When I got into the internet marketing game it wasn’t because I wanted to be an internet marketer and after studying this industry for almost a year. I really hate some of the tactics that these “internet guru’s” use, anything for a buck mentality, yes some of them are really making huge amount of money using these strategies. But as for I still have to live with myself every night so I may not endorse their strategies. But I will see how I can use what they are doing, study their systems and re-vamped it for my niche.

Honestly, I don’t think that these marketing strategies would work for my niche anyways, you see my niche is massage therapy. Customers who get massage might be tolerable to the “tech” aspects of internet marketing but as for massage therapist, they are a breed of their own. It would be my guess that (and it is just my educated guess) that 80% of all massage therapist are still saving the whales, wearing tied dye shirts, living in a tree to halt or stop corporate capitalism and not to mention that most of of them are vegetarians. I know that this an gross over-exaggeration, but I am trying to paint a picture, of the of the difficulties that massage therapist are when it comes to technology, hardly your typical market that a internet marketer would thrive in.

My reason for the post is, internet marketing was and is only a platform for me to build a “hands off” income to expand my brick and mortar business, not to be a “internet marketing guru”. So through what I call “mini experiments” I am attempting to educate the community of massage therapist that they can still do what they do, be as they are (niche marketing) and still reap the benefits, that the “technology” of the internet can be embraced by us. I am here to preach this to all that will listen, internet marketing can and does allow the opportunity for massage therapist and other holistic providers to use our offline customers, contacts and physical business to generate a online marketing business that will support (income wise) our massage/holistic business, without having to work on clients, this where the term “hands off” massage business model comes from.

In future post I will go into more specifics on how to achieve this, right now I would like for you to consider this model for yourself, especially if you physically breaking down or if the idea on making money and doing what you love without worrying about trading man hours for dollars, appeals to you. Internet Marketing is more than the net.

Trigger Point Fact Sheet,

So often when we experience pain, we think that it must be so much more than a weak muscle caused by a trigger points in that muscle and its effect on causing those muscles to be weak. The truth of the matter is that most of the time muscle pain and dysfunction is cause by these trigger point characteristics.

So I thought I would outline these characteristics to aide you, here you go.

• Muscles that are affected by trigger points will often be associated with deep pain, when they are called upon to work. This is also why problems travel to other areas of the body, because we stop using these muscles altogether, forcing other muscles to make up this load.

• A trigger point will twitch the taut band of muscle from which it is located on the muscle, when you run your finger across it. The taut band of that muscle is tight due to oxygen and nutrient deprived, but it is not fibrotic. And usually will soften and return to its relaxed state once proper treatment is applied.

• Stretching the muscles that are affected by trigger points, achieves the desired results associated with trigger points due to the fact that when you stretch a muscle you are increasing circulation and as well addressing the shortness of that muscle, making it easier for that muscle to hold its resting length.

• Muscles affected by trigger points, cannot reach a state of relaxation or return to their resting length. Trigger points cause muscles to hold their contraction over long periods of time.

• Because of the oxygen depleted muscles affected by trigger points, these muscles are then prone to increased activity and fatigue much faster than normal

• The beginning stages of trigger points are usually cause by other active trigger points in the body, known as satellite trigger points. Eventually these early stage satellite trigger points will cause their own referred pain symptoms.

• Accordingly to Professor Melzack, nearly 80% of all trigger points are in the same location as acupuncture points in Chinese medicine.

• Trigger points that are treated will only reactivate when they are stressed or called upon to work, if the muscles that are affected are not able to hold the resting length.

It is also from my personal experiences, trigger point therapy will instantly make you an expert in eye’s of your clients, the reason why I believe this to be true is simply, not that many massage therapist or bodyworkers take the time to research this area and implement it into their practice. One strategy that I use continuously with success is whenever we are out marketing our massage services is immediately locate and press hyper sensitive trigger points on potential clients. Your experience will automatically show again majority of the massage therapist out there are not fine-tuned into knowing exactly where to press, but when you do I challenge you to watch your clients body language but in most cases before you get a chance to read the body language your potential client is already giving you a verbal confirmation that you hit that right spot.

I hope that this information is helpful to you in your own practice, please remember if you like to write and have a website. I am still looking for guest writers. You are free to advertise your business, service or product if you picked to write for the upcoming newsletter called, “The Professional Bodyworker”

A tight muscle is like; a light bulb that is on, but when you walk into the room to hit the switch off, the lights stay on. A tight muscle is “on” continuously (contracted) working even at rest.

