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BEST FOOT FORWARD: MASSAGE THERAPISTS WHO ARE FEELING THE STRAIN ON THEIR BODIES ARE FINDING SANCTUARY IN AOBT

By Valerie A. Danner

Jessica Monson loved practicing massage therapy at her private practice in Denver until the demand of the job began to get the best of her. She didn’t know how she would be able to maintain a long career as a massage therapist.

“My body was killing me,” Monson recalls. Three years ago, she was trying to figure out how she could maintain her current schedule. Massaging six clients a day was taking a toll on her upper body, and a career she loved turned into something she started to dread. As she was walking out of a health food store contemplating her next career move, she came across a billboard showing Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy™ (AOBT), where the therapist gives massage with her feet while using bars positioned on the ceiling to maneuver and balance.

It clicked for Monson right at that moment. “I knew I was going to do well at it,” Monson remembers. Even without having ever received such a massage, she applied for AOBT training, feeling it would be a good way for her to continue practicing massage, while easing the stress on her body.

“It changed my life,” Monson says. “Giving it is a relaxation.”

What Is AOBT?

The word Ashiatsu literally means “foot pressure” (ashi means “foot” and atsu means “pressure”). While the roots of AOBT are certainly Eastern, the modality itself is based on Western philosophy. But to understand how AOBT became what it is today, one has to ask Ruthie Piper Hardee, the founder of the modality. She likens the modality to body surfing. “It is not walking on the back,” she says. “That is not what we do.”

Photo courtesy of Ruthie Piper Hardee A demonstration of AOBT in action.

Hardee officially began studying massage in 1990, but as a young girl, she traveled the world with her missionary parents. Her mom was a nurse; her dad was a doctor, and both served as missionaries for more than 15 years. One particular event stands out in Hardee’s mind: “In a public gathering place, there were many padded cots and an assembly line of small Asian women massaging as many as five men at the same time,” she says. “All would hold onto a long, wooden bar spanning the whole ceiling….”

Like Monson, massage began to take a toll on her body. Visions of what she witnessed in the Philippines as a child came into view. She found little information about what she was looking for—she wanted to focus on Western science and the deep tissue techniques in which she was already trained. But from 1990 to 1995, she couldn’t find any courses in the United States that were dedicated to Swedish effleurage with feet.

So she took matters into her own “feet” and developed her own technique after months of research, collaboration with other health-care professionals, and plenty of people who were willing to let her work on them.

The Training

To be able to practice AOBT, one must complete the training by a certified therapist in the modality. Monson is one of nine therapists who are certified to teach AOBT. In 2004, 127 people graduated with the right to call themselves a certified AOBT practitioner.

“We have 10 years of experience behind us,” she says. “If we have competition, we hope they are doing it correctly.” She carefully examined important issues regarding the modality before opening it up to the public.

What Is The Future Of AOBT?

The October issue of Outside Magazine listed an hour-long session of AOBT as something to try while in Denver. Monson says she’s gotten at least 20 to 25 new clients from that alone. The spa industry also has inquired

Photo courtesy of Ruthie Piper Hardee Massage therapists at a spa receive instruction in AOBT.

about AOBT, something Monson says shows the modality is taking off.

Hardee says the nature of the modality generates publicity. They often make the local papers, and AOBT was even featured on CNN for a 30-second spot Memorial Day weekend 2004.

At Monson’s practice, Serenity Now! Massage Therapy, Inc. in Denver, Monson says 90 percent of her clients ask for AOBT. She says there are no ill effects on her body, and she can give up to eight massages a day by using this modality.

Above all, clients are happy with it. “People who receive it don’t want to go back to hand massage.”

And massage therapists who thought their bodies couldn’t take practicing massage are finding sanctuary with AOBT. “We create rejuvenated therapists, many who were ready to get out of the business because they were fried,” Hardee says.

~Valerie A. Danner is an associate editor with the American Massage Therapy Association. She can be reached at vdanner@amtamassage.org.

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DID YOU KNOW?

AOBT is ideal for large clients who prefer a deeper massage, who have an indicated condition (see below), or who simply enjoy new and different styles of massage. Many clients prefer the different sensation of feet as opposed to hands.

