Is distance education appropriate for the field of massage therapy?
On November 16 of 2007, NCBTMB announced their acceptance of distance education as a credible component of Massage Therapy and Bodywork Training. Since that time, many schools and individuals have voiced their concerns and questions. The question of whether to offer distance education in massage therapy raises many questions while at the same time presenting many opportunities. What do you think about the potential of distance education for students studying massage therapy/bodywork?
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I think it’s a great thing for people who have trouble scheduling classroom time every day — single parents, folks who live far from a brick and mortar school, etc.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I think it’s wonderful! I just completed my first “home study” course which I found to be challenging & interesting.
I certainly hope that this new program is here to stay!
May 28th, 2008 at 8:57 am
DE can be considered a very good thing, it is the wave of the future. However, as an educator, there are certain things that cannot be taught online. Hands-on examples and practice are needed. Learning massage online is akin to learning to type on a paper keyboard. Plus, there are some dishonest folks who are allowing someone else to take the schooling and tests for them. Until we work out those bugs, we cannot seriously consider DE as a F2F equal in the bodywork field.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I completed my first DE Course in April / 2008. Having the ability to use the money I save for my courses going exactly for the course and not the travel and room & board expenses is wonderful. Not everyone can just get up and go. My time to really study the course as well as apply the hands on techniques allows me to get deeper into what I am learning. If I need more hands on understanding I will seek it out. The convenience is a fit for me.
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I speak from a practicing MT, educator, and MT educator’s point of view: I think in the long run that DE courses do a disservice to the industry. The quality of the nature of massage therapy declines as DE courses are more and more the choice of practitioners that do not make the time to fulfill a standard of service: hands on learning.
I think making time to “be” a professional is critical in delivering the service that our clients expect from a certificant. “Hands On” is the nature of our profession. Just as we do not expect surgeons (a “hands on” profession) to learn by distance and then practice on their patients, we also cannot expect our instructors or MTs to not have hands on experience when teaching us a modality over distance or performing a massage - we expect the best and most value for our money and the credentialing agency that establishes their expertise should also. Do our clients expect us to never have practiced on a body (for taking DE courses) when we charge the rates we charge? I think one answer is they expect us to be proficient - hands on learning facilitates that key element in claiming we are practicing within our scope and have been critiqued and guided by our live instructor(s).
On the other hand, without some DE opportunities, many MTs would not otherwise be able to get the education they need to keep the credentials they need in this industry or want and have decided are the best fit for advertising and affiliating their professional image with excellence. I understand the need for convenience, inexpensive, and accessible CE opportunities.
Right now, a certificant can submit all DE credits for renewal of their NCTM or NCTMB accreditation. I believe that a percentage of DE credits of the whole 48 should be accepted as viable learning and practice tools for recertification purposes. MTs need to establish a commitment to the “best” care for our clients by integrating hands-on training in our careers. Our professional relationship with the NCB is a choice in many cases, sometimes it is a requirement of the local jurisdiction - some state licensing boards require CEs (of any approved type, DE or F2F) and the level of proficiency of their licensees is the state board’s responsibility. I think the NCB sets a standard for the industry and would hope that states and local jurisdictions would follow suit.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Massage Therapy itself should definitely be taught in person, there’s just no other real way to become competent with the application of massage. However, 500 hours are required, and not all those are massage modalities. Classes such as aromatherapy, anatomy and physiology, pathology, and business and ethics could feasibly be taught at a distance.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
While I think the initial training of therapists needs to be hands-on with an instructor, I certainly feel that there is a place for distance education with regard to continuing education hours. Citing myself as an example, my father was diagnosed with throat cancer and because I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible (and there were lots of doctor visits to which I accompanied him), lack of my own free time (and constant schedule changes) made it difficult to attend any scheduled event and certainly not one that was out of town. Form me to have completed my continuing education requirement without distance education would’ve been quite cumbersome and difficult. Also, for individuals who are not more centrally located (i.e., near a larger city), distance education serves a huge need (seldom do approved providers venture into the smaller towns and less populated areas for a lecture/seminar). Further, some individuals’ schedules (as well as cost) preclude them from attending the classes which are available usually on the weekends (Saturdays are one of my busiest days and one when most CE classes are scheduled).