A weak or faulty working muscle is like, walking into a room and flipping the light on, yet it just flickers on and off, a weak muscle is never working properly when ask to. by:robert c. vignoli

The crazy thing about this quote is that both of these conditions are happening at the same time. And it is a vicious cycle that will not go away unless you take action. Muscle work should have a primary focus of, “restoring natural, fluid, pain-free movement” and you as a massage therapist/bodyworker should know how to achieve this. And if you are to ever master this you should start with yourself, by listening to your own body. Pay attention to your own body as you move from position to position, the next time you are out running, lifting weights or giving a massage, if you listen and are in-tuned with your body, you will begin to sense what is not right.

There is no tutorial, video or how-to-guide that will accurately guide you but you will be able to gain a wealth of knowledge as to what expectations that are optimal for achieving this balance from client to client. Experience and working on a ton of clients from all different lifestyles, everyone will vary depending on their work, activities and body types. Working on as many different clients as possible, is what, will make the difference here. By thoroughly examining every client and checking in with them often over a period of time to see what progress or a lack of, is the only tested method that I recommend for gaining the inner sense. I say inner sense because it should ultimately come from what feels right for this client. Another very important aspect here is getting plenty of massage work yourself., you will never know what your clients are feeling if you do not know what it feels like yourself.

Many of the problems associated with our muscle pain is related to shortening of muscles (tight muscles) and direct relationship to weakening opposing muscles. This shortening of our working muscles will often lead to a muscle constantly being “on” even at rest, and over a period of time a lack of tone and fatigue to its opposing muscle groups. Once this condition is observed, the correct approach will be to deal with the shorten muscle groups first. Most often when you release chronically short muscles, the opposing muscles groups will regain some their strength almost immediately.

Weak muscles that are affected by a strong “pull” primary from the short tight muscles will eventually lead to muscular failure. This why we experience a particular movement that causes us pain we stop moving in that direction to find an alternative movement that does not cause us pain. This only accelerates the musculature imbalance. When the time comes for that weak muscle to work you will notice faulty firing patterns (compensated movements) usually by now ingrained as to be our “normal” movements. With the average individual never ever being aware of how this got to be so bad. After releasing the tight muscle(s) that were affecting this condition, time must then be spent on establishing a neuromuscular connection, through various “active” stretching methods and/or strengthening.

Normal function of muscles cannot be achieved until you re-educate the muscles neuromuscular connection especially in individuals who have had chronic tightness. My light switch analogy is in essence, the connection between your movements and the feedback loop from your brain, spinal cord and nervous system.

I hope that you all had a great weekend, were you able to take time out for yourself to get a massage?

Don’t feel left out I did not get a massage this weekend either, my reason for this is that I am in the process of putting together a Massage Therapy Newsletter that will cater to the advance bodyworker. I know that there are other massage publications out there and my goal is not to complete with them. My goal here is to assemble a newsletter that will contain specific advance massage therapy techniques for the serious bodyworker combined with business and marketing techniques that will help you to achieve the maximum output from your massage business with minimum physical input .

Our massage newsletter, “The Bodywork Professional” is under construction and will soon be released, if you would like to be a guest writer let me know. The Bodywork Professional newsletter will be released on a quarterly basis (4 times a year) and it pages will be filled with advanced massage techniques and stretches, marketing strategies and business know know how, and profiles of professional massage therapist in the industry (could be you). It will also include tips on client retention which I am sure we all can use.

As a massage therapist/bodyworker for over 10 years now, our goal is to create a more rewarding experience for the holistic practitioner. Design products and services that will allow you to create an extra income for yourself so that you will generate a positive income, no matter if you have clients booked that day or not. Please join me in the endeavor to raise the standards and expectancy of our services to the general public, at no time in our history is there a more perfect time for this to happen then now. With an increasing number of Baby Bloomer’s turning 65 in the next 10 years, those of us who position ourselves early for this uptrend will benefit the most. These Baby Boomers will need and hopefully seek out massage therapy services to keep from feeling old and stiff.  This trend will happen whether you get involved or not, let’s group together as an industry and find a way to tap into this trillion dollar market that all the financial experts keep talking about.

