Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/72312
INSIGHT AND OPPORTUNITY fit her massage therapist in between an early morning game of golf, an afternoon swim, and evening dance lessons. More than not, the geriatric client of today is living a full and productive life and sees massage as a tool to help her continue to do just that. "I've seen such an amazing change in the senior community," says Puszko, who's been working with this population for fifteen years. People are aging more gracefully, she says, as a result of better nutrition and medical technology that keeps the body working longer. NMI confirms it by identifying the emergence of the age one hundred and over consumer group as a relevant trend to watch. As the boomers age, they will continue to influence this trend, resulting in vigorous, robust geriatric clients beginning to outlay significant consumer dollars for massage time. As a result, opportunities to work with the geriatric population grow, Puszko says. She says it's important to remember that even though you're working on a robust elderly client, there is still a specific protocol for working with this aging consumer. From thinning skin to pharmaceutical interactions, massage therapists need to know a lot more than gentle touch when working on the elderly—whether they are frail or fit for the Olympics. Their changing bodies warrant specific considerations either way. And the message is being heard far and wide, Puszko says, as she took the institute's training program to Nova Scotia and Singapore in 2007. Spas are even getting into the action as they cater to the older traveler who ventures abroad. SYSTEMIZATION, INTEGRATION, FUSION? There is no doubt that the work within the profession continues to meld, divide, and find rebirth, just as it always has. According to author, educator, and industry expert Keith Eric Grant, what we'll likely see in the near future is a systemization of sorts within the profession. Grant has been working for nearly two years with other industry experts to create a framework for establishing massage best practices, or clinical guidelines. "I think eventually to gain credibility with stakeholders, the massage profession and states will have to decide exactly what knowledge, skills, and abilities an entry-level license guarantees," he says. While exploration and discovery within the field is certainly not over, the Esalen days of "making connections" has made way for a more linear time of thinking about the work, he says. "I think that massage education will also become more of a standard career college/community college/corporate thing ... We've moved more into a period of systemization, integration, and maturing than one of development—much like many tech start-ups have to do as they grow." On a more direct level, something we'll definitely be seeing more of in the near future, according to Myers, is an integrated therapist: "A practitioner with both movement and manual skills, verbal and nonverbal cuing, the specificity of stretch and release of a bodyworker or yoga therapist combined with the shortening and stabilizing skills of a sharp-eyed coach or trainer. This could truly be the new practitioner/ teacher of spatial medicine." Myers's thoughts on a synthesis between fitness, personal training, Pilates, yoga, and bodywork, follow in line with the blending of practices like Pilates and yoga, or "yogalates," which is finding ever increasing adoption among fitness folks. It's also the paradigm so many have called for in truly integrative care. Maybe we're closer than we think. Within the bodywork community, Nixon says she's seeing therapists expand their training and add to their repertoire. "Some are becoming personal trainers, in addition to being a massage therapist, or are learning more about nutrition. Of course, the question becomes, 'How do you ethically practice?' What I'm seeing is multitalented individuals with multi-trainings." The result, she 50 massage & bodywork january/february 2008 says, is people finding ways to expand their practice for greater longevity. Debra Howard, president of the American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia (AOBTA), says her organization, which already subscribes to working within a medical model that "unifies the whole human being (body, mind, spirit)," sees a future of collaborative medicine. It's what she describes as "a cooperative blend of modalities that respond to the whole of human experience." Whatever lies ahead, we know there is good work to be done. When the oncoming educational and political issues work themselves out, there will remain a fleet of massage therapists and bodyworkers ready to do good work. And, according to Virginia Postrel of The Atlantic Monthly, that good work, subtle as it may be, is indicative of even more: "The massage industry's product is invisible, less 'real' than a hamburger or a video game. It doesn't contribute to national power or prestige the way semiconductors or aircraft do. It doesn't create world-famous stars like sports or the movies. Its establishments are small, often run by a single individual, and most of its practitioners lack a college education. It is literally touchy- feely. When Americans think about the economy, we tend to focus on familiar, 'serious' businesses—computers or autos or high finance. We don't notice Starbucks until there's one on every corner, changing not only what we drink but also how we live and work. Massage may not be the biggest new industry or the most influential, but it's a microcosm of how commerce and culture interact. The same creativity and resilience that built the industries of the past, and the ways of life that evolved with them, are still at work, spinning out new enterprises serving new values." Karrie Osborn is the contributing editor for Massage & Bodywork magazine.