What Training Is Needed to Be a Massage Therapist?

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Sundae with Natural Sundae. And if you've ever wondered what kind of training is needed to be a massage therapist, I can help you. Now, when you go to massage school, you're going to receive lots of training. It's all going to be foreign to you at first, and then you're going to love it once you're done. It's very heavy in anatomy, which is the study of the structure of the body. The other one is physiology, which is the study of how the body works together as a whole. And you're going to get a lot of hands-on experience as a therapist for...as the giver, and also as the client, as the receiver. And you learn a lot in both positions. You learn a lot about what to do and what not to do. You learn how to really feel comfortable with touching people that you don't know. And for somebody who's not a massage therapist, it's kind of weird at first. But you really...you get used to it and you get to know the people in your class and you really...you end up loving it. Some of the other things that you're going to need to study to be a massage therapist and to learn how to heal lots of kinds of people and lots of different kinds of jobs. You're going to learn a little bit of sports massage. You're going to learn hydrotherapy, which is the study of how to use hot and cold water to heal. You're going to need to learn cryotherapy, which is the study of how ice heals. You're going to need to learn aromatherapy, which is the study of the fragrant molecules that are in herbs and plants and flowers. And you're going to learn a little bit about Chinese medicine, or acupressure. Acupressure is the study of how the energy flows through the body and how to relieve blockages and imbalances in this energy. So there's a lot that goes into being a good massage therapist. There's lots of training that's needed, and every four years, they keep you on your toes by making you take classes and by making you turn in continuing education units. Every four years, you need 48 of these. So this is really going to challenge you to always keep learning. And something that I believe is a bored massage therapist is not a good massage therapist. If you're a busy massage therapist, then you're happy. So I hope you've learned a little bit today about the training that's needed to be a massage therapist. I'm Sundae with Natural Sundae. Take care."