Glad you found that helpful and be sure to let me know if any other topics or content you'd like me to address. You can reach me at: whitney@academyofclinicalmassage.com
While some of this is good information to know. Massage therapists need to be very careful. You do not diagnose or treat anything. That’s out of your scope of practice. That’s only something that doctors can do. I’ve met too many therapists that seem to think that they are physicians. Or physical therapist. Their education is not even close to that. I am one, so I know. I also have doctors in my family. It doesn’t take long speaking to someone like that to understand how little you actually know. You cannot in anyway tell somebody what is wrong with their shoulder. And you cannot prescribe any sort of treatment. You can only give generalities. And not to bash this guy, Whitney Lowe. as far as I can tell, he has no formal education in any of this. He is not a physician, not a physical therapist, or even a nurse. I don’t see that he has ever had any sort of formal training in a related field such as kinesiology or athletic training, etc. He sells massage books and gives training to therapists. I’m sure he is good at it and has a lot of knowledge. However, he is also not qualified to diagnose any sort of physical problems. Or treat them. Or tell you how to treat them. Which is a therapist you can’t do lol. If he has a formal education in some related field he should say so.
Thanks for your input on this. You are certainly correct that diagnosing conditions is outside the scope of practice for massage therapists. Yet having knowledge of various orthopedic conditions is invaluable because it helps us determine when we may need to send a person to another health professional or make determinations about things that may be outside our scope of practice. Making these clinical decisions involves assessment (gathering information) but NOT diagnosis of a pathology. I would respectfully disagree that massage therapists do not treat painful conditions, because that's what we do all day long. Many of us have worked on clinical teams with orthopedists, physical therapists, athletic trainers and others in the musculoskeletal health fields. Others work completely on their own, but may receive referrals from other health professionals to treat various pain and injury conditions. Many people come to see a massage therapist as their first line of help for pain conditions, so it is important that we understand some of these different conditions. My goal is not to encourage therapists to diagnose any condition, but instead to have a better understanding of what they are doing so they can offer safe and effective care. You had asked about my education and training background, which is a very good point. In a nutshell... There are no advanced degrees in massage therapy. Consequently those of us that want to pursue advanced training have to cobble together different types of independent learning experiences. I've been a massage therapist for 37 years. I have an undergraduate degree in psychology and graduate coursework in psychology as well as sports medicine/biomechanics (did not finish my master's degrees). I have written two books (Orthopedic Massage: Theory & Technique and Orthopedic Assessment in Massage Therapy), contributed to 8 different book sections, authored hundreds of articles, and have been a massage therapy educator for over 30 years. My educational path is clearly different, but I do honestly believe my published work speaks to my commitment for producing accurate and evidence-informed perspectives for people who work with soft-tissue pain and injury conditions. Thanks very much for those important points you called attention to.
This is AWESOME, Whitney! Thank you for all you do. Please keep these videos coming. ❤❤❤
Thank you! Will do!
Thanks for another awesome video.
Glad you found it helpful!
Thank you so much! I subscribed because I really like your teaching style.
Glad you found that helpful and be sure to let me know if any other topics or content you'd like me to address. You can reach me at: whitney@academyofclinicalmassage.com
Great stuff thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
While some of this is good information to know. Massage therapists need to be very careful. You do not diagnose or treat anything. That’s out of your scope of practice. That’s only something that doctors can do. I’ve met too many therapists that seem to think that they are physicians. Or physical therapist. Their education is not even close to that. I am one, so I know. I also have doctors in my family. It doesn’t take long speaking to someone like that to understand how little you actually know. You cannot in anyway tell somebody what is wrong with their shoulder. And you cannot prescribe any sort of treatment. You can only give generalities.
And not to bash this guy, Whitney Lowe. as far as I can tell, he has no formal education in any of this. He is not a physician, not a physical therapist, or even a nurse. I don’t see that he has ever had any sort of formal training in a related field such as kinesiology or athletic training, etc. He sells massage books and gives training to therapists. I’m sure he is good at it and has a lot of knowledge. However, he is also not qualified to diagnose any sort of physical problems. Or treat them. Or tell you how to treat them. Which is a therapist you can’t do lol. If he has a formal education in some related field he should say so.
Thanks for your input on this. You are certainly correct that diagnosing conditions is outside the scope of practice for massage therapists. Yet having knowledge of various orthopedic conditions is invaluable because it helps us determine when we may need to send a person to another health professional or make determinations about things that may be outside our scope of practice. Making these clinical decisions involves assessment (gathering information) but NOT diagnosis of a pathology. I would respectfully disagree that massage therapists do not treat painful conditions, because that's what we do all day long. Many of us have worked on clinical teams with orthopedists, physical therapists, athletic trainers and others in the musculoskeletal health fields. Others work completely on their own, but may receive referrals from other health professionals to treat various pain and injury conditions. Many people come to see a massage therapist as their first line of help for pain conditions, so it is important that we understand some of these different conditions. My goal is not to encourage therapists to diagnose any condition, but instead to have a better understanding of what they are doing so they can offer safe and effective care.
You had asked about my education and training background, which is a very good point. In a nutshell... There are no advanced degrees in massage therapy. Consequently those of us that want to pursue advanced training have to cobble together different types of independent learning experiences. I've been a massage therapist for 37 years. I have an undergraduate degree in psychology and graduate coursework in psychology as well as sports medicine/biomechanics (did not finish my master's degrees). I have written two books (Orthopedic Massage: Theory & Technique and Orthopedic Assessment in Massage Therapy), contributed to 8 different book sections, authored hundreds of articles, and have been a massage therapy educator for over 30 years. My educational path is clearly different, but I do honestly believe my published work speaks to my commitment for producing accurate and evidence-informed perspectives for people who work with soft-tissue pain and injury conditions.
Thanks very much for those important points you called attention to.