Hands in Motion unravels licensing confusion for Clark County Massage Therapists

For massage therapists in the Las Vegas/Clark County area, figuring out which license you need to practice massage at a specific location can be really confusing. Do you need a city, county or state license? Do you need a business license too? David over at Hands in Motion has posted a great article to help you figure all this confusing jurisdiction mumbo jumbo.

Habitat ReStores Recycle Building Materials for the Greater Good

Did you know that Habitat for Humanity has retail stores where you can buy surplus and used building materials for cheap? Its kind of like a Goodwill for home improvement. The proceeds from each sale help fund Habitat's construction projects. So you can save money on your home improvement projects, help decrease the burden on the environment by using stuff that's already out there instead of buying new, and contribute to a good cause all in one transaction.

You can also donate your leftover building materials. That way they won't keep taking up space in your garage and you won't have to get your brother-in-law to help you haul them to the dump.

For my friends here in Las Vegas, there is a Habitat ReStore at 1401 N Decatur Blvd Ste 35. The rest of you can check Habitat's website to find locations near you.

If you don't need any building materials, you could just buy this elephant instead.

How Are You Voting?

After watching the video, go here.

Pain In The Foot

I'm sure you know what carpal tunnel syndrome is--that pain in the wrist that affects so many massage therapists, desk jockeys, and grocery store cashiers. But did you know that you can develop a similar problem in your feet?

Ben Crabtree over at Massage San Antonio has a great article on Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome. If you or your clients are experiencing foot pain or numbness, this is worth checking out.

Massage Magazine Looking for Contributors

A press release from Massage Magazine announces that they are looking for massage therapists and massage therapy experts to contribute articles and maintain blogs for their online community:

***The MASSAGEmag.com Web team is developing a new feature to be launched in 2008: Resource Centers, which will contain articles, news, and other tools to support the massage practice. Are YOU a resource for this information?

Be an expert contributor in our online community.***

MASSAGEmag.com is looking for two kinds of expert contributors and will help promote your work, book, name or Web site in exchange for your participation. The two kinds of experts needed are:
1) Contributors — massage therapy experts who will write articles (500 to 700 words), which will get national exposure.
2) Massage experts available to write a weekly blog and respond to massage therapists’ questions and comments.

Interested in pitching to MASSAGEmag.com?
Send your resume and writing samples to Amy Mitchell (amitchell@MASSAGEmag.com), MASSAGE Magazine’s Online Editor. The magazine’s editorial staff will review the submitted content and reply back as soon as possible.

I see nothing in the press release that states what they will pay for the online content; their website only lists their pay rates for the print mag.

NCBTMB Makes Life Harder for Prospective Therapists (what's new)

Laura Allen over at Massage Collage writes that the NCBTMB is going to start requiring some prospective therapists who need to retake the National Certification Exam to complete additional hours of study. Fail the test three times and you'll have to complete 100 more hours of education before you can retake the test. Fail five times and you'll have to take 500 more hours of classes.

Now, it would make sense to most of us that if a person can't pass the certification exam then maybe they need more education. But as Laura points out, "The average number of first-time test-takers who pass the National Certification Exam is 70%." That figure seems awfully low. So is the problem with the test-takers, the schools they attended or with the exam itself?

Laura and many others believe that a lot of the blame lies at the feet of the massage schools. Many of these schools seem to promise brilliant massage careers, charge exorbitant tuition and then fail to provide the students with the knowledge not only to pass the certification exam but to survive in a competitive market. Even those who learn the ins and outs of massage competently may not be taught the test taking skills necessary to pass a standardized test like the NCE.

Laura feels that these schools should be held responsible for the pass rates of their students, even be required to publish them so potential students can compare their chances with different schools. This is not a bad idea. In my research I've run across several college websites that publish their graduates' pass rates for various exams often comparing their results with the national average.

But how do massage students compare to other test takers. Here are a few numbers I've found in just a few minutes on the web:

• National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying--October 2007 Fundamentals of Engineering Exam--pass results for first-time test-takers was 75%.
• The American Board of Internal Medicine--2007 exam--pass results for first-time test-takers was 94%.
• Oregon State Bar--February 2008 exam--pass results for first-time test-takers was 70%.
• Nevada State Bar--February 2007 exam--pass results 53%.
• Physical Therapy National Licensing Exam--2006 exam--87%. Five year average--80%.
• Maryland State Board of Nursing--NCLEX-RN 2007 exam--88.89%. National average--87.61%.

According to my totally unscientific research and calculations (my statistics prof better not see this) that would put the pass rates for first-time NCE takers just about 10% (that's probably not right, but I'll be the first to admit that I suck at math) under the national average for all exam takers.

I'm not saying we can't do better; I'm just saying that maybe all this hand wringing over low pass rates is unwarranted. Maybe standardized tests just suck and should not be used as the sole criterion for licensing and certification--especially in a profession that attracts more Feelers than Thinkers.

Great Reference Site

I'm reposting the link for this site because the link in the old post goes to a site with a lot of broken links.

My friend K was asking for good reference material on trigger point therapy and therapeutic massage. The old Orthodoc site is one of the best. I wish I knew where this guy was posting now. If anyone knows, please let me know.