Best Practices: Shari Auth

Q. What advice can you provide about marketing a technique or product?

A. Publish educational articles on the topic that pertains to your technique or product. It’s generous to your audience and demonstrates your expertise on that topic.

Q. If you knew then what you know now, what would you have done differently starting out?

A. I’m happy to say, mostly nothing, I would have just been more confident about my decision to go into holistic medicine at a time when it wasn’t

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that popular or recognized.

Q. How do you balance your work life and your personal life?

A. I don’t work weekends and I’ve learned to say no to my clients to maintain reasonable work hours.

Q. Describe a time when things weren’t going well in your business and what you did to turn it around.

A. When my practice was slow, I set up cross-referral networks with practitioners with a similar client base, like personal trainers, raw food chefs, hairdressers and doctors.

Q. What was the best business decision you’ve made?

A. I used to have a house-call practice. When I finished my master’s degree in Chinese medicine, I decided to switch to an office practice. It meant risking the loss of clients and starting over. In the end, I lost the bulk of my house-call clientele but managed to establish a busy office practice. Having an office means I can book more clients in less time, and the energy I put toward traveling from house to house I now put toward treating clients.

How Aromatherapy Massage Generates Repeat Clientele

by Janet McGrane Bennett

Attitudes toward fragrance are very personal. Why offer the same massage to each client, when you can personalize each session with pure and fragrant essential oils? Your regular clients are the backbone of your practice. If you create an environment in which the massage is specifically tailored to individuals, your repeat clientele will swiftly increase.

The scents sense

The five senses rule our lives: touch, hearing, sight, taste and smell. Of these five, smell is the most powerful. Why is this? Scent has the hidden power to reach deep inside the mind–aromas can affect your mood, elicit memories of childhood or even send someone pleasantly off to sleep.

Once your client gets used to your personalized combination of, say, lavender and mandarin, it will become a potent, sensory part of the relaxation experience for him. When he smells the familiar aroma, he will begin to relax from the moment the scent wafts to his nose. You can even label different bottles for particular clients—with their own personalized bottle of scented oil on your shelf, they will feel special indeed.

The simple scenting process

It is best to scent your oil first thing in the

morning when your nose is most sensitive and not overwhelmed with all the scents of the day. Any natural, cold-pressed vegetable oil works well as your base; the most commonly used oils are grapeseed, sweet almond, sesame seed, apricot kernel and avocado oils.

Remember that once you add fragrance, you can’t take it out. Start small and add only a few drops to begin with. Keep track of every drop you add. Don’t be shy to mix different aromatherapy oils together. If you come up with a dynamite combination, you may want to duplicate it, especially if your clients rave about it. It could be your signature scent. Create recipe cards and you can easily repeat the blends.

Study your essential oils before using them and gain an understanding of their basic properties. Citrus oils, for instance, can make the skin more photosensitive. Many oils are not recommended during pregnancy. Always ask first if your client has any allergies or specific health conditions.

Getting to know your clients’ likes and dislikes is a valuable part of building the client-practitioner relationship. Whether this is massage scented with lavender, patchouli or even no scent at all, if their massage is customized down to the smallest detail, you will have a client for life.

Janet McGrane Bennett is the marketing director at Spa & Bodywork Market (www.spabodyworkmarket.com), a distributor of massage-and-spa products since 1987. With more than 18 years of experience in the industry, Bennett is passionate about therapists maintaining self-care and adding value to their practices, for themselves and their clients.

Research Exclusive: Aquatic Exercise for Multiple Sclerosis

For people with multiple sclerosis, a recent pilot study has shown that an aquatic exercise program is both feasible and beneficial, resulting in improved motor function among the subjects.

The study, “Community-based group aquatic program for individuals with multiple sclerosis: a pilot study,” involved 11 adults with multiple sclerosis, 10 of whom completed the entire intervention. Inclusion criteria for the study included a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, a medical clearance for exercise participation and limited physical activity prior to participation in the study.

The aquatic exercise program used for this study was designed by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and approved by experts in physical therapy, occupational therapy and sports science, as well as a certified aquatic instructor with 15 years of experience conducting classes for people with multiple sclerosis.

Subjects in the study attended this one-hour group aquatic exercise class twice a week for five weeks. At the start of each class, the participants warmed up, then performed the aquatic exercises, and then there was a cool-down period, all of which took place in the pool.

Evaluation of the study’s subjects took place before and after the five-week aquatic intervention. The 10-Meter Walk test, the Berg Balance Scale, the Timed Up and Go, a grip-strength test and the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale all were used to assess results of aquatic exercise. Participants also filled out a satisfaction survey in regards to the aquatic exercise classes.

