You’ve seen that tik tok. You’ve read that Facebook post. You attended that seminar. You realized that a lot of what you learned in massage school was not correct, and now you aren’t feeling confident in your practice. I’ve been there. It can feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you and you aren’t sure what to say to clients anymore, you aren’t sure what techniques are okay to use, and you don’t know who to trust.
First things first: take a deep breath. No seriously, stop the racing thoughts and think about this. Are your clients happy? Are they rebooking? Then you are doing everything just right. Becoming more Evidence-Based is not so much about changing what you’re doing, but what you think you’re doing. So here’s 5 ways to jump start your evidence-based practice.
Review your website. Read through anywhere you discuss the benefits of massage or what certain techniques are doing. Make sure you word things factually. For example, change “this massage breaks up scar tissue” to “this massage helps tense areas relax”.
Challenge yourself to say “I don’t know, I'll have to look into it!” Your clients rely on you to provide them with accurate information. They will respect you more for following through and sending them an email response to their question with links to the articles you found. Upleveling your customer service is sure to set you apart.
Dedicate an hour each month to continuing education. Book it as a massage in your schedule, bring your laptop/ipad to work, and spend that hour researching. You will be amazed at how quickly you are able to share this information to your clients!
If you are needing to transition away from specific techniques/modalities: Try to think through WHY that modality gets the results it does and see if there is a safer way to perform it. Static cupping increases the risk of tissue damage, while dynamic cupping has less of this risk. Super Deep Tissue clients tend to enjoy stretching and more active techniques such as PNF stretching as they get that same sensation. Essential Oils applied directly to the skin can burn, but mixed with some oil can be well tolerated. Sometimes the transition is not as big as we think!
Practice! Get a fellow massage therapist or friend and practice explaining things to them as if they were a client. Some good questions to practice answering are: “Why am I tense?”, “How can massage help me?”, and “What is chronic pain?”
Stay humble, stay curious, and never stop learning. Growth looks good on you!
-Lindsay ✨
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