Should you start a career as a massage therapist? Absolutely. It’s important not to underestimate the value of this much-needed skill.
Let’s take a quick look at education and training, career options, and making a significant contribution to people’s health and well-being.
Education and Training
To start, you would need to enroll in a massage therapy school to get training and education. It’s estimated that you will need between 330 hours to 1,000 hours. The number of hours necessary to qualify as a massage therapist will depend on the school you go to and the requirements of your state. You will be able to work as a massage therapist after you get certified and licensed.
Career Options
There are two big benefits to working as a massage therapist that other career options don’t offer. One, you will be well-paid for your work, with prices ranging from $60 to $120 an hour, depending on skill and experience. Two, as a massage therapist you can work in any number of settings.
Imagine what it would be like to own your own business. You might start out by visiting clients in their home and offices or work in a physical therapy office. If you save a part of all you earn, you can then start your own clinic. Later, you might be able to rent a commercial space, hire other massage therapists, buy spa massage tables and other equipment, and easily make six figures a year. If you are able to replicate your successful business model by opening up more spas, you could even create a seven-figure business.
If you manage your money well and use it to keep on scaling up a business, you will go far.
Contribution to Health and Well-being
Massage therapy helps your clients by relaxing muscles, reducing stress, and improving blood circulation.
When people are tense and stressed out their body produces a stress hormone called cortisol. As a result of this hormone, people suffer from headaches, migraines, digestive problems, insomnia, and weight gain.
When someone has a massage, they will notice an immediate drop in cortisol and experience a profound feeling of well-being. This uplifted mood and reduced muscular tension are due to the fact that their cortisol levels have significantly dropped.
If patients continue to come in for regular massages, these improvements will become even more profound. Besides decreasing cortisol, massage therapy stimulates catecholamines, hormones secreted by the adrenal glands. These hormones, like adrenaline, norepinephrine, and dopamine create a tremendous feeling of emotional and physical well-being. People notice reduced pain and increase energy levels, and they feel more optimistic about their lives. Beauty improves too, with skin looking more radiant.
When circulation is poor, muscles become stiff and tense. A rich supply of blood is necessary to promote tissue healing. The hands-on pressure of massage therapy works on releasing congested muscles and stimulates new blood to flow.
Additionally, by pulling, twisting, pressing, and squeezing muscles, congested lactic acid is released. Once this happens, the lymphatic system begins to work much more efficiently and metabolic waste in the tissues is released. As a result of reduced waste in the body, internal organs begin to work better, too, and blood pressure is lowered. Because massage therapy lowers blood pressure people experience psychological and physical benefits. Psychologically, they feel less anxious or depressed. Physically, they reduce their risk of kidney failure, strokes, and heart attacks.
Massage therapy creates a chain reaction. Blood begins to flow. Tissue begins to heal. The lymphatic system begins to drain away metabolic waste products. Internal organs begin to work better. And blood pressure is lowered.
In closing, many people underestimate how far they can go with a career in massage therapy. Since it pays a high-dollar amount an hour, it is possible to scale it up as a business if one pursues a modest lifestyle after becoming a massage therapist. Massage therapy also provides a powerful way for people to begin to heal. The non-invasive power of hands-on pressure can stimulate a cascade of positive health benefits because of improved blood and lymph circulation.