Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/72312
It wasn't long ago that the medical community was always held in the highest regard, with patients taking their doctors' words as gospel. But this was also a time when family doctors made house calls, could crack a back if need be, and delivered babies at home with families surrounding them. With today's seven-minute, insurance- mandated physician protocol being added to the effects of an already wary patient population, it's no surprise that people are seeking out better answers, or at least better options. Enter the world of medical tourism, the latest in healthcare trends. More than one hundred fifty thousand Americans traveled abroad for healthcare in 2007, and that number is expected to double in 2008, according to Josef Woodman, author of Patients Beyond Borders. He says that patients can save up to 80 percent of the cost of a medical procedure, including the cost of travel and lodging, when they schedule it out of the country. The most common medical tourism procedures include orthopedics, heart surgery, and cosmetic services, as well as those procedures with a short track record. "Amidst an increasingly bleak U.S. healthcare landscape, medical travel is a viable option for Americans who find themselves priced out of the domestic health market—those forced to choose between debt and discomfort or facing long-term financial insecurity due to challenging medical conditions," Woodman says. "Healthcare has become out of reach in this country for many," says Wouter Hoeberechts, CEO of WorldMedAssist, a medical tourism company that arranges all the details for its clients' healthcare abroad. "Health insurance premiums have gone up 87 percent since 2000, resulting in more than 46 million Americans that have no health insurance. There are even more with deductibles and co-pays that exceed what they can afford." And as those numbers continue to grow, medical tourism offers options the patient might not otherwise have. It's a sadly interesting twist in the healthcare debate and undeniable evidence that the problem is only getting worse. "The best part is there's no TRENDSETTER Kinesio Taping Developed in Japan by Dr. Kenzo Kase nearly twenty-five years ago, this therapeutic rehabilitative taping protocol is being used by massage therapists, physical therapists, MDs, and chiropractors. This proprietary method of taping works over and around muscles to assist in support or prevent overcontraction. The taping method is said to activate the neurological and circulatory systems and create a whole new approach to treating nerves, muscles, and organs. compromise on quality," Hoeberechts says. "The hospitals we partner with are internationally renowned and typically have strategic partnerships with leading U.S. medical institutions, such as Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical." For international spas, this becomes an opportunity to market themselves as pre- and postoperative respites for the medical traveler. For massage therapists and bodyworkers, consumers' loss of faith has meant greater potential for manual therapies. Chitty says unease with the medical system has brought people knocking on bodyworkers' doors. "I think discontent with mainstream medicine and 'Big Pharma' is still increasing, for a host of reasons explored by Michael Moore and others, and touch therapies are the beneficiary of this discontent," he says. "I think it's a great time to be in the touch therapy profession, and opportunities are proliferating in every category." MIND-BODY MARKETS Whether it be a significant halo effect from success of Rhonda Byrne's The Secret (and the reawakening to quantum physics it's created), a growing answer for those needing something more, or an inevitable path of exploration for the self-aware, mind-body therapies are picking up steam. An impromptu poll of new modalities added to the Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals modality library shows mind-body therapies have led the way. People are continuing to seek out wholeness, and these therapies offer the tools in which to achieve that goal. Longtime therapist and educator Suzanne Nixon says she's had more clients gravitate over the years toward her mind-body work, a combination of psychotherapy and energy work. "These massagetherapy.com—for you and your clients 45