The Profession of Massage Therapist and Foundations of Massage - Term Paper Example

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: ASSESSMENT 2 INTRODUCTION The profession of massage therapist entails a lot of hard work that begins from the preparation of the work area where massage sessions are to take place to preparing the clients for the actual massage sessions to winding up the sessions. Moreover, massage therapy is an area that opens its practitioner to a lot of potential legal liabilities in the tort of negligence and trespass because of the constant physical contact with clients inherent in the job. A massage therapist must therefore, be guided by the basic practical principles of ethics to ensure that he or she does not succumb to the legal pitfalls of the job. In spending 80 hours with a massage therapist working at the massage clinic in Selby College, as a means of complying with the requirements of Assessment 2, this researcher was exposed to the basic protocol of the job, its underlying fundamentals and the hazards that closely accompany the profession. MASSAGE THERAPY: SCOPE, ATTITUDE AND THE PROFESSION A massage therapist must mentally discipline himself and nurture certain attitude towards the practice. He must be professional, perceptive, prepared, organised, knowledgeable, accurate and fair. Professionalism entails a respectful attitude towards clients, in this case, the rugby players, at all times. The massage therapist at Selby College, for example, albeit friendly with the players, never loses that certain degree of deference towards the players, always mindful of the fact that he is the service provider and the players, his clients. The maintenance of that certain atmosphere earns the therapist the respect and the trust of the players. Being perceptive and organised is also because it makes the work easier despite the fact that there are many clients with varied personalities and needs to tend to. To further foster professionalism, and since in this case, the massage therapist handles a group of rugby players, he must see to it that he must treat all the clients with equal respect and regard. A successful massage therapy necessarily begins with a plan. A therapist must have a plan for each and every client on his list. One very helpful thing to do is to keep a record of each and every client to keep track of the kinds of services performed on them and ensure that they responded to each player’s particular problem. The therapist must also inquire into the medical background of his clients to properly adjust treatment accordingly, although in this particular case, the rugby players are expected to be in the peak of their health. Nevertheless, it is always advisable to be on the safe side and ask clients about their medical history or problems. But whatever the massage the therapist has chosen to approach in response to the needs of the client, he or she must have prior consent from the client. A good communication system between therapist and player is equally important because it allows both parties to understand each other. The therapist must, for example, ask the client his exact needs, the specific areas of his body that does feels sore and tense and which he thinks the therapist must focus on. This is important not only for the therapist to be able to establish a plan geared at solving the client’s problems but also for the therapist to understand whether his approach is working or not. In this sense, getting an honest feedback from the client is of utmost importance. Effective communication, however, should not be confined to verbal communication only. There are physical ailments borne from the rugged contact sport of rugby that even the players may be hard put to describe. This is where the therapist’s keen observant nature comes in because it enables him or her to pick up the physical problems besetting a particular client and plan a correct response using the right massage techniques and movements. The therapist should always be on the lookout for signs of cramps, muscle spasms, muscle stiffness, post inflammatory swellings and variations in tissue temperature and must carefully observe the reaction of the client to know whether or not the massage technique he has chosen works. The massage clinic at Selby College is well maintained and all the relevant equipment is correctly positioned with the ease, comfort and safety of the rugby players ensured. Materials and equipment include couch, massage aids, oil, cream and powder. Good hygienic measures are imposed all throughout as well as efforts made in maintaining an environment conducive to relaxed, therapeutic massage sessions. The treatment objectives of the massage clinic at Selby’s is to reduce muscular tension, increase muscular flexibility, improve mobility after each rugby match and reduce stress which can be brought about by the intense training players frequently go through. The therapist is well acquainted with the different forms of massage techniques, which he employs during massage sessions: effleurage; petrissage; tapotement; frictions; vibrations; deep tissue; neuro-muscular; cross-fibre; linear; stretching and releasing, and; other techniques. Clients, on the other hand, are encouraged to exercise techniques that help during massage sessions like proper breathing exercises (deep breathing) and stretching. MASSAGE THERAPY: THE ETHICAL AND LEGAL PITFALLS OF THE PROFESSION A professional massage therapist must acknowledge the importance of