- The average career span of a massage therapist is 3-5 years. Yup. Injury, burnout, and not making enough money (or able to physically handle enough massages) are the most often cited reasons. Ashiatsu therapists, on the other hand, tend to do massage for a long time. I’ve been licensed for massage since 1999, starting school 20 years ago this month, and I’m still going strong.
- Full time for a massage therapist is 20 hours of massage a week. Say what? Sweet deal! You’re probably thinking. But there’s a lot of unpaid work that goes into a massage business such as doing laundry (lots of it), creating and maintaining a website, cleaning the office, etc.
- There are approximately 5000 touch receptors on the hand, but there are an estimated 100,000 – 200,000 exteroceptors in the sole of each foot, your feet are among the most nerve-rich parts of your body. That’s why we do barefoot massage.
- You can almost quadruple your pressure in massage when allowing gravity to do the work (ie. using your feet instead of your hands). I can do approximately 25 lbs of pressure with my thumb, 45 with my forearm (using good body mechanics for both) and 98 with one foot on the client and the other on the table.
- Massage is one of the oldest forms of medicine. There are carvings of massage in action on Egyptian tombs.