An analysis of the data showed significant improvements in walking

speed, balance, functional mobility and grip strength following the five weeks of aquatic exercise. There were no significant changes from baseline to post-intervention in terms of fatigue.

Data from the satisfaction survey showed high approval ratings for the overall experience, and none of the subjects reported any adverse effects related to the aquatic exercise.

“The findings demonstrate that a community-based aquatic program for individuals with multiple sclerosis is feasible, beneficial and safe to implement and may serve as a good model for community-based wellness programs for people with disabilities,” state the study’s authors.

The researchers speculate the significant improvements in motor function may be due to the fact that the subjects were able to engage in exercises in the water that would not have been possible for them to perform on land.

“The positive outcomes from this study justify a multi-centered study to further examine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the aquatic program,” state the study’s authors, “and to determine the cost of running short-term group-based aquatic exercise programs compared to long-term individual aquatic sessions.”

Authors: Yasser Salem, Anne Hiller Scott, Herbert Karpatkin, George Concert, Leah Haller, Eva Kaminsky, Rivky Weisbrot and Eugene Spatz.

Sources: Department of Physical Therapy, Department of Occupational Therapy and Division of Sports Sciences, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York; Department of Physical Therapy, Hunter College, City University of New York. Originally published online in Disability and Rehabilitation (2010).

Satisfaction With Life Seems Good for the Heart

That’s the finding of a new study that included almost 8,000 British civil servants, average age 49, who were asked about their satisfaction in seven areas of their lives: romantic relationships, leisure activities, job, family, sex, standard of living and one’s self.

Over a follow-up period of about six years, higher levels of overall life satisfaction were associated with a statistically significant 13 percent reduced risk of coronary heart disease. Satisfaction in four main areas — job, family, sex and self — was also associated with a 13 percent reduced risk of heart disease.

The reduced risk, however, was not associated with love relationships, leisure activities or standard of living, the researchers found.

“Taken together, this research indicates that being satisfied with specific life domains — in particular, one’s job, family, sex life and self — is a positive health asset associated with a reduction in incident coronary heart disease independently of traditional risk factors,” the researchers wrote in a news release from the European Society of Cardiology.

The study was published online July 4 in the European Heart Journal.

The findings suggest that people at high risk for heart disease may benefit from programs to boost a positive state of mind, study author Dr. Julia Boehm, of Harvard School of Public Health, noted in the news release.

Marketing Massage with Postcard Mailings

As you begin to establish your practice, you’ll be focused on how to get more people on your massage table. Most of them will like what you do so much they’ll come back. These are the people who will be your bread and butter, and to keep them scheduling, you should stay in touch with them between sessions.

Postcard mailings are an effective and inexpensive way to do this. Postcards are more likely to be read and kept than other kinds of mail, and they are also likely to be passed on to others, supporting the word-of-mouth marketing so many massage therapists depend on.

What to do with postcards
Using postcards, you can send discount coupons, appointment reminders, session follow-ups, quick informal notes, announcements for events or specials—almost anything. Postcard are also a great way to let your clients and associates know they are important, so send postcards wishing a happy birthday, thanking them for a referral or following up with some information you promised. Also, if you want to make an announcement, such as introducing your new practice, adding a new service or reminding people you have gift certificates available for the holidays, a quick postcard will keep everyone up to date.

Focus your message
David Walker, a massage therapist who has marketed his practice in numerous ways, believes postcards are an inexpensive way to stay in touch. He adds highly focused postcard promotions work exceptionally well for him.

Not long ago, Walker created three promotions:

• An afternoon special for clients with flexible schedules.
• A “get back on the table” message to inactive 9-to-5ers.
• A discount offer to his inactive house-call clients.

From experience, Walker found that giving a percentage discount doesn’t get much of a response. What does work is such a message as, “Buy a 60-minute massage, get 30 minutes FREE.” (He’s a big believer in all caps.) Walker says, “The message you put out is important. If it doesn’t work, something was probably wrong with the wording.”

Reward your referrals
Seventy percent of people in the U.S. are significantly more inclined to buy something recommended to them by family or a friend. Positive word-of-mouth support from your clients to their friends and family provides the best advertising for your practice.

At her massage and Reiki business, Victoria Hux piles a stack of “Thank you for your referral” postcards on the office desk, so every therapist has access to them. When a new client has been referred by another client, the therapist will mail her a postcard with a $10 discount offer. The client who made the referral then comes in for an appointment with the discount card in hand.

Clients really respond to the program, Hux says. “It’s about the same overall cost as an ad in area papers,” she says, “but it’s more effective because Mrs. Smith is spreading the word about her satisfaction with my service.”

