Publication: Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals January/February 2008
When you consider the future of the bodywork profession, what expectations/concerns do you have?
With massage therapy as the new lifestyle choice, businesses and jobs are becoming readily available. Meanwhile, regulations are becoming stricter and the surplus in the market permits prices to hit rock bottom at the expense of the massage therapist.
Massage will be a part of every American's regular lifestyle in the near future, and this mounting popularity is giving rise to fast paced changes in the bodywork profession.
In a 2006 survey done by Opinion Research Corporation, findings showed the demand for bodywork and massage has tripled in the last decade and this demand will only increase. The baby boomer generation, now into their golden years, has money and a desire to age gracefully in style using massage to help keep them limber and relaxed. Americans 18-34 are also interested in alternative therapies and medication is being replaced by massage as the 1st solution to their pain. Employers trying to enhance staff relations are now allowing bodywork practitioners into the workplace to give treatments to anyone willing to pay, and in many cases, the employer provides the services as well. Healthcare providers and medical insurance companies are beginning to cover more alternative medicine and holistic healing. Massage therapy is moving in the direction "more than a luxury" and people are using it as a form of injury prevention, pain management or pain relief all contributing to the increase in business within our profession.
The escalated popularity of massage will open doors for business opportunities and job openings. We are seeing more than ever before new massage service establishments and peripheral businesses to support the establishments such as massage supply stores and massage schools. Mobile massage businesses are also on the ascent with the amplified awareness of everyday consumption combined with gas prices through the roof and dense populations effecting traffic conditions. I recently launched LA Body Points in Los Angeles due to the growing need for bodywork in homes, hotels, offices and TV and Film sets. With so much new business, there is a strong need for massage therapists to provide the services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics did an Occupational Employment Survey where they projected from 2004 to 2014 there will be almost a 25% increase in the amount of massage therapists with in the profession up from 97,000 to 120,000 employed in the United States. Projected as well, are 4,160 job openings in the field.
Law makers are pressing in with so many entering the profession and the results of better regulation are esteeming the bodywork industry. Currently there are no federal regulations and the training programs and regulations vary by state or municipality (such is the case in California). Over 50% of North American states in 2004 passed laws regulating massage therapy of which the majority required massage therapists to complete a formal education program, pass the national certification exam or state exam and complete a minimum in continuing education compared to little or no requirements during the early 1990's. Because more stringent requirements to enter the workforce are becoming the norm, states are beginning to view the bodywork profession with equal status and respect to that of any other regulated profession and not simply a "part time trade".
As with any market on the verge of super saturation, receiving massage at an affordable price may become easier, however, detrimentally to the massage therapist. Massage companies advertising record low $40 massages are at the expense of the massage therapist. Massage mills are able to turn profits due to the volume of sales: their establishment has multiple stoic rooms they can fill splitting their low price among many therapists per hour. While a chain massage mill can afford to schedule a volume of massages, the therapist can still only physically perform the same amount of treatments. In the distant future, action on behalf of the massage therapists may require a state or national labor union to enforce minimum pay and fair treatment to contractors.
Written by Kendra Henderson
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