July 9th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Corrin…
One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result and the knowledge of the value of the result …
July 10th, 2008 at 11:11 am
I believe DE is an excellent tool for massage and bodywork professionals to stay abreast of their field of work !
July 10th, 2008 at 11:17 am
However Initial training in the field of Massage and BodyWork requires HANDS ON AND SUPERVISED coursework. After one has completed the required amount of hours in an Hands on program with reputable instructors , I do feel that DE is a helpful and essential tool for Massage And BodyWork Professionals to stay abreast in their chosen field.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I love it. Free enterprise in the market place. Has anyone attended their state board meetings lately? You would wonder if there is any educational cohesiveness in the field. With the price of gas, and jobs on the line, makes a perfect time for DE for this confused profession. The same quality of education applies to “brick & mortar” as “click & mortar” education. Just because you go to class in a physical setting does not mean the level of education is conveyed and consumed any differently, if at all. All studies lead to the general concensus that the learner is actually more engaged in their own learning, when the responsibility of learning falls with the student. DE if properly implemented can engage all learners; visual, audio and mechanical learners. Hands on proficiency is an acquired experience. Why have continuing education seminars? What can possible be learned in a day or two? To introduce the aspect and then to practice it for proficiency. It is the field experience that follows that proves, or disproves a technique, or success of learning. Most massage school accept anyone who is breathing, including those with an “entrance exam”. This may also explain for the short life of a full time massage therapist. In my opinion, massage should be marketed as a part time profession, not intended to pay all the bills, if one still wants a life. It’s not brain surgery, it’s massage. What made it dangerous is all the branches from the good ole standard of Swedish massage that was taught across the board when I went to massage school, many moons ago. Yahoo! Massage meets the future.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I have been a massage therapist for nearly 15 years. I firmly believe that to be a massage therapist you need to learn how each subject is applied to the working with individual humans. I have had anatomy and physiology at a University and in the massage class room. Both are taught very differently for each purpose it is to be used. I think the original credits for becoming a massage therapist should be hands on. There is so much to learn in how to apply the learning to the body work, how to find the landmarks with your fingers on all sizes and shapes of a real body, how a person actually responds to aromatherapy, how to notice the subtle clues the client gives in relation to how they feel vs what they say, and so much more. There is only one class that could be distant and that is business or how to build a business.
I also believe that once a person is licensed they should be able to count weekend seminars or DE as CEUs.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:10 am
Distance learning would be a horrible way to learn massage. There is just no substitute for brick and mortar or apprenticeship training when entering the field. In my opinion, DE is appropriate for continuing education only. Recently, FL decided to require F2F for a percentage of CEU’s. Some LMT’s I spoke to thought this bonanza for massage schools was a good thing because massage education should be “hands-on.” Any practicing massage therapist gets plenty of hands-on. Many times–too much. DE CEU’s in surgery are quite common. Why would I be held to a higher standard than that? Or is the distance learning CEU’s taking a chunk out of the bloated profit made by the brick and mortar schools for providing mandated CEU seminars?
July 31st, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I’ve recently completed DE Massage training which requires self-motivation and a love for bodywork and massage. This training was in theory which took a year to complete. The same amount of time it takes for in-class study. During this time I also apprenticed with a LMT for hands-on training. Obviously, hands-on training is necessary for massage and bodywork. But D E is a great and efficient way to accomplish massage theory!
August 18th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I have been a massage educator for 13 years and have taught both basic massage and advanced training techniques. It is my firm belief based on my observations of students that any form of basic massage education needs to be taught in a real time classroom setting. Feedback from an instructor on such things as depth of pressure, coverage, flow, body mechanics, timing, stroke speed, etc. are all critical components of a good education in basic massage.
Once someone has learned the basics however, there are many modalities that are appropriate to be taught via distance education. Aromatherapy and trigger point therapy certainly come to mind, and needed CEUs in ethics could be obtained at a much lower cost. Techniques that highly invasive or involve risk to the client, however, should be reserved for classroom instruction in my opinion.