AOBT is indicated for the following conditions:
chronic low back pain
sciatica
scoliosis
tight or painful hamstrings
tight or painful calves
chronic upper back pain and fibrosis

It is contraindicated for the following:
pregnant or trying to get pregnant
acute back pain
breast implants within 9 months
Lasik surgery within 72 hours
varicose veins
osteoporosis
heart conditions
cancer

Source: www.deepfeet.com/benefits.html

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MONTHLY MARKETING TIP: HOW TO WRITE EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING THAT GENERATES CLIENTS

By Amy Roberts

Have you ever sat at your computer trying to create a really great flyer, ad or business card? You know that it’s important and you want to get it right, but you take ages to do it and sometimes it can feel like pushing dirt uphill.

I felt like that, too. In fact, I was a little scared of it. I was not scared of marketing my practice, but of getting it wrong.

Marketing can be daunting. It requires quite a bit of brain power to try and “come up with” something effective. You know how good you are at massage; now it’s your job to get that message across in a way that your potential clients will respond to.

A great way to get started marketing your practice is to understand your clients’ needs. So when you are sitting down to create that effective piece of marketing, ask yourself this: “What are my clients main problems? Why do my clients get massages?”

If you don’t know specifically what your clients’ problems are as a group, then look at the people who have already come to you for massage. Take a “snapshot” of who they are and try to break it down into one or two main groups of people. What you are trying to do through this is find the common need they all have, so you can appropriately market.

Let’s say you have 30 clients. When you first think about it, they all seem pretty different, right? John might be a motorbike rider with an aching back, married with two kids. Marjory might be a housewife with four kids who works part-time in a shop. Her problem might be neck pain and headaches. You might also have Dave, a 25-year-old corporate manager who windsurfs every weekend and has leg pain at night. Then you might have Jo, a self-employed hairdresser with chronic shoulder and neck pain that is occupationally related.

What common need do they all have? Sounds hard, right? It’s not as hard as you think. In order to do targeted advertising, you must go through this process.

When you look at client information from your records (your snapshot), you might find that they all lead very busy lives, putting in 12 or 18 hour days. Lack of exercise leading to muscle stiffness might be the common problem.

Once you have found that out, you can develop an effective marketing message because you now know what the main problem is. You can create an ad that offers the solution to the fatigue and muscle soreness they are experiencing. If John, Marjory, Jo and Dave all have muscle tightness and stiffness from lack of proper movement, you can understand what they want and market accordingly.

In a nutshell, our clients get massage from us so they can have a pain-free life. They want to do the things they enjoy with freedom, comfort and ease. (Hey, so do we!) Your clients don’t just want massage for the sake of it--if they want a solution to their problem. You must state what that solution is in your advertising.

Clients don't want relief from back pain only. They want what this relief can bring--to move, sleep, sit and work without the stress of nagging, tiring pain. This is the real underlying reason why they seek massage in the first place. Your headline should reflect what it is that they are looking for. This is incredibly important.

If you don’t have a large client-base to analyze, I suggest that you include these questions on the client intake form when people first visit:

“What was the reason you made a massage appointment with me?” “How did you find out about me?”

If you start compiling information about why people come to you and how they found you, you’ll have a very good basis for your ads and flyers. Once you have these two pieces of information, you can create more effective marketing materials that get a better response.

You can market your practice successfully. It’s not hard, but it does require some commitment and willingness to listen to what your clients are actually saying to you.

~Amy Roberts is a massage therapist living in Melbourne, Australia. She now coaches and writes about business for massage therapists in countries around the world. She is reachable by E-mail at: massagesuccess@pacific.net.au. She will answer all E-mails personally. Visit her Web site at www.massagetherapysuccess.com.

CLICK `N PICK: HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED ANY SIDE EFFECTS AFTER MASSAGING CLIENTS WHO USE MEDICATION PATCHES?

Recently, AMTA received an inquiry regarding client use of certain medication patches (estrogen, nicotine, pain killers, birth control, etc.). Have any of you experienced side effects yourselves after massaging a client who wears one?