Postcard essentials
Remember to include these three items on your promotional postcard.

• An attention-getting headline. This can be a special offer, an announcement of your new practice or just, “It’s been awhile ….”
• A call to action. Tell people what to do. Some examples include: “Call before the 15th;” “Call to get the time slot you want;” and “Get $5 off when you reschedule.”
• Your contact information. Don’t forget your phone number, e-mail address and other necessary contact items.

It’s also important to keep your mailing list current by using first-class postage. Undeliverable postcards will be returned to you to help you update your mailing list. Here’s how it works:

• Make sure your return address is in the upper left corner of the addressing area.
• Print the words, “Return Service Requested” directly below the return address in at least 8-point type. (The postal service has to be able to see the message.)

Building a new business with a postcard
Here’s a last word from Jon Petersen, L.M.T.: In 2008, after only a year in business, he sent 320 Christmas postcards announcing this offer: “Buy a gift certificate by Dec. 31, and get the second one for 25% off.” By February, his mailing list grew to 400. In addition, half the bookings after the holidays were new clients due to gift-certificate sales, an impressive boost for his fledgling business. Petersen says, “People delete e-mail. With postcards, you have a nice-looking card in your hand.”

Utilizing Online Education in Massage School

Online education utilized in the massage profession can add great value to any massage school and instructor. There are now some excellent software programs available to study anatomy and physiology, featuring graphics that more than likely exceed the artistic talents of a massage instructor.

Hands-on massage education will—and should—remain exactly that: hands-on, face-to-face massage class training. However, the rest of massage online education is negotiable. Imagine a massage student who has viewed the information prior to coming to class. This would give students an opportunity to hear new terminology before they come to class. The instructor would then validate this new terminology, which would be the second time the massage students are exposed to new terminology. By the end of class, the massage students now have heard the new terminology more often than if the massage student had learned it for the first time in class that day or night. (Teaching models say students must hear subject matter at least three times to make a connection.)

My favorite example of massage online education is how greatly it may improve a body ergonomics class. There is so much to teach in the subject of body ergonomics. There is first the terminology and then there are the correct poses to be positioned in to distribute proper body weight to perform specific massage techniques. What if the massage instructor could concentrate more on direct body ergonomics when the massage student was in class?

The massage student could potentially study the lesson in advance of the body ergonomics class. This way, massage students would be exposed to the new terminology and definitions, such as archers’ stance, etc. When they then arrive for class, the massage instructor could immediately begin to position the massage student in the proper stances because the student was already aware of the terms and definitions.

By utilizing online education, responsible students can walk into class relatively on the same level to begin implementation of their newly learned terminology. This then allows massage instructors to immediately begin a clinic to give a 3-D lesson of what was learned in the massage online education portion of the class. It really is a win-win for massage students and teachers.

 

The Importance of Self-Care for Massage Therapists

Massage school can be an exciting time, with many techniques and approaches to learn. The skills you learn in your training will enable you to help clients maintain their health and well-being. But what about your health and well-being? Have you thought about what it will take to deal with the physical and emotional demands of your new career as a massage therapist?

Massage is a rewarding profession that places considerable demands on the therapist. As a result, 77 percent of massage therapists experience symptoms or injury during their careers.1 With such a high rate of injury in the profession, learning effective self-care and injury-prevention techniques is one of the most important things you can do to have a successful career. Proven methods exist that have been shown in decades of research to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

While you’re still in training is the best time to start learning these methods. If you start integrating self-care and injury-prevention techniques into your life now, while you are still a student, taking care of yourself will become second nature. It’s much easier—and less disruptive to your career—to prevent injury from happening in the first place than to deal with an injury once it has occurred.

When an injury happens in a massage career, it’s nearly always the result of certain factors. A successful prevention strategy will need to address all of these factors. For this reason, using just one strategy—such as good body mechanics or conditioning exercises—is usually not enough by itself to keep you from getting injured. In combination, however, a variety of tactics can be very effective.

