Q: What's a typical workday like for you?
A: I see clients for sessions lasting 30 minutes to two hours, treating a specific site in the shorter sessions and a number of related or unrelated areas of the body in the longer ones. About 60 percent of my clients come about once a month for maintenance work and the remainder, who are suffering from acute conditions or injuries, may need more frequent sessions, ranging from one to three times a week.
Q: How does your role fit into the bigger healthcare picture?
A: Because I spend so much time with each client, I am able to gather a lot of history and information about each person and their condition. As a result, I'm able to many times successfully locate and treat soft tissue conditions that other health care practitioners may have overlooked.
Q: Who do you interact with during the course of the day?
A: I interact with clients, who range in age from 10 to 90, as well as with doctors, chiropractors, physical and occupational therapists, Rolfers, yoga instructors, body movement educators such as Feldenkrais practitioners and insurance company claims agents.
Q: Why did you become a massage therapist?
A: I had chronic low-back pain as a teenager and young adult and was never given a definitive reason in the conventional medical model as to its cause or effective treatment. This started my search into complementary and alternative medicine.
Q: What do you like about your work?
A: I like the flexible work schedule; working with my hands, head, heart and spirit to help others; and being able to form long-term professional relationships with thousands of people throughout my career.
