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Seattle Massage Therapy Career

Seattle Massage Therapy Career

Seattle Massage Therapist

Currently, there are around 12,000 massage therapists working throughout the state of Washington to help the more than 7 million residents of the state find relief from the pain or discomfort associated with injuries, anxiety, and stress. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average annual salary for massage therapist in Washington is $62,520, making it one of the highest-paying states for massage therapists across the country. The cities with the highest demand for massage therapists in the Evergreen State include, in no particular order, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Olympia, and Kennewick. Read on to learn about the current career outlook for massage therapist in Seattle and Washington State.

Demand and Career Outlook for Massage Therapists in Washington

According to the BLS, the state of Washington has the fourth highest demand for massage therapists across the U.S, and consistently posts high employment figures for massage therapists. In fact, the BLS projects the demand for massage therapists in the Evergreen State to grow by more than 40% over the next decade, leading to a shortage of massage therapists throughout the Evergreen State. Additionally, it could cause wages for massage therapists to rise, making the state and its cities, including Seattle, even more attractive for massage therapists.

Career Opportunities in Seattle

As mentioned earlier, Seattle is one of the best cities for massage therapist, not only in Washington State, but also across the entire country. This is because of several reasons. For starters, Seattle is a great place to set up a freelance massage therapy operation. For example, you can set up a mobile massage therapy operation, allowing you to make home and office visits. Secondly, if you decide to join the ranks of employed massage therapists in Seattle, Seattle offers numerous job opportunities for massage therapists. Some of these opportunities include:

•    in-home aid and other personal care services career opportunities
•    being the massage therapist in a team of health practitioners
•    recreation and amusement facilities including spas and high-end hotels
•    health facilities including long-term rehabilitation care facilities and hospitals
•    working as a massage therapists for a sports team, such as the Seattle Mariners or Seattle Seahawks

Washington Massage Therapy Licensure Requirements

To work legally as massage therapist in Washington and Seattle, you must be licensed by the state’s department of health. The licensure requirements include, among others, completing 500 hours or more from a state-approved massage therapy program as well as taking and passing a national massage licensing exam.

Conclusion 

The state of Washington is a great place for massage therapists looking to start and grow their careers, with the BLS projecting the demand for massage therapist in the state to grow by more than 40% over the next decade, potentially translating to higher wages. Some of the highest-paying cities for massage therapist in the Evergreen State include Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Kennewick.

To learn more about the career outlook as a massage therapist contact our Seattle Massage School Campus

Our sister massage school Seattle Clinical Massage School can also offer additional information about attending massage therapy school in Seattle.

Pediatric Massage Therapy for Scoliosis

Pediatric Massage Therapy for Scoliosis

Pediatric Massage - Scoliosis

Scoliosis is a condition that millions of Americans are familiar with. You may have already worked with patients who suffer from pain, discomfort, and stiffness due to scoliosis. This condition is particularly detrimental to children, who may struggle with weak muscles, back pain, and fatigue from long periods of standing upright.

Luckily, massage therapy can be used to help treat scoliosis in children. A pediatric massage involves manipulating soft tissues with the aim of relieving tension and improving blood flow to affected regions. When done correctly, the symptoms of scoliosis in children can be significantly reduced.

 

 

Understanding Scoliosis in children

Scoliosis is a condition where the spinal cord curvature is increased more than usual. The spine typically has a mild curve as it runs across your back. However, patients with scoliosis have a spinal cord that resembles a C or an S shape.

Congenital scoliosis (in children) typically occurs during birth and affects children as they continue to grow. The severity of this condition will vary from one patient to another. Some spinal curvatures are barely noticeable, while others can even cause a deformity in the spine.

Some risk factors of scoliosis include birth defects, infections, cerebral palsy, or genetic disorders such as Down Syndrome. Adding pediatric massage therapy skills to your current knowledge base will help you provide adequate relief to scoliosis patients.

