Training in the UK inferior? So who's had a massage from a U.S/Canadian therapist?

[MelBo]

I get a bit miffed when over and over again I read about how massage therapy training in the U.K is considered inferior to the USA and Canada. Yes, they do a zillion hours training in comparison to us blah, blah......... However, the proof is in the touch!

I'd like to hear from people who have experienced massage in USA/Canada or by a therapist trained in N. America - how was it?

I'm not trying to be glib here........... I'd genuinely like to know if their superior training makes them better therapists?

 

[Dypelulty]

I have received massages from a couple of UK therapists which have been just as good as anything I have received outside the UK. But I have also had some poor massages from UK therapists (mostly on CPD courses, and on my original ITEC course, where the tutor was very poor and didn’t teach the basics of posture and bodyweight).
Outside the UK, most of my personal experience is from Jamaica, Spain and Germany. I have never had a poor massage in Jamaica. I have received massages of varying standards in Spain and Germany, but I would say that the average standard is better than the average standard in the UK. (I believe that the training requirements in Germany are quite demanding: I’m not sure about Jamaica or Spain.)
My experience of the USA is limited, and of course the training requirements there are laid down by the individual states, not by the Federal government. But one area where some American states definitely score over the UK is in their practical exam, ie:

1) When I took my ITEC exam, students did their practical assessment treating someone they already knew (some students treated their husband or boyfriend). They were assessed by an examiner who watched the massage.
2) When I took my BTEC / LSSM exam, students were required to do two practical assessments, both on someone they had never met before. They were assessed by an examiner who watched the massages.
3) In some American states (eg Hawaii), students are assessed for their practical exam by the person they are treating (ie they have to massage the examiner).

In my opinion, the BTEC/LSSM protocol is better than the ITEC protocol (because in real life, we have to massage people we have never met before). But I think that the Hawaiian protocol is better than either. In real life, clients do not judge us by what our massage looks like, but by what the massage feels like. If a therapist keeps getting repeat bookings, he/she must be doing something right! And if he/she doesn’t get many or any repeat bookings, then additional training is needed.

I should also mention that the best massage training videos I have seen are both by Americans (Sean Riehl and Art Riggs). And the best CPD training I have received in the UK has been at Jing (discussed on previous threads), where both the principal tutors trained in the USA.

Alan

 

[Lelee]

Becky, thanks for this - wonderfully put, and I agree totally: massage is all about intent - that honest intent to do good for a client

The more I massage I do I become convinced that massage is a combination of intent and listening (plus some technique!). When I started my training the intent part was reasonably easy to, at least conceptulise, and gradually pick up. But I found the 'listening with my hands' really took a time to figure, let alone become adept at! And these are both skills I continually strive to improve.

I dont know if your average massage school - wherever it is located - teaches these kinds of things, but perhaps that is part of the puzzle. Plus I think your average client would think you were out to lunch if you talked about massage this way!

Sorry if this drifts off topic, but as Steve says this is a facsinating thread.

InTouch

 

[You wish you knew 8)]

Firstly, I agree with the general view on this thread that spending hours in a classroom doesn’t guarantee that a therapist will be able to give a really good massage. But while this thread has given a very interesting discussion of what makes a good massage, and of standards overseas, it hasn’t really discussed the other element of Melanie’s original question, ie the extent to which some (not all) training in the UK is ‘inferior’.
Like ‘butterflywings’, I began my massage career with an ITEC course. I was very disappointed with the quality of the tuition: we had much less practical massage than the 50 hours which ITEC recommend, and we weren’t taught the importance of basic body mechanics and of having the couch low enough to ensure that the massage is effective. And although I passed the course, I was so frustrated with the poor training that I felt the need to go on a short course at the London College of Massage as a ‘top-up’ before proceeding to a sports massage course.
Some time ago there was a long thread on the training forum entitled

See http://www.healthypages.net/forum/tm.asp?m=280433
To quote ‘Jabba the Hut’:

As far as basic massage is concerned, neither ITEC nor VTCT require students to be able to massage the whole of the body. For example, a post on the training forum stated

It is clear from several previous threads on this forum that some tutors take advantage of this to cut corners and don’t bother to teach their students the specific techniques for pectoral, abdominal, gluteal or facial massage. To quote another contributor to this forum:

As I commented on that thread:


I also agree with Becky that one of the best ways to improve one’s technique is to receive massage from different therapists.

Alan

 

[celtish]

I'm a relatively newly qualified therapist (ITEC) so don't have the breadth of experience that most of you do. However, I've had a few massages recently from different therapists, and the one I would definitely go back to is in fact a Canadian remedial massage therapist. I found her understanding of body mechanics to be way above anything else I had experienced, and never felt she was sticking to a structured routine of any kind. When she explained the Canadian training system I was amazed at how little we have to do here in the UK to become qualified compared with other countries. I do believe that if you have a genuine passion and feel for massage then that alone will drive you to study further and build up your skills and empathy for the client, but it must surely help if the initial training received is more in depth than that provided in the ITEC course.