Spend a few moments answering this question at the link below. It's quick, and it’s easy! See the results in the next issue of e-touch.

Take the survey right now!

Last Month's Results: What information do you put in your advertisements?
 

32 responses 15.38% (1) Just my qualifications.   127 responses 61.06% (2) An explanation of the benefits of my work.   49 responses 23.56% (3) I don't advertise.

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Foundation Announces Election Of Trustees

Diana Makeig of Iowa and Albert Moraska, Ph.D., of Colorado have been elected to the Massage Therapy Foundation Board of Trustees for terms beginning March 1, 2005. Sharon Marden Johnson of Maine, and Glenn Hymel, Ed.D., of Louisiana have also been reelected to the board. Also appointed to serve as an AMTA Board of Directors representative on the Massage Therapy Foundation Board of Trustees is Claude Gagnon of Milwaukee.

Makeig has experience in fundraising, public relations, financial management, marketing and massage therapy education. Makeig is founder/owner of Spa Solutions, and has volunteered on behalf of the foundation’s Development Committee.

Moraska recently served as the director of clinical research at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy, and has volunteered on the foundation’s Database Committee.

Johnson has served as a trustee of the foundation since 1996.

Hymel will continue to chair both the Database and Research Grant Review Committees of the foundation. Hymel is an associate professor and past chairman of the Department of Psychology at Loyola University New Orleans. He is also a licensed massage therapist, with a particular practice and research focus on fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, geriatric and chronic pain populations.

These new and reelected trustees join the following current trustees: President John Balletto (RI), Vice President Diana Thompson (WA), Tim Herbert, (OR), Diana Kincaid (WA) and Glenath Moyle (OR).

SAVE THE DATE!
Attend the first massage therapy research conference in the United States.
“Highligingt Massage Therapy In CAM Research”
Sheraton Old Town, Albuquerque, New Mexico
September 25-27, 2005
Click here to view more information

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TIP FROM A MASSAGE THERAPIST

Do you have tight and tense muscles in your upper back and shoulders?

If you suffer from tight and tense muscles in the upper back and shoulders start your day off right with this shower tip. Instead of endlessly standing in the shower with the water beating on your back, get that stream of water to soak into your muscles. Place a hand towel on the problem area while you stand there. This will help the moisture and heat to penetrate into the muscles, rather than just trickling down to the drain.

Christina Rider
AMTA Professional Member
Iowa City, Iowa

For a different massage tip each week, visit AMTA’s Massage Room.

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LEARN 'N EARN CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Check out AMTA’s continuing education/events calendar. The Learn 'n Earn Calendar^sm is bigger, better and now easier to search, with weekly, monthly and yearly calendar views.

Individual presenters, AMTA Chapters and schools can now list their continuing education events with ease. There is no charge for posting an event. Learn 'n Earn is presented as a public service to the massage therapy profession by AMTA.

Look for all the events typically listed in e-touch’s Calendar of Events in the revised Learn ‘n Earn calendar!

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Share your valuable knowledge with others! If you have written, or would like to write, an article on a specific topic dealing with your area of massage expertise, send an E-mail to: etouch@amtamassage.org. Articles should be an original work. The editors of e-touch reserve the right to edit articles for space and for appropriateness to AMTA members, nonmembers and consumers. Please follow the Writer’s Guidelines for submission posted on the AMTA Web site.

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If you would like to reprint any of the e-touch issues or articles for handout or promotion of your practice, you need to first obtain copyright permission.

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Your ad can appear in e-touch for a month, two months, a year or more. Would you like to reach massage therapists and consumers interested in massage and massage-related products and services? Contact Christina Rompon at: 847-905-1413, or by E-mail at: adsales@amtamassage.org.

Are you looking for other advertising opportunities to reach massage therapists and educators? Visit our Web site and review our entire online media kit, with rates and specifications for everything from exhibits to banner ads.

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Click here: www.amtamassage.org/member/addrchange.html.

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LEGAL NOTICE: Articles submitted by individual authors are copyrighted by those authors and reprinted with their permission. Views expressed in these articles are not necessarily the views of the American Massage Therapy Association^®, and should in no way be construed as an endorsement. They are for informational purposes only.