Symptoms of Scoliosis

Scoliosis in children manifests itself in many different ways. It can begin to develop in the womb due to the incorrect division of vertebrae, or vertebrae that don’t fully grow during early stages. Diagnosis may be done soon after birth- or even later on when the child is 10-15 years old.

Some of the most common symptoms include:

Chronic back pain
An incorrectly tilted spine and pelvis
Fatigue from standing upright
Uneven shoulders
Benefits of Massage therapy

Pediatric massage therapy is a useful technique that can treat scoliosis in children. For example, effleurage massage techniques target the soft tissues and warm them up for adjustment. Through repeated strokes along the length of a child’s spinal cord, the muscles can relax and ease pain, stiffness, or tension.

Massage therapy also uses a combination of lubricants to soften the muscles and increase blood circulation to affected areas. Children with scoliosis can enjoy significant relief from symptoms and live a healthy life with timely massage therapy sessions.

Massage therapy techniques you can learn in massage school

If you wish to advance your knowledge and skills in massage therapy for scoliosis, attending massage school is an excellent way to get started. With these advanced skills under your belt, you’ll be able to provide timely pediatric massage therapy to children who’ve been affected by this condition.

The Advantages of Attending a Clinical Massage School

The Advantages of Attending a Clinical Massage School

Seattle Massage SchoolsIs your career in the health industry? Do you want to join a career that will enable you to promote healthy lifestyles? If this is the case, going to Northwest Academy’s Seattle clinical massage school may be the best option for you. Clinical massage therapy is an effective form of treatment of different kinds of ailments, diseases, and injuries. As a clinical massage therapist, you will use specific techniques that will ease muscle pain, reduce stress, and contribute to the overall wellness of your clients.

5 Benefits of Attending a Seattle Clinical Massage Therapy School

  1. Graduate with the essential skills: Northwest Academy’s Seattle clinical massage school involves a lot of hands-on training. The qualified instructors will train you in anatomy, musculature, and other massage therapy techniques. After graduating, you will have the needed practical experience to work in clinics, hospitals, and spas.
  2. You will become licensed: Most states require that massage therapists be licensed. For you to obtain your massage therapist license, you have to first complete a certification or degree program at a recognized Seattle clinical massage therapy school and obtain the necessary massage therapy experience. One of the main reasons why massage therapy has become a respected profession is due to the strict requirements that massage therapists have to meet.
  3. Qualified and licensed massage therapists are in high demand: The value of licensed massage therapists is now widely recognized. This has led to job growth in this industry; in fact, the BLS has predicted that it will experience a job growth of 26 percent more than the average. This means that it has a faster growth rate than the nursing profession which is at 15 percent. There are always new massage therapist jobs being created in places such as office buildings and nursing homes.
  4. It takes a short time to become a licensed clinical massage therapist: When most people think of starting a new career, they imagine spending two or four years in college. However, a typical training program at Northwest Academy’s Seattle clinical massage school takes between seven months and one year to complete. Training programs are designed to equip you with skills, safety precautions, and techniques you will need to enter the employment field. Therefore, if you desire to switch careers, the short massage therapy training programs are a real plus.
  5. Flexible class schedules: If you’re thinking about switching careers or enhancing your career with additional training, your busy work schedule and personal life may prevent you from achieving your goals. Fortunately, Northwest Academy’s Seattle clinical massage therapy school can tailor a training program that can fit your lifestyle and schedule.

Take the Next Step to Become a Massage Therapist

Now that you know the several benefits of attending a Seattle clinical massage therapy school, enroll for a massage therapist course at Northwest Academy. You will learn anatomy and physiology, kinesiology, massage theories and practices, pathology, first aid and CPR that will prepare you for a massage therapist career. For more information contact an admissions assistant today.

Tips For Choosing The Best Seattle Massage School

Tips For Choosing The Best Seattle Massage School

Have you stopped to ask yourself why a healing method that has been used for over 4000 years is now getting popular? Perhaps it’s because people are finally respecting this old healing method. Today, medically modeled massage is one of the fastest growing fields in the massage profession. Whether you have a desire for offering relaxation massages or you are passionate about assisting your patients with injuries or specific conditions, your education and experience from Seattle Massage Schools will help you succeed in your career.

