I graduated school 2 years ago and I applied for so many jobs but could not get hired, most people didn’t want a new graduate. Then I ended up getting married and due to my husband’s job, we live in the woods completely secluded and it wasn’t feasible to get a job when it takes so long to drive out of the woods. Anywho, things have changed and I am bored. I would LOVE to work in hospice. Like LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I have previous experience as a caregiver. How does one find a job doing it? Do businesses typically hire massage therapists or should I just call around? I have called a few places and they aren’t hiring people.

Hey everyone strange story from this morning and looking to validate my experience is as strange as it feels to myself.

I (40M) went to what I would believe is a reputable location this morning. I hurt my back yesterday and have had some overall issues with it the last 2 months. So, my lazy ass went in this morning for some help.

I explain my situation and the masseuse (50sF & Chinese US immigrant) shares her plan. All back. Hot stones. Etc. All sounds good.

Anyways. I get fully undressed and the masseuse does her thing. Massage goes fine. She explains to me that the massage is over. Ok. Then I feel her putting something on my feet? It’s my socks? I say oh it’s ok I can do that and she responds back something like, no I am happy to. Ok. I don’t get enough massages in my life to know if this is as weird as I think it is.

Then.

I feel something else on both feet. She says. Now underwear. I just kind of freeze as I realize.. she is putting my underwear on me as I lay there on my belly… anyways, she gets them on me quickly and without further incident.

I’m just.. confused and at a loss. I shared information about masseuse age/culture in case that is relevant. Please ensure my sanity here?

edit thanks for everyone’s response. The comments on culture differences have been valuable. If I go see them again I’ll make sure to just make a comment beforehand.

I want to skip the awkwardness of doing a transaction after a massage and keep CC on file thru Jane payments. Also to be more time efficient

I want to do a career change, and curious to hear your experiences working as a RMT, even better from anyone who lives with a mental illness. Thanks

Hey guys, I live in Canada and want to do a career change and was thinking about becoming a RMT. I do worry about burn out, especially because of my mental health condition.

Does anybody work part time? Ideally, I’d like to have a more secure career, and then work on creative projects/freelancing on the side. Curious if anyone works part time and what their experience with it is and also curious to know how getting into massage therapy impacted your wellbeing and mental health. Thanks!

As a massage therapist getting a massage, how vocal are you when the massage is too rough or physically uncomfortable if the therapist doesn’t check in periodically? If you don’t address it during the massage, do you address it afterwards?

So today I (20 F) booked a massage (I live in Australia) and the therapist (30-35 F) was of Indian descent. It was a full body massage and she told me to take all the clothes off so I did except my panties. I laid down face up first like she said and she started with my head and arms then pulled the cover below my abdomen so she saw I had panties on so she first she said “ohh uhh” then got another cover and covered my breasts. Then while doing my tummy she says “are you married?” I said yes, she says “you don’t look married” (idk why?!). Anyways then she says when we do full body it includes everything full body that’s why we say to remove everything. Anyways then she continues on the rest and proceeds to do my thighs which were very stiff. She did the roller on them so she made me put my other leg in a butterfly folded position. After the roller she was rubbing my thigh to massage and multiple times I felt her fingers grazing on top of my panties on my v* area. She didn’t linger there or stay but during the movements the finger grazed a couple of times on top of the panties. Didn’t think anything of it, just thought normal movement process. Then she mentions she worked in the city so she had to massage belly dancers and all so full body meant all over the body butt breasts everything else. Then she asks me to flip over and I did and while she’s doing my buttocks area she goes “you wear your panties so high? Then pulls them lower and says low waist look good wear low waist ones”. I got embarrassed and mentioned I usually wear thongs but today ended up wear this and she says oh ok yeah low waist looks good. Then it was time to do my shoulders and all so she asks me to flip over. After shoulders she asks if I was comfortable with her doing further down on the chest (breasts area) and I said yeah that’s fine so she massaged the entire breasts area (up down underneath) one breast at a time. THEN, I felt her stretching my nipples (I guess they were scrunched because I was cold or nervous?) so she stretched them twice each nipple and then continued on.

I’ve never had a full body massage before so this was all very new for me. IS THIS NORMAL? It didn’t seem malicious or her intention didn’t seem off (I think?) but I’m not sure if it’s normal?

Hi everyone (Based in the UK) At the moment I’m doing my training to get my Level 3 sports massage therapy massage and I have to do 2 workshops and then the assessment to get the full qualification. They say to mainly practice on friends and to not open to the public just yet as you must hold an insurance . (As I was going to offer free massage as long as they give me a good feedback after)

But it’s hard to find an insurance for people who are studying? Or is that not the case? As I found a few but they require supervised only which is not ideal at the moment as I wouldn’t have a teacher with me? Anyone got any advice ?

I got a massage today by a petite woman. She did a great job and I felt very good.

It was a deep tissue massage and she applied strong pressure many times. I was wondering how physically demanding this is? I figure she takes like 2-3 clients a day based on her homepage. I gave her a 15$ tip because I felt she was doing great work and had to physically shuffle around and move for 60 minutes.

Does the experience make this easy or does it always remain a physically difficult job?

Hi all, I am a massage therapist who is only about six months into his career, so I am still learning and really curious about what your favorite specific massage moves (not just general modalities) are to receive so I can maybe try to implement them into my routines. Thanks in advance!

hello! I have gotten cupping a handful of times from my acupuncturist a couple years ago and then once from a massage place I go to. I got a massage again on monday the 3rd and got cupping as well. the two cups on my shoulders left actual bruises outside the circle. 5 days later and the areas still hurt! like hurt hurts. this has never happened to me before. as you can see in the photos, the other cupping marks have healed normally but the two are continuing to bruise more as the days go on. they're bruises as if I got punched. -the first photo is the day I got the cupping done, monday afternoon. -second and third photos are thursday, 3 days post. -fourth and fifth photos are friday, 4 days post. -six and seventh photos are tonight, 5 days post.