If you have a massage business and are looking to increase your exposure to the web community, I may be looking for you, to be a guest writer for my newsletter. I am interested in gathering all types of bodyworkers from different backgrounds and modalities. If you have more than 5 years experience in your field and love to write, please contact me for more details.

Massage Therapy: Hip flexors muscles

In my last post I talked about a client who had tight abdominal muscles (rectus femoris) that was causing his back pain, today I want to address how to use advance massage techniques to release this area.

To test:

• For supine position: you must have the client positioned at the end of the table in a spine position (lying on their back) Client must grab around the knee of the leg that is NOT being tested and then dropping the other leg. If the leg that is dropped is NOT parallel to the floor or if the hamstrings on that same leg are not touching the table, this would indicate psoas or rectus abdominal shortness.

• For the prone position (client lying on their stomach) place a small pillow underneath their pelvis area. Grab and or tell the client to flex their leg at the hip of the side that you want to test, place your other hand on the sacrum area to stabilize the pelvis and prevent undue stress, while testing. At this time, you will place your hand around their ankle and begin to lower their leg toward their glute until you start to feel a binding in the muscle and what you are looking for is, increasing lumbar lordosis and/or hip muscles lifting up towards the ceiling. Rising hip area would indicate more rectus femoris then psoas muscles.

To treat:

• For supine position, in the same position as mentioned above, you will stand in between the legs of your client, allowing them to place the non-treated leg on your shoulder. While you gently push the leg (thigh area) with your hand on the leg that will be treated, down towards the floor. Carefully checking with you client to see how they are doing. Hold for no more then 7-15 seconds, instructing your client to breath, deeply and slowly, release stretch, check in your client and then repeat adding a little more downward pressure. Normal range of motion should allow for the treated leg to hang parallel to the floor or for the hamstrings to touching the table.

• For prone position, same position as for the test position mentioned above, you will grab around their calf or ankle and slowly lower their leg towards their glute muscles, again checking in with your client and instructing them to breath; deeply and slowly. Hold for no more than 7 – 15 seconds. Release the stretch, check in with you client and then repeat, this time adding a little more pressure to the stretch, with a goal of getting them to touch their buttock with their heel.

Disclaimer:

I outline a very simple procedure for releasing psoas/rectus femoris muscle groups, you should by no means try this techniques without having proper training beforehand and a great sense of your skills, your clients participation is essential here, by checking in with them always, as not to cause any undue stress to their body, that is not beneficial for them. This muscle group and its relationship to one another and all its surrounding muscles are very complicated and challenging at the same time. This posting is and will always be, “just a guide” for you to further study these techniques on your own, so that you can implement a more proper assessment, elevation and treatment programs for your clients. I am available for consulting, if interested, email me for more info.

Patterns of Dysfunction: Massage Therapy can help!

Advanced massage therapy techniques have the potential for not only recognizing obvious patterns of musculature dysfunction but with a keen sense of the body; reveal so much more and help your clients that much more..

To illustrate my point I am going to use a client that we have currently on our schedule, who is a male, retired in his late 40’s and as a kid had problems with his legs and feet. This client has a slouching posture, his activities are gardening, woodworking and he loves to snow ski and has worked as a machinist, before retiring, we will call him George. George came to our Massage Therapy facility looking for relief of his sharp and deep low back pain. Past evaluations indicated to him that his back pain was associated due to tight low back muscles and that his weak abdominal muscles were not giving him the low back support that he needed.

In our initial massage session, I checked and tested all the usual muscle groups, (i.e. Iliopsoas, Quads, Hamstrings and Glute muscles). What I found with George was bi-lateral hamstring tightness, right-side glute weak and left side glute tight and his quads were over-stretched and weak. What else we found was that the right and left psoas muscle were extremely tight and restricted.

What I would to share with you regarding our bodywork session is how, an overlooked extremely tight rectus femoris muscles can pull you down and forward giving you to appearance of a slouching posture and thus perceiving to most, that George has a slouching, “pot-belly” posture not because of “weak abdominal” muscles but because extremely tight rectus abdominal muscles. With past evaluations indicating to him that doing crunches to strengthening these muscles will reduce his back pain,not the best advice in this case. Further strengthening these muscles will actually increase the lordosis curve of the spine thus causing increasing more pain in the low back region not less.