4 Tips on How to Choose the Right Seattle Massage School

There are numerous Seattle Massage Schools and finding the right one can be an overwhelming process. It’s hard to choose a massage school that can provide you with the best training. Ideally, you need a Seattle massage school that:

  1. Has small classes: You should only consider Seattle massage schools that have the smallest classes. Small classes will help you get the one on one attention you deserve which is essential for you to succeed in this career path.
  2. Flexible class schedule: Life is often busy for most people, especially if you’re juggling between work and family. Therefore, you need a Seattle massage training program that can design a massage program to fit your lifestyle and schedule.
  3. Experienced faculty: Ensure that the Seattle massage therapy school you choose consists of licensed massage therapists, chiropractors, kinesiologists, naturopathic physicians, and physical therapists.
  4. Research or evidence-based curriculum: According to the Massage Therapy Foundation, massage therapists should have the necessary skills and knowledge to assess the available research and make effective clinical decisions. This can only be possible by choosing a Seattle massage school that has developed its curriculum around both theories and practices that are evidence-based. Additionally, the institution you choose should also utilize different classroom assessments.

More and more patients and physicians are realizing that medically based massage isn’t just an alternative treatment but a necessary one. What’s more, many insurance companies are now paying for medically modeled massages that have been prescribed by doctors for different ailments such as falls, work-related injuries, sports activities, auto accident injuries, and diseases.

Consider a Second Career in Massage Therapy

Psychologists agree that loving what you do is necessary to achieve job satisfaction. Therefore, if your current job is very demanding, you should consider a career change. Among all health care careers, the U.S. News has ranked massage therapist as the fourth best in terms of job prospects, salary, and work-life balance. Follow the above tips to find the best Seattle massage therapy schools. If you have any questions, visit Northwest Academy or call a helpful academic adviser at 206-932-5950 today.

Massage and Scleroderma

Massage and Scleroderma

Scleroderma massage therapy seattle

Let’s talk about a difficult condition called scleroderma. Massage therapy might not be among the resources you’d think of in addressing the patient’s challenges with this condition, but you’d be surprised. For a wide variety of conditions, massage therapy becomes a versatile tool for healthcare professionals who add it to their repertoire.

When you study the body from a massage therapy perspective, you also gain insight and ideas for your work as a yoga instructor, fitness professional, or other roles where you’re concerned with your clients’ physical wellbeing. It’s both a whole-body and localized treatment. Here’s how it helps with scleroderma when carefully used.

Scleroderma and its Stages

Scleroderma is an autoimmune condition which, like many such conditions, affects women much more frequently than it does men. It causes hardening of the body’s tissues, either locally or throughout the body’s systems, producing a thick feeling to the skin and other stiffness and internal damage.

The progression of a client’s scleroderma is an important factor in considering massage treatment. As damage to the body continues, its surface hardens and loses vitality and eventually internal organs can be affected. Massage therapy may not be advisable or may be of limited use during later stages of the disease.

The Advantages of Skilled Massage Therapists

Multimodal treatment, mixing massage therapy with treatment by physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers, can help a patient’s body to respond better to treatment in general. If you have one of these backgrounds, you can augment your clinical skills in a significant way by learning massage therapy. For example, it can help increase blood circulation and possibly delay the onset and worsening of symptoms.

Because there are many specialized massage techniques with varying effects on the body, a carefully designed massage program can be offered to clients to address medical concerns. Where deep tissue massage may help with some aspects of a condition, your skill and tactile sensitivity as a massage therapist can help you use a gentler approach, similar to that used for fibromyalgia.

Using the Unique Qualities of Massage to Help Scleroderma Patients

Medical guidance is essential when you are working with a client who is diagnosed with scleroderma. Depending on the type and extent of a client’s condition, deep tissue massage techniques may be somewhat useful, but attention to circulation and joint function, breath and relaxation may be more productive approaches.

