massage and bodywork professionals

a community of practitioners

This is more of a comment, then a discussion. Or maybe it's a complaint? I've been a massage therapist here in Alaska for approximately 21 years. Until recently Alaska was an unregulated state, as far as massage goes. Sense this licensing, as of a couple years ago, I have seen literally no advantage or benifit of living in a licensed state.. As a matter of fact, it's just the opposite. I have spent over a thousand dollars in the last year and a half for licensing fees, cpr certification, continuing education and so on...Just to be able to work? Before that it was paying only a $100 every two years to the city of Anchorage. Now I have to get finger printed every two years. And of course pay for that service.... take cpr classes, even though I've been in the US Army getting that training every year- plus I actually saved a guy's life doing cpr a year ago. Then the continuing education? After 30 years? Come on.. I know learning never stops, but I've always studied on my own. I've even developed my own set of soft tissue procedures that are mine and unique. But all that doesn't matter. No one in the history of my massage career has ever asked to see my license expert an employer. And my license has not made my insurance credentialing any better or efficient. Oh, to go back to the finger prints. My finger prints don't change. Why don't thy keep them on file. They can look them up any time they want? Why have me take time off of work, pay money for the finger prints, then mail the finger prints off with a processing fee of $60? The cpr class takes half a day and $70.
I understand, kind of, the reason for licensing. But, it has not helped me one bit. All I can say I was free of all that for the vast majority of my career. Being none licensed all that time has allowed me the freedom to study whatever I want, on my own, to be free and creative. Licensure , as far as I can see, is very limiting, and actually surpresses the maximum potential of our profession. Ya can't get much beyond Myofascial Release. And our license has way more poteythen that.

Views: 1468

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

One of the excuses given for the state going licensed was to stop prostitution.  Well guess what.  That was never an issue for me anyway.  And another guess what.  It hasn’t stopped it anyway!  I could get a happy ending massage tonight if I wanted.  The first link is an early article when Licensing first past the legislature.  Another one is a recent google I did of happy ending massage places in Anchorage.  I want my money back.

http://juneauempire.com/state/2015-06-15/new-rules-promise-give-ala...

http://www.redmassage.com/ads/state/AK/anchorage

Just a short comment.  I’ve said this many times before on my other threads.  So I apologize to those that have heard this before. But I think it’s important, very important. 

Had a patient today with shoulder pain.  She had gone through four months of physical therapy with limited results. She had a limited painful range of motion in her arm because of shoulder pain.  She told me that the physical therapists had her exercising with rubber bands.  She commented that she got to were she could get through all the exercises even though it hurt.  She went on to explain the problem and started to demonstrate the exercises before I quickly Stoped her.   I then asked her lift her arm so I could see her range of motion.   She got to about 110 degrees before the pain stopped her.  I then palpated her shoulder area.  I found a big bad trigger point in her infraspintus, medial deltoid, and pectoralis major.  I deactivated those trigger points, and then asked her to raise her arm to see if there was any improvement.  She was very surprised when she lifted her arm nearly 180 degrees without pain.  That whole thing took all but five minutes including her trying to explain things to me.  I told her to stop doing those exercises because the exercises were only perpetuating her pain.  And as long as she continues to do those rubber band exercises she will never get well.

 The attachment below is the truth.  Very few realize it. 

Ok well the attachment did not load properly so ..oh wow   ...  I just discovered that I can past a picture.  Cool.

Back to my licensing.  I think this is self explanatory.  

Yea I know.   75 massages.  Unbelievable.     I just can’t imagine who comes up with these ridiculous rules?  It’s not rational thinking based on any norms of culture, politics  , race , religion, or science? 

All corporations have the responsibility to create profits for the share holders.  In order for people to do business with the corporations, the corporations must provide some sort of service to the public.  Insurance companies are not any different.  In different areas even the same companies will pay for different things.  They won't pay for what the public doesn't complain to often about not having.  

Each state has it's own rules and regulations.  If you don't like how one state does something you can always move.  The state will almost never listen to just one or two people who complain to them.  To get the state to complain you need to create a major petition to create the change you desire.

I just joined this site just a few days ago.  this one thread seems to be all about this one guy who says he does great work with trigger point and is upset with the state of Alaska.  If your clients like what your doing, they keep coming back and it doesn't go against the ethic standards, then by all means keep doing it.  

If your capable of teaching other people in such a way that they can reasonably understand what  your doing, by all means do so.  Everybody has made their points.  Instead of listening, rather reading, the same basic stuff over and over again I am leaving this thread never to return. 

I will however check out the video uploaded.  Well at least one of them.  There might be something worth looking at.  Different people see things differently.  If I don't see anything worth my time I will close it and move on.  

Karl, it seems that I slightly may have pissed ou off?  For me personally, about the only time I make a mistake is if I assume.  And trust me, I’ve made lots of mistakes.  But I think you are assuming a few things here.  Also, I think you have mixed up a couple of my threads?

I write in her because I have passion for what I do.  I’ve been doing it for over thirty years and I love it.  And I am complaining about the recent Alaska state Licensing.  It took $1000.00 to go through all the hoops to get a two year license.  And don’t you think that it’s ridiculous that some insurance policies will pay big bucks for a massage if it’s done by an occupational therapist but not a licensed massage therapist?  

And for years, living in unlicensed states, I was free of the continuing education cage.  Seriously free.  I could go to Barns & Nobles and buy a 200.00 Medical or Accupuncture text and deem bits of interesting info and try to apply it to my work.  I still could but the money is a bit curtailed because I have to pay for some continuing education seminar that I’m not the slightest bit interested in.

