can Sportstherapy keep us posted on this.