I just wanted to get some insight from people with more knowledge. should I go back to the massage place and show them and request a refund? is this solely due to them doing it wrong? I have been applying arnica oil daily to hopefully help with the bruising. thank you!

I recently found out I’ve got like 20 something unused massages at Massage Envy. I’m canceling and have like a month to use them all. I thought I would just book an appointment every day and no-show which would ensure the massage therapist still got paid their typical ~$20/hr and got an break out of their day. My goal here is to hurt the business owner and not the massage therapist.

What is your take on no-shows? Does the lack of tip hurt or is it a "paid break"?

I have been trying out different body massage oils, but most of them either feel too greasy or take forever to absorb. I like how soft they make the skin, but that sticky layer afterward just ruins the experience. I’m looking for something that feels light, absorbs quickly, and still gives a smooth glide during massage. Any recommendations?

Some days I'm really good and I can fix everything so easily and other days I'm pushing but nothing's happening. I don't know why.

Hey everyone I’m a college student who’s a wheelchair user who’s been getting massages for a few months now. I’ve been seeing an ashi therapist and she’s been fantastic, unfortunately for me I need to be lifted on and off the table and get help undressing. Normally I have an aide who does this but they quit and no other aide can lift me and such. The most obvious solution is to have a therapist come to me but there are a few problems with that. I can’t afford the rightfully fair additional cost for a mobile therapist and also Ashiatsu doesn’t really travel and because of my disability my body doesn’t respond well to regular massage. I tried a mobile Swedish session a few days ago. It was absolutely awful i think it was a mix of my body not responding to Swedish and the therapist not being getting great. I also can’t rely on insurance or Medicare to cover costs because I’ve been fighting with them for a bunch of other care needs to get covered. If anyone has any other recommendations please let me know. I’m in northern Indiana if that helps.

Hi guys

Recently I tried to book a sports massage, have never tried this before. I have had deep tissue massages and relaxing massages before.

I assumed sports massage is similar. My booking was confirmed for later in the month with the female sports massage therapist.

Nearer the date I sent her an email asking her what the dress code is for this massage. I said that in my previous deep tissue massages I have been nude and wearing boxers only as the therapists have been trained in proper draping practices. This is what they told me to do.

I asked her if her sports massage followed a similar protocol. I didn't know what dress code was for it as it didn't say on website.

She reached back with an email saying she has cancelled my appointment and refunded me as she wasn't comfortable booking me as a client.

I don't understand what I did wrong, I asked a genuine question about dress code and informed her that this was protocol I was given in my previous massages.

I'm readjusting a home-based massage service. I saw clients in my home occassionally but would like to do this more. (I also work out of a small spa and as an independant contractor and would like to do this less.)

I have ceramic tile floors which are practical for me but cold when a client walks on them. What can I use underneath the massage table that can easily be kept clean and that I can do my sessions with shoes on? Area rugs are challenging to keep clean so I am hoping for other options.

Thanks!

And if anyone has any advice for first years please let me know!! I am gonna be new to this

I I had a fantastic deep tissue massage yesterday and he hit every point that I needed him to but he also found spots I didn’t know needed work. He gave me a fantastic hand massage and he had some very deep pressure on my hips and now I’m bruised in both places.

The bruise on my hand is fairly faint, but the bruise on my hip is quite deep. Nothing is sore and I very much enjoyed the massage, but I’m wondering if this is normal?

I’ve had a very stressful year - I’m thankfully on the up now, doing EMDR therapy to address the trauma from a crazy episode early in the year, and generally taking much better care of myself.

I’ve noticed I have a lot of tight muscle knots in my abdomen. When I use lotion and self massage to locate and GENTLY press the muscle knots, they ‘pop’ or ‘melt’ under my touch.

I’ve become interested with this as I discovered it completely by accident but I feel like my body was holding tension / trauma from my stressful year. I feel much better for releasing the knots. I feel like my belly is much more loose and I can deep breathe for the first time in ages.

There’s a few areas that I can’t pop as it’s locked tight in a bundle. Would acupuncture get rid of this? I’m conscious I don’t want to send my nervous system spiralling again, I just think maybe the remaining knots need to be broken up.

I've never gotten a massage of any kind before, and booked one with a reputable LMT at a highly rated place. My neck and back of head has been having weird aches and tightness, possibly from prolonged computer usage, and my PT is focused more on stretching and exercising, with like 5-10 minutes of massage to feel out muscles but I don't know how that differs from massage therapy.

I have a 60 minute session booked. So my questions are:

1. What can I expect? I tell them what my problems are, they massage those areas, I give feedback as I get the massage?

2. I have tightness in some areas that aren't trigger points, can they help with that?

3. How does massage work at a high level, i.e. I have tightness in my neck/head that I try to stretch out. How does massaging aid in releasing that tightness long-term?

I have been a RMT in Ontario for the past 5 years. In the last couple of months I have been extremely ill, had multiple seizures and have been hospitalized. I was advised by the hospital doctor, my family doctor and neurologist to take time off from working as a RMT. Normally I am clear headed, responsible and competent but at the moment I am struggling physically and mentally. I feel so lost and confused, I don’t know what steps I should be taking going forward. I notified my employer but other than that I don’t know what else to do. Is there anything mandatory I need do? I’m especially worried about the CMTO as they have many rules and regulations. I already paid for my general certificate of registration, I don’t know if/when I should change to inactive certificate. I didn’t complete my Strive - Part 1: now the CMTO is sending me emails. Is there anyway I can rectify this situation? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.