You can provide gentle, repetitive touch to help capillary flow and relaxation, while breathwork and assisted joint movement can help the body stay resilient. Myofascial (muscle) techniques can conflict with the hardening of the body’s surfaces, and generally you should avoid this type of approach.

Patient Engagement Makes a Difference

Massage therapy training helps you understand the body from a client’s perspective. In addition to being a caring presence in each person’s life, you learn how to constructively use touch to assist bodies in healing from disease and maintaining health. The power of one human caring for another in a safe, structured setting allows one of the most basic human needs to be addressed — that of touch.

As an autoimmune disease, scleroderma is a complex condition and patients may feel at a loss in dealing with it. From nurses to fitness coaches, when people help us with our physical well being, it’s usually with a minimum of hands-on connection and mostly verbal. When you, as a massage therapist, address specific physical challenges which the client is experiencing, you also address the patient as a whole, helping her to develop an inner strength to deal with her life’s challenges.

To learn more about how massage therapy can be beneficial for Scleroderma contact our Seattle student massage clinic

Massage Therapy Job Outlook in Washington

Massage Therapy Job Outlook in Washington

Massage Therapy Job Outlook – A career in massage therapy gives you the power to relieve pain and promote health while earning a good income. Nationally, the field is expected to continue growing at an accelerate rate through the year 2024.

For massage therapy Seattle and its tech-heavy culture make a perfect match. If you are thinking about a career in massage therapy Seattle is one of the best places in the country.

Washington State Requirements

Massage therapists are regulated by the Washington State Department of Health, Board of Massage. To maintain an active license, therapists must meet the following requirements.

Applicants must complete an approved training program that includes:

  • 130 hours anatomy and physiology
  • 40 hours kinesiology instruction
  • 50 hours pathology
  • 265 hours theory and practice, including technique
  • 55 hours clinical and business practices
  • Red Cross first aid certification
  • CPR certification
  • 4 hours HIV/AIDS discussion

Those who received training out-of-state or who are licensed in another location may not meet Washington state education requirements. To verify previous experience, a verification form must be completed by the jurisdiction or school where your credentials were gained.

All applicants must successfully complete the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) or Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) examination.

After completing the training program and testing, therapists must submit all necessary paperwork to the Board of Massage, along with any applicable fees. Once your application information is verified, you will receive your Washington state massage therapy license.

Massage therapy licenses expire on the holder’s birthday every year. They can be renewed up to 90 days in advance.

Every two years, practitioners must complete 24 hours of continuing education credits. These must include:

  • 8+ hours direct massage skills training
  • 4+ hours professional ethics, communication, or review of state laws and regulations
  • 2 hours review of professional roles and boundaries

Massage Therapy Seattle Area Employment Outlook

For those practicing massage therapy Seattle has a variety of job opportunities in different industries.

  • Personal care services, such as in-home aid
  • Working with other health practitioners as part of a team
  • Amusement and recreation, such as spas and high-end hotels
  • Hospitals and long-term rehabilitation care

Massage Therapy Job Outlook for Washington is great in general. For a successful career in massage therapy Seattle is a great place to set up a freelance operation. For mobile massage therapy Seattle is the perfect place to create your own career by making office visits.

  • When it comes to pay for those practicing massage therapy Seattle is one of the best paying locations in the country. Seattle area therapists command an impressive hourly mean wage of $26.89, well above the national average of $19.17.
  • Washington has the 4th highest demand for massage therapists in the country. The state also consistently posts high employment rates for those in the field.
  • Massage therapy positions in Washington are expected to increase by 41.3% in the next 8 years. The demand for new massage talent will soon cause a shortage of qualified applicants. This could drive wages up in the future, making the area even more attractive for knowledgeable bodywork professionals.

When practicing massage therapy Seattle offers opportunity and variety. Enjoy a fulfilling and profitable career as a respected health professional. When it comes to massage therapy Seattle is the best place in the country to learn, practice, and live.

For questions relating to the Massage Therapy Job Outlook in Washington State contact our admission department today!