10 Things Your RMT Wants You To Know
AS SEEN ON ELEPHANT JOURNAL.
Being an RMT (Registered Massage Therapist), you see all kinds of people, conditions, and concerns. From routine, to severe, to weird, to even funny. In my practice, I’ve started to see some common reoccurrences emerge. After consulting some colleagues of mine, they seem to have noticed a few patterns too. So, I’ve complied 10 points that stick out the most. Common concerns, incidents, and what your RMTs are really thinking! Here’s 10 things your RMT wants you to know:
1. That’s probably normal.
Is this normal? “My ____ does this. My ______ has that”. Outside of orthopaedic concerns, you would be surprised what patients ask their RMTs. “Do other people have hair there? My skin has cellulite there, is that normal?”. As regulated health care professionals, we do our best to answer your questions within our scope of practice, and if you are really concerned, go to see your Doctor (we will probably refer you if we are concerned, too). But, more than likely, it’s normal.
2. It really doesn’t matter that you haven’t shaved.
Seriously. We truthfully don’t even notice, up until you mention it. It has no affect on our treatment, if it does, that’s what the oil and lotion is for. I mean it.
3. Do your stretches.
And your exercises, and your hydrotherapy, and your home care, and…You see where I am going here right? Although it would be fun to follow you around, give you treatment and remind you of your therapeutic exercises all day long, we can’t. Our time together is very short, minutes a day, a week, a month, or even longer. This homework RMTs are giving you, is designed along your treatment plan to help you resolve your pain and dysfunction. Your health is in your hands the rest of those minutes, days, weeks, and months. If you want to get better, you need to do your homework.
4. Your body is beautiful, too.
RMTs treat hundreds of patients. That means seeing, and touching, their naked bodies. Guess what? They are all different. Out of all of them, not even one looks like what you see, airbrushed in the media. Male or female. A few have come close, but no cigar. It breaks our hearts a little bit when we see those patients insecure about their bodies, because of the pressure of the media. It’s not often the media shows the stretch marks, scars, deformities, muscles, moles, dry skin, cellulite, etc. that we so often see on…everyone. Those images aren’t what we see on a daily basis. There is only one condition your body should be in, male or female, young or old: Healthy. And that looks a little different for everyone. Your RMT is here as a vessel for health. We are not here to judge. And we want to tell you: Your body is beautiful, just how it is, as long as you are on your journey to health.
5. When you “re-make” the table, I smile inside.
Post treatment, when we come in for reassessment, check ins, clean ups, etc. And we see that all of the linens have been attempted to be but back, tidied, and re-made, it warms our hearts. I mean, it’s silly really, they all go off to be sterilized and sanitized. It’s completely unnecessary, but it’s also really sweet for some funny reason.
To see the rest of this list (published on elephant journal), click here.