Your first treatments should include relaxing these abdominal muscles and lengthening them and stretching the hamstrings. Testing the glutes and low back muscles for weakness and if this shows positive for weakness, these area’s need strengthening but not before lengthening the psoas and abdominal muscles first.  This is the problem with mis-diagnosis, you see doing sit-ups to strengthen the stomach muscle would have only made this problem worst Now this is only in general terms, I know that there is more going on then what I listed I purposely shortened it for this posting, I appreciate all feedback.

Recently the Los Gatos Town Council held a meeting to submit new regulations for massage therapist, and what surprised me, was how many Chiropractors, Massage Therapist and even Doctor’s opposed the new regulations.

The Los Gatos town council outlined new revised regulations that would required massage therapist to have at least 300 hours of training from a certified school, keep client records of appointments and to obtain a permit that cost $140 a year with a yearly renewal fee of $70. What I would like to know is, “why was anyone complaining?” I would think that most health professionals and massage therapist that work this business, would support any measures that IMPROVE our industry. I don’t see how requiring a professional massage to have at least 300 hours of training, keep track of their client appointments, and pay for a permit fee that at just $140 with a renewal of $70 is very reasonable.

I know that there will be some of you who argue against any and all regulations period and I would say to you that in most cases I am totally there with you. But as far as this issue, I only see it as way for massage therapist to actually improve their stature and legitimacy. 300 hours of training is nothing, the fact that there are schools out there that teach courses with 100 hours of training or less is a joke, unless of course it is for your own pleasure. 100 or even 300 hours is just, no way in my opinion, justify you as a legit professional massage therapist, This is only my opinion but I believe that the minimum standards for massage therapist in California is hurting us an industry. No tot mention that the state of California has no state standards for massage therapy.

There are so many massage therapist out there, giving massages to individuals and are either scared or don’t know what they’re doing. These colleges of massage therapy are sending out new massage graduates un-prepared. And thus most customers of massage therapy are receiving lousy or disappointing massage services. I believe in more education for better pay, if you could imagine yourself better qualified then, you can at that time imagine yourself getting better pay.

As far as keeping track of your massage clients that only makes sense, especially for tax purposes and to check for profit and lose, how else will you be able to tell if you are making any money or not. Also, how would you know if you need to raise your rates to support your business. And as far as the permit fees, of course, they always could be cheaper but, they always could be more expensive too. If you are a professional and you do good work there is no reason why you can’t afford to pay these fee’s, and if it is too much money then I would suggest raising your rates.

Do you favor more or less training for massage therapist?

I hope you are enjoying your day today, spending time with family is always nice, I did something this year that I normally do not do on Thanksgiving and that was to run “The Turkey Trot” which was a 6 mile run, so I am good for an extra slice or two of pumpkin pie tonight.

The Friday after Thanksgiving holiday is, “Black Friday” which to me is just plan crazy, stores opening up as early as 4am, I don’t care which time zone you’re in that is just plan nuts. Black Monday which is traditionally the Monday after Thanksgiving is coming up and this is where I get excited, anyone who sells products or services online could appreciate this day.

So before I go and grab that extra piece of pumpkin pie, let me tell you about our holiday gift certificates that we have to offer. If you choose to avoid the holiday rush and not want to get up at 3am to go shopping you can always find a good deal online still and our Massage gift certificates can be purchase through Paypal.

You get 2 hours of massage therapy and a Foot Detox, which basically removes toxins built up in your body through your feet. Our holiday gift certificates can be used by you or for a friend or love one. Our holiday gift certificates are transferable as well. We will be offering this special holiday package until Dec. 31, 2007.

Be sure go our website and check out this great holiday gift certificate, you will be glad that you did, Happy Holiday’s everyone.

Part:2

Hands off success in a massage therapy business, is what I believe all massage therapist need to consider, to operate and to expand, their massage practice. Massage therapy is a business that is built on the power of touch and that will always be there for us. But the very thing that built the massage industry can also be the very thing that will force the small massage business owner to an early retirement. You as a small massage business owner can only make as much as you work. This massage business is a very physical demanding job for most of us. It is this love for our work that will cost you your health eventually, for most of you not all.

Massage therapist love their work so much that they will often take that extra client when they call in for that emergency appointment even on their scheduled day off. This love for our massage business will often have you giving that discount for family and friends, but the bills need to be paid as well. So now we start to work more and take more last minute clients to make ends meet, does this sound like you?

What if I say to you that there is way to work your massage business, keep your body strong and take clients only when you wanted to and still, make enough money to support your business and yourself, would you be interested?

