Decide Which Massage Courses Suit You Best. Essential Overview Of The Most Common Massage Careers.

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Article by Sheila Evans

So you want to do one of the many massage courses to become a massage therapist. There are so so many different forms of therapeutic massage (and there is often an overlap in what they do and hope to achieve); do you really have a strong idea of what form of massage therapy you want to do? If not then read on, because here is a non exhaustive list to give you an overview of the more common types.

General Body Massage: This body massage is gently administered either generally to the body or specific areas (e.g. back, upper body/neck). Clients are usually looking for a way to pamper themselves or remove tension and stress. This is probably the core of most massage therapist training.

Medical Massage: After the diagnosis is made by a physician, if needed, the massage therapist then helps treat the patient by concentrating their skills on the problem area(s). The healing process is hopefully then increased and so creating comfort.

Manual Lymphatic Massage: A gentle massage therapy taught in lymphatic massage courses, that helps remove surplus body fluid in the body's lymph system (part of the body's immune and tissue drainage system).

Swedish massage: Numerous movements and amounts of pressure is applied to the skin and muscles to decrease stresses in the body and aid relaxation and healing.

Shiatsu Massage / Acupressure Massage: Shiatsu means "finger pressure" in Japanese. Pressure is applied through the fingers or hand which mobilizes the structure of the body so enhancing the energy flow of the body. This is hoped to aid in the improving and sustaining of health. Both these massage courses as far as I can tell are the same thing but Shiatsu massage is an older more traditional form. To also increase the benefit of each treatment, massage is often added.

Sports / Remedial massage: There seems somewhat of an overlap here, both sports and remedial massage utilizing a deeper pressure than used in relaxing/general massage. The massage therapy is focused on prevention ! and heal ing of an injury. They are also useful in clearing tension in muscles which have been stressed and strained during sport or any physical activity so by improving the functioning and performance of the patient.

Reiki Massage: It is commonly reported that Reiki itself involves the practitioners' hands being still. It is believed that energy via the practitioner is directed into the patients' body through energy centers of the body (Chakras) to aid healing. Some practitioners, to make it a more holistic massage therapy, then add the benefits of massage to the mix to enhance the overall effect.

Aromatherapy Massage: Massage of the whole or part of the body with a view to having a general effect on the body. Essential oils with properties that hopefully heighten the benefit given by the massage itself are also used.

It could be argued that whatever the form of massage you do, it can be classed as a holistic massage therapy because of the interaction and concern of the practitioner. So whatever massage training you do in which ever massage school, you should have a stimulating diverse career. My view is that the perfect practitioner is one who gradually accumulates varying massage courses to his/her tool box over time. I believe then with experience, you can simply choose the massage technique that will best suit your client. Now don't worry if you can't quite choose between a few of massage jobs as you can always do the others later on.

Thai Massage: This massage therapy is believed to enhance body energy pathways to improve health. It tends to be deeper and firmer than a relaxing massage and can be sometimes a focal pressure to specific areas of the body or a general body massage.

Reflexology Massage: Finger and thumb pressure is applied to zones of the feet and occasionally the ears and hands. Why? Well, it is believed that there are reflex points on the feet and via energy pathways are linked to the organs and systems of the body. Reflexology massage courses teach that stimula! tion of these points affects and improve the functioning of the body.

About the Author

Sheila Evans has gained considerable experience in the field of massage therapy and hopes you have learnt something useful from the article. Before you finally decide which of the massage courses is for you, check out all the other invaluable information you need to be aware of by Visiting the authors site for more information at www.massage-courses.net

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