Profile
Massage Therapists
What does a professional massage therapist do?
Massage is the practice of influencing soft tissue by physical, functional, and in some cases psychological purposes and goals. A massage therapist is an accredited professional who has extensive training in massage technique and knowledge of the human body.
Massage involves acting on and inspiring the client's body with pressure (structured, unstructured, stationary, and/or moving), tension, motion, or vibration done manually or with mechanical aids. A massage therapist may target tissues including muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin, joints, or other connective tissue, as well as lymphatic vessels, and/or organs. Massage can be applied with the hands, fingers, elbows, forearm, and feet.
These techniques will be applied under the specific or numerous massage modalities that the massage therapist has been qualified to perform. There are over eighty different massage modalities. The most cited reasons for introducing different massage modalities have been client demand and perceived clinical effectiveness.
What distinguishes one type of massage therapist from another?
There are two main types of massage therapist in Australia: Massage Therapists and Remedial Massage Therapists.
The main difference between the two is that the Remedial Massage Therapist will hold further government qualified education requirements. The Remedial Massage Therapists have further education in the remedial side of the practice, whereas, a massage therapist who can perform remedial practice as well is mostly more involved in sports therapies and relaxation therapies.
The Remedial Massage Therapist is the major provider of health fund rebates from private health funds, although a qualified Massage Therapist may be able to provide some health fund rebates as well.
Common conditions seen by both types of massage therapist can be:
Massage is the practice of influencing soft tissue by physical, functional, and in some cases psychological purposes and goals. A massage therapist is an accredited professional who has extensive training in massage technique and knowledge of the human body.
Massage involves acting on and inspiring the client's body with pressure (structured, unstructured, stationary, and/or moving), tension, motion, or vibration done manually or with mechanical aids. A massage therapist may target tissues including muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin, joints, or other connective tissue, as well as lymphatic vessels, and/or organs. Massage can be applied with the hands, fingers, elbows, forearm, and feet.
These techniques will be applied under the specific or numerous massage modalities that the massage therapist has been qualified to perform. There are over eighty different massage modalities. The most cited reasons for introducing different massage modalities have been client demand and perceived clinical effectiveness.
What distinguishes one type of massage therapist from another?
There are two main types of massage therapist in Australia: Massage Therapists and Remedial Massage Therapists.
The main difference between the two is that the Remedial Massage Therapist will hold further government qualified education requirements. The Remedial Massage Therapists have further education in the remedial side of the practice, whereas, a massage therapist who can perform remedial practice as well is mostly more involved in sports therapies and relaxation therapies.
The Remedial Massage Therapist is the major provider of health fund rebates from private health funds, although a qualified Massage Therapist may be able to provide some health fund rebates as well.
Common conditions seen by both types of massage therapist can be:
- Muscle and joint stiffness and tightness
- Joint pain - e.g. knee or elbow
- Stress
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Lower back pain including Sciatica
- Shoulder and arm pain
- Headaches
- Neck pain
- Sprains and strains and tears
- Sports assistance
- Sporting injuries
- Work Injuries
- Motor vehicle injuries
- Swelling and oedema
- Sinus issues
- Acne issues
- Gastrointestinal issues
