Schools of Massage Therapy

There are many schools of massage therapy and no two are alike.  Massage therapy schools may be private institutions or entities of colleges or universities.  Both offer a unique experience but choosing the right one is critical to therapist skill development.  First, schools vary greatly on the number of hours their program consists of, ranging from 500 hours and exceeding 1000+ hours of education.  All schools must offer the same basic science principles of anatomy and physiology and be proficiently trained in these subjects as its imperative to knowledge of the muscular system.  Secondly, each school must learn the basic techniques of massage therapy such as: effleurage, pettrisage, tapotement, roulement, myofascial release, trigger point release, and muscle stripping.  Additional techniques such as sports, deep-tissue, pregnancy, hot-stone, Reiki, and Shiatsu are all specialized massage techniques that require advanced classes.  Massage therapy schools may be Swedish based or clinical in nature.  Swedish-based schools are more concerned with relaxation, rejuvenation, and stress and tension reduction.  In contrast, clinical massage therapy schools, such as The Soma Institute in Chicago, Illinois are trained specifically in sports-related injuries and the treatment of them.  These are typically short treatment lasting about 15-30 minutes in duration and usually painful due to muscle stripping, trigger point release, and the removal of lactic acid build-up.  Deciding what type of environment you want to work in and what type of patient population you want to treat is critical in attending the right school.  If you know you want to do therapies in a spa-type setting choose a school that caters to the art of Swedish massage and specializes in treatments like hot-stone massage.  If your geared more towards treating athletes, work-related, or over-use injuries choose a school catered to clinical massage.