I am in favor of massage therapist blogging, the more I learn about marketing on the internet, it becomes even more clear to me that the longer you wait only hurts you.

Recently, I posted on a few massage forums the question, “Are you using a blog for you massage business?” I was quite surprise but then, I am not that surprise of the replies that I received and I will share with you why. Here are a few of the comments…

• I don’t like the idea of a blog, as I personally think it adds to a more personal feel than a business feel

• I wish I could give you some profound reason as to why I don’t, but I don’t have any off the top of my head. I have found that referrals (from existing clients) are the single most effective way to gather new clients. If I feel the need to update or educate my existing list I send out a typewritten newsletter.

• I also agree with pueppi (if I think I understand what she was saying) that writing an authenic blog might be too personal for me to want to use for marketing purposes. I think having a blog can be fun…but I’d rather not use mine for my marketing.

• I don’t blog because it’s too far removed from the core face-to-face aspects of my work

What I am finding here in the massage industry is that most massage therapist are not internet/tech savvy if anything they are more anti-technology than pro-technology. And it is for these reasons why they do not see the benefits of blogging or implementing tech into their massage business models. Tradition is a factor here as well, traditionally the massage industry is and was built on a one-to-one personal interaction, lets face it massage is a hands on business model we make new clients and money by the art of touching.

We are in a service industry and in a service industry building relationships should be the corner stone of your massage business in order to be successful here. People in general refer and talk about other people, that they know and like. What I am suggesting here is that a blog is a great tool for building that relationship, staying connected to your clients well after their massage session. What can be wrong with sharing your personal experiences within your massage business to your clients and potential clients?

Also another key note here before I sign off, a blog for your massage business gives you a platform for sharing, teaching and educating your clients and potential clients about the type of bodywork that you do, a well informed client can now more accurately talk about your services and give them a greater awareness of the benefits that your massage business/work provides them.

I would suggest for the majority of massage therapist to consider a blog, while I do know it is not for everyone but if you are passionate about the work that you do and love how your work affects change for your clients, share this with all your clients and potential clients. Think about it, that is why we got into this business, to help others right?

I wrote this blog post mostly because of a great resource that came across my laptop recently, it is from a highly successful blogging consultant name Chris Garrett, he has put together 12 FREE resources that will help you in your blogging endeavors, many of these free resources I am seeing for the first time, check em out!

• 10 free guides to building a better blog
• 2 more free blog boosting resources

Thanks Chris G.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Kevin Shanahan worked for 11 seasons as the Giants’ massage therapist, so players knew he had strong hands.

Not only did this massage therapist have strong hands but he also had a strong heart and passion for his work, the massage industry lost a very special individual.

Now they know all about his strength of character. Aside from a couple of veterans and members of the training staff, nobody in the clubhouse was aware that Shanahan battled cancer over the past four years. Even as his condition worsened to a terminal stage, Shanahan kept his condition private and worked until the final day of the season.

More on this story,

Mercury News

Every massage therapist that is thinking about getting into this business needs to have the right massage equipment in order to perform their best and be successful in this business. While many massage therapists will prefer not to acquire the extra cost of acquiring all what that is needed, especially when starting out. But I can tell you from experience it dose pay off in the long run, I would not suggest to cut too many corners if you want to successful and look professional.

Many people benefit from massage therapy. It is not just used to relax people anymore. When we think of massage, we often imagine luxury spas where people are pampered and spoiled. This is no longer the case massage therapy is now used to improve performance in athletes and help people with chronic pain, injuries and even for anxiety and other emotional disorders

Massage Table & Massage Chair

A massage therapist just beginning in practice may benefit from being available at moment’s notice often visiting homes of those who are in need of a massage. So the first essential item, a portable lightweight massage table. And I would also considering purchasing a portable massage chair for marketing purposes and corporate accounts. This is huge we at RPM-Therapy bring in aprox. 50% of my clientele just by using the chair alone, the chair offers many advantages that a massage table will not.

Business cards and a website

You must have a way for your potential clients to contact you, get more information and learn about your massage techniques that you specialize in. A website allows for this potential client to gain valuable information about your services without you having to stay by a phone great when you are with another client. Today websites can now book clients with an online scheduler, and send a text message with that confirmed appointment to your cell-phone without you ever taking a call.

Your massage therapy business cards should have all the general information on it name, phone number, services offered and a call to action. Your call to action can be something very simple like, come in this month and save $20 off your next massage. Or get 30 minutes free when you buy 30 minutes, but be sure to have an expiration date ending in a week or two, you can always extend it.