Here are six steps you’ll need to take to stay healthy in your career as a massage therapist:

1. Maintain awareness of the risk of injury in your work. Reading this article is a good start. It’s important to acknowledge risk exists, so you can learn how to best protect yourself.
2. Understand how risk factors can cause injury. You may have personal risk factors like a previous injury, for example, that can increase your injury risk. Massage work carries a number of risk factors, including repetitive movement, awkward postures and hand force. Particularly in combination, these risk factors can lead to injury.
3. Reduce risk factors through ergonomics.Because the work of a massage therapist is so physically demanding, workplace risk factors are often the primary cause of musculoskeletal disorders. While you can’t do anything about such risk factors, such as your age or a previous injury, you can usually modify
   1. your working conditions or workplace setup to reduce work-related risk factors. The science of ergonomics concentrates on fitting the work to the worker using proven methods that can be remarkably effective in reducing injury risk.
   2. Develop good body mechanics and work practices. Once you have used the principles of ergonomics to optimize your workspace and work life, you need to reinforce those principles by using your body properly in that workspace. Good ergonomics and good body mechanics go hand in hand. For example, if you don’t have enough room around your table, you won’t be able to use good body mechanics—and if you don’t use good body mechanics at your table, you won’t get the full injury-prevention benefit of having your workspace set up properly.
   3. Take care of your general physical and emotional health. You need to be in good general health to be able to withstand the physical demands of your work. Getting enough sleep and exercise, eating well and not smoking are among the healthy practices that can help your body heal quickly after a long day at work. You’ll also need to do a combination of exercises and stretches designed to keep you in shape for the rigors of your work. Avoid burnout and seek help for depression and anxiety, as these are also risk factors for injury.
   4. Recognize and treat injury symptoms. Remember, more than 75 percent of therapists experience symptoms. Be sure to listen to your body and seek effective treatment as soon after an injury as possible. With early, effective treatment, the majority of therapists are able to continue their work and get back to health.

   It is possible to prevent injury as a massage therapist, and following this six-step program will put the chance for recovery on your side.

   Balancing self-care with client care is one of the most important lessons you can learn as a massage therapist. Learning this vital lesson at this stage, when you have your whole career ahead of you, will give you a major head start toward having a long, healthy career.

What are some easy ways to lose weight?

Approximately 60% of women are overweight and 30% are obese today (American Obesity Association). Most women would feel more positive about themselves if they could maintain an ideal body weight. Perhaps even more importantly, obesity is linked with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, back pain, some cancers, and infertility. Encouragingly, the risk of death from these conditions decreases dramatically in people who maintain a 5 to 10% weight loss over at least a year (Guideline for Healthy Weight by F.R. Jelovsek, M.D. at www.wdxcyber.com).

Specific diet plans are popular but difficult to follow, and may be too restrictive for long term weight maintenance. Adopting healthy habits may be a more practical means of attaining a healthier weight for many people. In order to lose a pound a week, 500 fewer calories must be accumulated per day (either through reduced food intake or exercise) (Brigham and Women’s Hospital). Proven weight loss recommendations include:

• Eat three meals a day (especially breakfast) to minimize overeating
• Eat eight to ten vegetable or fruit servings a day
• For satiation, eat lean protein with every meal
• Abstain from eating sweets for two weeks to quell cravings
• Exercise aerobically and with weights
• Get enough sleep and minimize stress

In order to determine your ideal body weight, you can calculate your body mass index (BMI), which is an approximate measure of body fat based on weight and height. Visit DrKoop.com to do a Body Mass Index checkup. A body mass index within the range of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered healthy.

Why Your Back Hurts

by Scott Schwartz – Co-Owner, Sports Massage Therapist

I injured my low back in high school, playing soccer. For years after the injury, I was plagued with a once or twice a year “re-occurrence” of the pain — not of the injury, but the pain. The pain was identical every time, and lasted about the same amount of time (roughly 1 to 2 weeks) as when I originally had the injury. My symptoms are listed below, and I have seen countless clients who identify with this story. Ask yourself if it’s similar to your own.

• Bending and lifting or twisting causes a minor but distinct pain in the low back (once or twice a year)
• It feels achy and starts to tighten up over the next 24 hours
• The next morning getting out of bed is not easy
• The wrong movement or a cough, sneeze or laugh causes sharp pain
• Over the next couple of days I’d really stiffen up and notice one hip hiked up
• Pain remains high and movement is uncomfortable
• My butt is rock hard
• Sleeping is uncomfortable
• I’m pretty miserable

See? I feel your pain (and maybe you feel mine). And your friends and family probably don’t get why you are irritable. They would if they understood what an ordeal it is to do simple things like put on your pants. Ouch.

More than half of the clients I see with yearly or twice yearly re-occurrence of low back pain relate to this. The one characteristic that I didn’t mention is key and it happens almost immediately after the first feeling of pain: Frustration. I used to say “#*&@. Great, I’m hosed for two weeks.” And I would be. I just figured this was how this injury worked.

The whole picture was not clear to me at that point.