I was when I discovered the power of the internet, most massage therapist business owners are not internet, tech or computer savvy enough to utilize or realize this power. But when you do, it will allow you to work your business as much as you want or as little as you want, because the internet has the potential for generating an extra revenue stream that is literally, “hands off”.

There are 3 basic ways for you to make money online…

1. Affiliate programs (services or products)

2. Buying wholesale and retailing products

3. Creating your own products and services

The first two are great but they do not offer the profits margins or utilize the true potential that the net has to offer. Affiliate programs, is where you agree to sell other people’s products and then you split the sales. Buying wholesale requires you to handle a physical product not to mention the upfront cost of actually buying the products and packaging and shipping, this is not quite a “hands off” business model right?

Our goal is a “hands off” income stream that will support us and continue to make us money even when we are not working on clients. And to utilize the full power of the internet without buying anything or handling a physical product ever. In number 3 I mention creating your own product or service. The informational ebook is the easiest to make it and it is easily downloaded from any computer user that has an internet connection and it has the best potential for huge margins.

In a future post I will go into more detail on how to achieve this and the huge benefits that this has for you as a small massage therapy owner. Until then start thinking about a skill or technique that you personally have and would like to write about and sell on the internet, that people may want to read.

Part:1

Wow, I can’t believe that it has been almost a year next month that I starting researching the world of internet marketing. The crazy thing about it all is, I got into it to expand my massage therapy business. I have been a massage therapist for over 10 years now and I quickly realize that in order for me to expand my brick and mortar business, I would need to find a way to leverage myself. Being a massage therapist has been very rewarding for me but at the same time it is very physically demanding and the majority of us never last past the first 3 to 5 years in the business before giving up and start looking for a regular job again, which in some cases is a sign of failure and the very thing that we are wanting to avoid.

I know this feeling first-hand, as I took a regular job last year to make ends meet and for the medical health benefits…big mistake. It was the worst thing that I could have done, since it almost killed me…literally. I will not get into the details, of how, I almost lost my life to bacterial meningitis. I get angry every time I think about that time when I went back to work. As I believe, I got the meningitis from that job, that job was, Crossmark. This is a company that refused to cover my medical expenses due to a clerical error on their part and mis-management.

Anyways, getting back to my point here, the reason why most massage therapist do not last past the first 3 to 5 years is due to poor business sense and physically breaking down. Being a massage therapist is quite rewarding but you are a product of your business, every dollar you make is a dollar that you must work for. If you are working full-time as a massage therapist after a while it will become a numbers game. Have you ever found yourself taking clients at the last minute? Or working on your day off to make your monthly rent? If you have ever experienced these things as I have, you know that you cannot continue working like this, you will burn yourself out both emotionally and physically. Even with a full-time regular job, you get sick time, vacation time off and get to sit on your butt all day, but not for most massage therapist, we find ourselves working whenever the phone rings.

After a full year of research, I soon discovered that a “hands off” business model for massage therapist was possible. A hands off business model for massage therapists is, passive residual income. My “hands off” massage therapy business model, utilizes all the strategies and techniques that the internet marketing guru’s use. for generating a passive income online. Now I must warn you before you run off and start researching internet marketing for your business, everyone on the internet is what I call a, “use car salesman” trying to sell you the latest, greatest, must have ebook, membership site or software program that they have available just for you. But you must buy now to get this low, low price of…buy right now or the price will go up hype. So be careful, while I do encourage you to look into the area of internet marketing and social media to familiarize yourself with the proven strategies, if you have any questions please feel free to ask me.

Utilizing leverage, whether it be money, resources and technology, time or people is what will give you the opportunity, that is needed to expand your massage therapy business, without it you’re just working. Correctly, implementing the systems that internet marketing guru’s use will give you the beginnings to creating a successful “hands off” massage business model. I know that for most massage therapist out there, they will cringed at the fact that I am suggesting to use the internet as a platform for success, since most therapist are not tech savvy. Not to mention that allot of massage therapists came from the tech world not wanting to go back or have anything to do with technology.

The biggest obstacle that I foresee with this “hands off” massage business platform is, can we get enough business owners to come up actual ways, (i.e. products and services) that are easy to use, implement and understand? And can these systems complement our field, not dilute it. And will these products and services be able to generate enough excitement and interest for bodyworkers to make passive residual income. I invite you to help me explore these possibilites.