Your website need not to be anything real expensive or fancy due to the reason that you will probably be making a lot of changes on it as you grow your business. You do need to make sure that it has an email optin box, this is for building your network of clients. If you have their email address, then at anytime you move or have a special offer or special event that you would like your clients to know about, letting them know is just a few keystrokes away. Your website once your busy, have an online scheduling system, this way your clients can book right from their computer plus you can set it up to capture a physical address, phone number, birthdays and get informed of any special considerations that the client may have prior to them coming in. This alone can make a huge impact on your business, our clients love it. Consider offering gift certificates that can purchased online through a merchant account or paypal, it is not too difficult to set up.

A Blog

I just recently added this one to the list, my reasons for having a blog is this, it is very easy to set up and it’s built on a platform that builds relationships with your clients, patients and customers. Plus it is SEO friendly right out of the box, add a few bells and whistles (usually called a plugin) and your blog can generate a ton of website traffic to your business and services.

Another huge aspect to the blog is this, if you are good at what you do, write several articles pertaining to your expertise and post it to your blog and article directories and you will soon be perceived as an expert in your industry. It will also allow you to educate your clients and potential customers about what to expect from your bodywork, give out tips and advice that will help your clients and they will keep coming back to your blog to get more information.

Massage Equipment (physical location)

For those who wish to set up an office practice, it is necessary to have all the necessary equipment such as proper stationary, tables, mats, chairs and other misc. items. But if want to make a winning impression, get a good lotion, I prefer Biotone Dual Purpose. Do not buy some cheap oils they will only make oil stains on your clothes, carpets and sheets that are not easy to wash out or get cleaned. And if you do not have a shower available; chances are pretty good that your client will get oil stains on their clothing as well and leave your facility feeling oily.

Table heater/pad

Last key equipment would be a table heater or a heating pad for your massage table, have it on a medium to low heat prior to your client coming in and adjust it accordingly for your clients. Your clients will love you for it

Are you looking for that “oh it hurts so good” type of massage session? If so, you are in luck, Robert Vignoli is an expert at trigger point therapy and he is now, back on schedule taking new clients.

And what if I told you that if Robert does not deliver EXACTLY what you are looking for, your massage session is FREE!

With over 11 years of experience, he knows his stuff and his massage sessions are 100% guaranteed. So with nothing to lose, Roman Paradigm Massage and Robert invite you to come in for a 75 minute massage special.

A Yelp Review

“Truly Robert is a talented and intuitive Masseur…I was in a few car accidents in 2006 and one day I was in so much pain from traveling last month (Dec. 2007) that I made a last minute appointment just looking for some relief for the pain in my shoulder blades but Robert was able to find a number of things going on inside my muscles that truly surprised me…He knew things my body had been through and asked me about them before I said anything….I would Definitely see Robert again and hope to on my next trip to California.”

Trishann C.

Fire Eyes Photography, Seattle, WA.

Robert also specializes in deep tissue massage, stretching and active release techniques and he uniquely combines all these different methods into your massage session. Each massage session is designed for your specific needs and goals that you will discuss with him, he will often share with his clients on what he finds and educates you as to why you are hurting or having trouble recovery from old or present injuries.

“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 will never work properly when ask to.” by RCV

Many of the problems associated with our muscle pain is related to shortening of muscles (tight muscles) and the direct relationship to the opposing muscles, which are made weak. 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 or antagonist 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 of their strength almost immediately.

Currently, he is co-authoring an alternative health ebook on prevention and recovering strategies for carpal tunnel syndrome. His carpal tunnel syndrome case studies are seeing remarkable improvements with their CTS symptoms. If you are someone who suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome please let us know at the time of booking your massage appointment.

Hours of Operation for Robert

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday

10:30am - 8:00pm

You can book your appt online

www.rpm-therapy.com

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to everyone!

I hope that most of you had the day off today, Martin Luther King Jr. is definitely a man to be celebrated for his work. Even the online community got involved to honor Martin Luther King. Now that we know who will be in the Super Bowl is there anyone excited about it? Other than the 2 cities that are involved. For myself, nah. I think that the NY Giants are going to get spanked against the Patriots, I don’t even think it will be a good game.

Real quick I just wanted to let everyone know that Shonn Piersol the founder of MassageSpace.net is on digg.com. You are probably asking yourself why am I telling you this? Ok you got me, there is a small favor that I wanted to ask of everyone who sees my blog, please go there and if you are not a member of digg.com, sign up, its free and digg it for me.

As many of you know already I am involved with Shonn and his online massage community website, I think it is a great idea and if you are not sign up for Massagespace.net you should be. All massage therapist, bodyworkers and other holistic providers should be a member, it has so many features, I am calling it the MySpace, Facebook and Youtube for massage therapist.