So here’s the deal people – the body is a strange thing. It’s super smart and pretty stupid all at the same time. If you were to hurt your arm badly, the muscles around the injury would contract and stiffen in order to prevent further damage. It’s called “splinting”  – and that’s smart. However, the splinting reaction is because of the pain, not because of some super body awareness we possess. The muscles don’t say “the arm is severely hurt – let’s splint.” It feels pain, and then one of the bodies strongest reactions is to contract, or splint, near that pain – and sometimes, that’s not so smart. And this splinting reaction is strongest in certain areas of the body like around the head, groin and yes – THE LOW BACK. The contraction or splinting is your body’s valiant attempt to protect your very-important spinal cord. This is good right? Yes, it’s good but only when your spinal cord needs protecting. Otherwise, it doesn’t seem so smart, but even more importantly – it is the cause of your pain.

I’ll show you why:
You reached down to pick up your daughter or a bag of groceries (really, it could be a toothbrush), the actual movement you are doing is much more likely to cause the pain than the actual weight of what you are lifting.
This is what is happening systemically:

• You feel pain
• Your body remembers the original injury and begins to react as if this is that injury
• You have your frustration response – informing the muscles that they should be panicked
• Splinting begins
• Pain increases

You probably have some irritation in the area – scar tissue from the original injury, a slight bulging disk, or the muscles or skeletal system is pressing on a nerve. But the reason for the pain, at this point, isn’t really important. The point is that if there is some pain, then some protective contracting will occur.

The splinting reflex causes the muscles around your issue to tighten and squeeze, which is causing the pain. The body then feels even more pain due to the splinting. The reaction to this increased pain is increased splinting – which, guess what – increases pain! A vicious cycle.

Breaking this cycle isn’t easy but once you understand your situation better, decreasing the frequency and severity of your recurring low back flare-ups is very common. Let us help you figure it out.

Courtesy of www,psoasbodywork.com

To Ice or Not to Ice?

by Martina James — Sports Massage Therapist, Physical Therapist
I’ve been a massage therapist for 7 years and was a Physical Therapist prior to that in Germany. One of the most common questions I get asked regarding injury repair is ICE or HEAT? An easy answer would be to use heat for chronic pain and ice for acute pain, but this isn’t the complete answer. I’ll try to clarify here.

Acute pain is easier to figure out. Most acute pain arises from a fall, twist or collision and is almost always accompanied by signs of inflammation.

Signs of Inflammation:

• Warm to touch
• Redness
• Swelling
• Pain
• Loss of function

In most cases of acute injury you could use the RICE acronym to remember your best course of action.

RICE stands for:

• R – Rest
• I – Ice
• C – Compression (ace bandage etc…)
• E – Elevation

“I” is for ice. So ice your acute pain usually for the first 72 hours.

Icing in itself needs some explanation here. Ice causes a vaso-constriction (narrowing of blood vessels) which helps minimize internal bleeding at the injury site, prevents swelling, and relieves pain.  When icing injuries, you should ice for 15-20 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day. The body takes about twice as long to thaw as it does to freeze. So if you iced for 20 minutes wait 40 minutes before re-icing. Also, avoid ice packs and frozen food if possible. Instead, use ice in a plastic bag or a hot/cold water bottle.

A Few Tips About Icing

If you use the hot/cold water bottle (some are called ice bags – basically made out of thick rubber), add a tablespoon of isopropyl alcohol and then put the bag back in the freezer after use. When it freezes, the ice won’t stick to itself. It will freeze with a crunchy/squishy consistency, making the bag pliable the next usage. This bag can be placed directly on the skin.

A plastic bag filled with ice works well too. You can also place this on the skin.

If using an ice pack, don’t put the bag directly on the skin – lay a piece of paper down between the bag and skin. Many ice packs can burn you they make direct contact with your skin.

Chronic Pain

Conversely, chronic pain lasts longer than the 72-hour period of acute pain and usually doesn’t have the 5 signs of inflammation. Chronic pain is slow to develop, comes and goes, is often described as a dull pain or as soreness, and is usually the result of either an acute injury that didn’t heal properly or a repetitive motion disorder. When chronic pain is accompanied by inflammation – ICE.

Otherwise heat is your best bet.

Warmth increases circulation and metabolism and helps muscles to loosen, which is exactly what the body needs to regenerate and heal.  For all of those people who have shoulder and back pain after a long day at work (repetitive motion and/or bad posture) try taking a 20 minute warm bath to help alleviate the pain. Heating pads work as well.

A product called ThermaCare Heat Wrap provides a mild heat for 8 hours. Psoas sells these or you can pick them up at Walgreen’s or Target.

If you are injured please call to make an appointment or give a buzz if you are still unsure whether to heat or ice–we’ll let you know our thoughts.

Courtesy of http://www.psoasbodywork.com