knowing the scope of the practice, the ethics involved and the law that can be made applicable to it. Knowledge of the ethical and legal implications and consequences of the practice is important to the professional therapist because it arms him or her with the right attitude in the performance of his duties to clients. There are many pitfalls to the practice that can make the practitioner susceptible to liabilities in torts, negligence and common law. Due care in performing duties is the most basic approach that a massage therapist must exercise in his profession. In the UK, massage therapists are not required to register to be able to practice and the practice itself is not regulated by law. There are, however, associations that specifically embrace only members of the profession. The Scottish Massage Therapists Organisation (SMTO), for instance, accepts membership of therapists in Scotland, some parts of England and Wales. It provides guidelines or “code of practice” for their members (Casanelia & Stelfox 44). A look at the webpage of SMTO reveals the aims and objectives of the association, which include, among others: the promotion of the profession as a safe and effective form of therapy and a distinctive field of practice in the health care services; the improvement and maintenance of standards; the promotion and advancement of further and continuing studies of its members; the promotion of continuing advancement opportunities for its members, and; the furtherance of the aims and objectives of its members (Scottish Massage Therapies Organisation). Another organisation, called the General Council for Massage Therapies (GCMT) is an umbrella group of several massage therapies organisations and soft tissue techniques in the UK, which include, among others, the SMTO and an assortment of allied associations like the Association of Physical and Natural Therapists, Massage Training Institute, Sports Therapy Organisation, Aromatherapy and Allied Practitioners, Association of Holistic Biodynamic Massage Therapists and the LCSP Register. Its website claims that its objectives are the following: the promotion of high standards of practice for all associations belonging to it; the establishment of a Standard of Training, Conduct and Competence of the professionals under which it has control for the protection and safety of the public; the unification of all the aforesaid organisations; the establishment of a standard in the education of the professionals belonging to its organisation; the establishment of a Core Curricula; the further establishment of an Advanced Curricula, and; the provision of support for the profession and professionals like standards and expertise (General Council for Massage Therapies). Notwithstanding these organisations, a massage therapist must be guided in his or her daily activities by conduct that can best be described as ethical. Ethics is equated to the moral principles by which a person, whether a massage therapist or not, ought to live by. It is the deliberate and conscious effort to choose right over wrong conduct in every action pursued by an individual. A massage therapist will most likely gain than lose if he or she consciously chooses to do what is right rather than what is wrong in performing services for the client. He must, for example, understand that there are basic elements to which his clients are entitled to as human beings, like autonomy or the freedom to decide what to do with his/her body. The massage therapist must respect this and must therefore get the latter’s consent before pursuing a definite course of action regarding therapeutic techniques or plan. Every client has the right to accept or refuse treatment as well as the right to define the type of massage treatment that he will undergo. The massage therapist must also take into account the cultural background of his client because some cultures espouse certain bodily prohibitions and limitations. The best way for a massage therapist to avoid any kind of complication from cultural differences is to encourage his client to always speak out his thoughts (Casanelia & Stelfox 2009 45-46). In addition, the massage therapist must never forget the principle of justice, beneficence and non-maleficence. The principle of justice obligates the massage therapist to be fair in dealing with all of his clients, giving the best of his services not only to one or some but to all equally regardless of race, creed, sex and social status. A massage therapist must always check himself for decisions that are discriminatory or tending to be discriminatory. On the other hand, the principle of beneficence mandates him to do what is only good for his clients whilst the principle of non-maleficence requires him to refrain from doing anything that will harm them. On beneficence, all the massage therapist must remember is that the purpose of his services is to provide therapeutic benefit to his clients and no other. On non-maleficence, he must exercise the duty of care not only so as not to harm his client but also to negate the possibility of harm on his client. Non-maleficence does not only apply to physical harm but also to financial and emotional harm. These principles, if persistently followed by the massage therapist will not only ensure that he will have provided the best service to his clients, promote the advancement of his career and profession but also ensure that he would have precluded himself from any legal suits (Casanelia & Stelfox 2009 47). Massage therapists