Here is a sample list of some of the features MassageSpace.net offers…

1. Chat rooms (private and public)
2. Article submission
3. Upload Videos
4. Upload images
5. Online forum
6. Special groups for like minded individuals
7. A directory to post your business
8. A marketplace for advertising your products or services
9. A blog
10. A links page
11. An events calender
12. An online scheduling system
13. A guest book

Do you see what I mean, it is just loaded with all the things that most social networking websites have and then some. Eventually, what I see for this website in the near future is a chance for you to make some residual income promoting products and services that you have created or that someone else’s. Imagine, getting paid on products and services that you did not even have to spend 1 ounce of your time or money to make.

Ok well here is the link the digg.com article. Please digg it.

With Chronic Pain,

Lead researcher Dan Hasson, RN, an acupuncturist, in a study he conducted, reported early in 2004 in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. Hasson’s study examined massage versus mental relaxation. Of the 129 patients, half received 30-minute massages (1 or 2 times a week) during the 5-week study. The remaining patients listened to a mental relaxation tape 2 times a week.

“During the treatment, there was a significant improvement in all 3 main outcome measures: self-rated health, mental energy, and muscle pain in the massage group,” said Hasson. At the 3-month follow-up, the results were quite different. The massage group reported significantly worse pain. The relaxation group did not report changes in symptoms. The patients with increased muscle pain reported less mental energy as well as feelings associated with depressed moods. Hasson concluded that his study supports the theory that depression and lower mental energy are related to long-term worsening of chronic pain.

My first thoughts were who would benefit the most from a study like this? Yeah you guessed it….

The Pharmaceutical Companies, here is the full article as reported in the Pharmacy Times, “Practical Information for today’s Pharmacist”

I find it hilarious that these guys would think we are stupid enough to believe them, even if it were true how can anyone take them serious, I mean they are reporting for the “pharmacy times” come on guys don’t you know that the only reason why that group in your research reported, significantly worse pain was because they were hoping to get another 5 weeks worth of massages for FREE.

RPM-Therapy is conducting a case study on preventing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome with massage therapy. if you are an individual who has Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or other Repetitive Strain Injuries symptoms or you are a Massage Therapist/Bodyworker who has clients that are affected by CTS or RSI injuries, sign-in to my email optin list to subscribe for a CTS ebook coming soon.

By taking breaks, Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) has been scientifically proven by Taft Laboratories of the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), to be the most successful prevention strategy that sufferers of these symptoms can implement.

The common thought amongst most computer users is that Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other Repetitive Strain Injuries are primarily caused by computer use. RSI injuries are commonly caused by localized inflammation resulting from forceful and repetitive movements. Whereas, CTS injures are caused by postural dysfunction or compression on nerves as a result from inflammation. Computer use does require some repetitive movements but the force in which we keyboard is not forceful. to cause RSI, nor is using the computer necessarily going to cause inflammation directly.

Underlying Causes: The Hidden Factors

In your daily functions and the movements required to use your computer does not require you to use any force. But the primary reason why long hours on the keyboard, is harmful to us is the constant static strain that our fixated postures are held in for prolonged periods of time. Fixed focal concentration and sustained muscle tension, gripping the mouse and holding the phone to your ear and our diet is more damaging.

There are many more factors that will contribute to your RSI and CTS related injuries than using the computer, here is a list of some of them.

• A lack of sleep, causing muscle to fatigue faster.

• Women who are pregnant and who are menopausal

• Slouching posture

• Your genetics, relatively small carpal tunnel and wrist

• A poor diet and lack of water intake.

The Need for Breaks, how effective is it?

The common approach to repetitive strain injuries and CTS injures have been geared towards ergonomically positioning workers and their computers correctly, with very little effectiveness. The UK Institute of Occupational Medicine reported this after adjusting hundreds of workstations and adjusting for age and gender. They found that the single most key factor for developing symptoms of RSI was the amount of time spent on the computer without taking any breaks.

In the NIOSH study described above the authors looked at the effect of introducing supplementary breaks to a working regime which normally included only a couple of breaks each day. The conclusions was,

”In addition to their positive effects on ratings of musculoskeletal discomfort supplementary rest breaks also led to decreased levels of eye soreness and visual blurring”.

NIOSH also found that

“Increases in discomfort of the right forearm, wrist and hand over the course of the work week under the conventional schedule were eliminated under the supplementary schedule”.

A very important finding was that

“These beneficial effects were obtained without reductions in data- entry performance”.

In fact, it was found that there was actually a slight increase in work rate after the breaks which I would think would more than compensated for any time lost taking more breaks. So taking more breaks can increase your production at work, now all you got to do is to convince your boss of this, good luck.