Another reason I write in here is because of trigger points.  A lot of people want to do medical type therapy but don’t know a thing about trigger points.  And that is a mistake.  I don’t know how many trigger points are treated and eliminated in the clinic I work in on a daily basis. It’s just ongoing.  If im not eliminating them by hand, the docs I work with are trigger point injecting them. 

And I don’t want to move out of state.  I feel like I have the best massage therapist job in the world. I maybe wrong on that, but that’s how I feel.   

And I am doing some incredible trigger point work.  I’ve discovered and developed a really cool system that can eliminate multiple trigger points at once.  And at reflex speed. Instantly.    I’m freakin excited.    If you did watch any of my YouTube videos, You would see that it’s very different.   So different that it’s actually hard to believe it’s not fake. I get all kinds of negative comments online.  But not in real life.  Not from the patients and the medical doctors I work with.  These procedures are why I got the job.  I’m working in an 8,000 square foot clinic.  It’s beautiful.  With an anesthesiologist, nurse practitioner, Osteopathic physician, general practitioner, two physician assistants.  They all treat me with respect.  It feels so good to have smart people take me seriously(not like the online world lol).  Pluss a whole lot of other really intelligent cool people. Premed students, technical staff and so on.   I’m 64 years old and I’m freakin excited about what I do.  And I may be teaching in Europe soon enough? That possibility just recently came up.  

Anyway, that’s why I write in here.  But I do repeat myself. And seem to upset a few people from time to time. Online people think I’m full of it.  So I should probably cool it.  I will coment in here From time to time if an interesting thread develops.  

Karl Dean said:

All corporations have the responsibility to create profits for the share holders.  In order for people to do business with the corporations, the corporations must provide some sort of service to the public.  Insurance companies are not any different.  In different areas even the same companies will pay for different things.  They won't pay for what the public doesn't complain to often about not having.  

Each state has it's own rules and regulations.  If you don't like how one state does something you can always move.  The state will almost never listen to just one or two people who complain to them.  To get the state to complain you need to create a major petition to create the change you desire.

I just joined this site just a few days ago.  this one thread seems to be all about this one guy who says he does great work with trigger point and is upset with the state of Alaska.  If your clients like what your doing, they keep coming back and it doesn't go against the ethic standards, then by all means keep doing it.  

If your capable of teaching other people in such a way that they can reasonably understand what  your doing, by all means do so.  Everybody has made their points.  Instead of listening, rather reading, the same basic stuff over and over again I am leaving this thread never to return. 

I will however check out the video uploaded.  Well at least one of them.  There might be something worth looking at.  Different people see things differently.  If I don't see anything worth my time I will close it and move on.  

Sorry about that..  there was one thread I read, the first one on this site actually.  It gave me an impression of about to turn into a flame war, if not already in one.  that thought about being a flame war was a total turn off for me.  You were, if I remember correctly, viewed by me as one of the people in it.

Since then I have read a little bit more of what you have written.  About half the time I agree with you, half the time I don't.  I find that ratio to be about the same with most of the others that read what you have written.   As far s that goes, I think your worth listening to.

You do tend to push your own stuff off a little more then I would like.  You give me the impression that it's almost a total cure all for everything.  For the things you do, it very well might be like a cure all.  that is really neither here nor there kind of thing when it's all said and done.

However, if you do have something special and unique, you do need to push it to a certain extent.  How much and how often will depend on the group and individuals within the group.  I don't  really remember, have you started a specific thread about that system you developed?  That system of yours seems to be one of your big things on here.

I mean really, in every field of study, or method of massage being used someone has to be first.  Ideas just don't pop out full blown from no where.  It wouldn't surprise me either if initially most people looked down upon such new ideas as being a copy of something else or being worthless in general.

I also know I am capable of getting stuck on an idea and running to death with it.  In that I am no different from you.  I also know I have to watch what I say and when I say it.  When I see myself getting out of control, it's time to take a little vacation from the forums in general.

Karl, it is a cure all for trigger point pain.  Any other kind of pain, it is not.  I’m going to be repeating myself again by posting a couple videos that I’ve posted before.  Then I will stop my threads.  And maybe comment later if another interesting thread develops.  

https://youtu.be/cjBf1W-kW80

https://youtu.be/rWDML1jqGo8

Gordon J. Wallis said:" I’ve discovered and developed a really cool system that can eliminate multiple trigger points at once.  And at reflex speed. Instantly.    I’m freakin excited.    If you did watch any of my YouTube videos, You would see that it’s very different.   So different that it’s actually hard to believe it’s not fake."

As I mentioned on your main thread about "holographic acupuncture", your techniques are spooky close to what I observed a Japanese osteopath do many years ago. I've watched a number of your other videos since and I am convinced it is the same technique(s). You can't copyright a massage/osteo technique, but it's just a matter of time until someone else sees the same similarities and calls you out. Personally, I don't care one way or another, just a friendly bit of advice to you that you have done your research on the method to make sure that your not stepping on other's toes. This is a relatively small industry and as you well know when it comes to modalities, it's a jealous turf war. Maybe, it's just synchronicity that you stumbled on the same principles, or adapted/borrowed, but whatever/however, it's not new. There are therapists out there doing it, at least in Japan anyway. 

Enough said, I will comment no more. Good luck. Karl is right. Taking a vacation from forums for a long while. Sayonara.

https://youtu.be/ccdgsAv8HOY

https://youtu.be/-BsnHYbQlt0

Pueppi, everything I know and do is built upon the teachings of others.  But what you see in those two videos above, is something really old, ancient knowledge that I revamped, re-engineered.  I didn’t steel it from anybody.  The words below were written 760 AD or there abouts.  I know it doesn’t answer your question, but after watching those two videos above, you should see a relationship between what I’m doing and the words below.  Privately message me, and we will go from there. 

Reply to Discussion

RSS

© 2024   Created by ABMP.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service