If you are beginning to feel any wear and tear on your body that seems to be lingering a little too long or happens to be affecting your quality of life, it may be time to take a look at the body mechanics you practice as you provide hands-on healing in the form of massage therapy or another type of bodywork.
Most professional massage therapists or bodyworkers are all too familiar with the term burnout, because it poses one of the biggest threats to practitioners of healthy touch. As hands-on healers are there to provide support, relaxation and relief from stress and pain, these same healers must make sure they stay recharged, refreshed and ready to provide that sturdy, peaceful presence.
Burnout can rob massage therapists and bodyworkers of the energy necessary to remain successful and satisfied in the field of healthy touch. One of the best ways to make sure you can go on practicing your modality as long as possible is by practicing proper body mechanics and self-care.
Of course, you most likely learned quite a bit about body mechanics and self-care when you were in massage or bodywork school. However, like a lesson in good posture, what you learned may fade all too quickly after a year or two in the real world, providing massage therapy or bodywork to a full slate of clients.
For this reason, it is a good idea to take a course in body mechanics through a continuing education program geared toward massage therapists and bodyworkers. By enrolling in the right continuing education class, you will not only get a refresher course on important principles in body mechanics, but you also will likely meet any requirements for earning continuing education credits in the state or region in which you practice.
A continuing education class on body mechanics should help you remember the right ways to stand and work during a massage therapy or bodywork session. The teacher may also provide you with tips, advice and guidance customized to your own modality or specific issues pertaining to proper body mechanics.
It may be wise to see if you can find an in-person continuing education class to attend when the topic is body mechanics, although many online courses do provide helpful video instructions. If you are seeking to meet a continuing education requirement in order to renew your license or maintain your membership in a professional organization, you should also make sure the particular continuing education class you would like to take will count for those credits.
As massage therapists and bodyworkers often instruct their clients to listen to their own bodies, practitioners of hands-on healing must practice what they preach. If you are experiencing aches and pains or a drop in energy or enthusiasm, take a step back and enroll in a continuing education class that will help you practice proper body mechanics and the right kind of self-care. The key is to take action before you ever approach true burnout.