Are you currently in an entry level massage therapy job and want to take your career to the next level? Or are you an experienced licensed massage therapist wanting to break into the burgeoning health care industry and practice in a medical setting such as a hospital, nursing home or sports medicine facility? Or do you have a love of animals and want to practice in the growing field of canine massage? Or do you need to fulfill an education requirement? If so, then Continuing Education is what you need.

There are several Continuing Education options from which to choose and these courses are specifically designed for massage therapists to keep you current with trends, satisfy your curiosity, and engage you in new areas of exploration such as prenatal, canine, sports, Eastern massage or medical massage therapy. In fact, 80 different types of massage types, or modalities, exist according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Taking Continuing Education classes will not only benefit you as a person, but also it will benefit your practice. By learning new modalities you can specialize in specific populations and increase your clientele. This provides the opportunity to increase your hourly rate depending on the type of massage you are performing. Also, the more knowledge, comprehension and application of massage techniques you have, the more you will be able to define your clients’ needs and support them with massage therapy RMT Richmond. This allows you to make a more specific pre-massage assessment which directly benefits the client and increases the possibility of him/her becoming a repeat client.

There are three main reasons for taking Continuing Education courses: 1) to obtain an advanced massage therapy degree such as an Associate of Occupational Studies (AOS) degree; 2) to obtain an Advanced Certification in massage therapy; and 3) to obtain Continuing Education (CE) credits in order to renew your state license or professional membership.

Let’s look in more detail at each one of these reasons for taking Continuing Education classes:

1) To obtain an advanced massage therapy degree, such as an Associate of Occupational Studies (AOS) degree

An advanced degree, such as an AOS degree, is geared toward students who want to explore advanced concepts in human anatomy and physiology, including neurophysiology and neuroanatomy, medical massage, and other topics not covered in a basic training Massage Therapy Certificate Program. An advanced degree is the way to go if you want to practice massage therapy in a medical setting such as a hospital or rehabilitative massage clinic. Here are some examples of courses required in order to obtain an AOS degree:

Medical Massage – In this course, the study of advanced pathophysiology and critical thinking skills is combined with specific practical hands-on techniques. Students learn treatment methods specifically geared toward clients with spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and post-surgical conditions.