must also keep in mind that they can be susceptible for legal liabilities under the UK law if their conduct as professionals violates certain legal principles. Examining or touching clients, for example, without the consent of the latter can amount to the tort of trespass on persons, specifically the tort of battery even without the intention of harming the client. This is because battery is a strict liability tort that does not require the existence of mens rea or intent. This is particularly illustrated in the case of Collins v Wilcock [1984] 1 WLR 1172. Although the aforesaid case did not involve a massage therapist, it nevertheless illustrates how a harmless touch can make a person liable for tort. In this case, a police officer suspected a woman of engaging in sexual solicitation and therefore wanted to question her. The woman, however, did not mind the police officer and turned to go and the latter held on to her arm to prevent her from going away. The woman scratched back the officer’s hand. When the case went on trial, the lower court held for the police officer, finding the woman liable for the scratches on the officer’s hand but when she appealed the decision, the decision was overturned. The Court held that the police officer is liable for battery because of the infliction of force without consent on the part of the woman, which made the touch unlawful. In another case, a hairdresser was adjudged liable for battery because she performed a change of hair colour on her customer, when the latter specifically asked for a permanent perm. This was the case of Nash v Sheen [1953] CLY 3726. In this case, there was initial consent but the succeeding act of the hairdresser in giving the customer a change of hair colour, rather than a permanent, was devoid of consent. Thus, there was unlawful force (because of the lack of consent) directly inflicted upon the customer when the hairdresser changed the customer’s hair colour. What the aforesaid cases illustrate is that a mere touch, that carries no harm or injury, upon another without the latter’s consent may render a person liable for battery. Massage therapists, whose body of work involves primarily the touching of their client’s bodies may be made liable for battery if they touch the body of a client without the latter’s consent or even if there was initial consent but the consent was later on recalled, either expressly or impliedly. In addition, there are other myriads of tort areas where a massage therapist might find himself in trouble with if he does not exercise duty of care. The phrase “duty of care” is a byword in the English tort law because if forms the basis of many tort cases. As a massage therapist, one should be careful to exercise duty of care in handling clients and performing services to avoid liability for negligence. Negligence is said to be the potential source of legal actions against health professionals like massage therapists. There are four things that a client needs to prove to warrant a finding of negligence against a massage therapist: a duty of care exists, the massage therapist breached that duty of care; the client suffered injury or harm because of that breach, and; the risk of injury was foreseeable by the massage therapist at the time the breach was committed (Casanelia & Stelfox 2009 47). A good example of negligence case in a professional setting is the case of Chester v Afshar [2004] UKHL 41, where a neurosurgeon was found liable for negligence for not telling his patient the possibility that a surgery he was proposing to her had 1% to 2% chance of going wrong and result in a condition called cauda equina syndrome, a serious and debilitating condition of the nerves. The patient was suffering from a lower back pain and her neurosurgeon advised surgery, which went awry, and resulted in the aforesaid condition. The Court held that the doctor was negligent and did not exercise the duty of required of him when he failed to apprise his patient of the possibility that she would suffer the condition. CONCLUSION The profession of a massage therapist is fraught with challenges owing to the various personalities that a therapist comes in contact and has to deal with. It goes beyond performing massage techniques for the different needs of clients and requires not only hand skills but also perception and anticipatory skills and the ability to adjust to different kinds of personalities at the same maintain a professional stance that straddles between amiable familiarity and respectful regard for clients. Moreover, a massage therapist must learn to find a balance between skill and respect for the autonomy of his client, to ensure that he does not fall into the trap of being embroiled in any legal suits. Thus, whilst the massage therapist has honed his skills and the ability to respond to any of the physical ills that a client suffers, he nevertheless, must hold back to consult his client, describe and define the appropriate responses he has in mind to ease the latter’s physical discomfort and if the client withholds such consent, accepts it. In this sense, a physical therapist’s job is a balancing act. REFERENCES Casanelia, L. & Stelfox, D. (2009). Foundations of Massage, 3rd Edition. Elsevier Australia. Chester v Afshar [2004] UKHL 41. Collins v Wilcock [1984] 1 WLR 1172. General Council for Massage Therapies. http://www.gcmt.org.uk/default.asp. Nash v Sheen [1953] CLY 3726. Scottish Massage Therapies Organisation. http://www.scotmass.co.uk/aims&objectives.html Read More