Exit Strategy Through Steemit
Today, I surpassed a major career milestone.
In July 1991, I wrote provincial board exams in Canada and became a Registered Massage Therapist.
I have now been in practice for 25 consecutive years.
Here, that designation is considered a regulated health profession and a lot of the science behind it is similar to Physiotherapy and Nursing. My profession is considered to be at an equal level with these other professions.
For the past 12.5 years, I have worked in private practice in my own facility, and I have kept track of every single massage therapy treatment that I have given since I hung my shingle out and opened my door to provide care to the public.
Today, I provided my 25,000th massage!
I'll just let that sink in for a moment, because that's a lot of bodies, a lot of injuries and a lot of skin on skin contact to try to wrap your head around.
Here's a picture of me and my hands that have literally kneaded their way through the trials and tribulations of 25 years worth of other people's lives.
(Please reassure me that I'm not starting to look like the Buddha that stands in the corner of my treatment room. The Buddha reminds me to be humble, and to do my best to restore order. I am not a practicing Buddhist but I do share similar philosophies when it comes to being present in the moment and in how all beings should be treated with respect, compassion and love.)
My 25,000th massage was happily received by a wonderful Lady named Birgit. We've known each other for years and she drives, over an hour each way to come and see me.
Don't be frightened for me. I'm really short and am a tiny framed person. Everyone looks like a giant standing next to me.... and just so you know, I'm 5 feet tall on a good day.
Earlier in the week, I calculated who was actually going to be the recipient of this monumental treatment. I didn't have time to print out a professional "Steemit Sign of Authenticity" so I did the next best thing. I grabbed a fat black marker and pilfered nail polish from my stock of nail polishes. (My shop also specializes in aesthetic treatments too.)
It's a lot of paint to choose from.
I selected two different tones of blue, a bright red and some sparkle overlay. The sparkle was for good measure and I find it can make anything a little bit better.
As a commemorative gift, I gave Birgit a bottle of her favourite essential oil blend, which I make. It is fit for a King because it contains Frankincense, Sandalwood and Myrrh. I've named it Inner Focus but I have considered re-naming it "Birgit's Oil" because she loves it so much.
So, if we extrapolate for a minute, it is fair to say that because I logged 25,000 massages in 12.5 years than my 25 year total is actually in the 50,000th range. Plus or minus a few. That, smacks of being pretty close to circus sideshow act caliber, don't you think?
I can see retirement in the not to distant future and I plan to make Steemit my exit strategy.
Over the next 5 years, I plan to cut down to part time, sell my shop and blog on Steemit from where ever I might find myself in the world.
I'm just getting warmed up. ;)
I welcome your questions and I invite you to follow me on my journey.
~Rebecca Ryan
you don't look anything like Bhudda ;)
Thanks I feel better. lol
Yes, you do not look like Buddha at all lol
Those do look like some strong hands for a tiny women. F.y.i I only stand at 5'7" so not that much taller haha. Congrats on the milestone!
Thanks @cyber-punk! When someone asks, can you do this blindfolded? I can honestly answer "Yes". "I can see through my fingertips." In fact, when I was studying that was once, a practical test. We had to give a full 1 hour treatment to someone while blindfolded and then, explain what we found to be the issues within the soft tissue. It's an art, just like a martial art. This means that once you know how to leverage or use your own body bio-mechanics, it doesn't matter what your size is.
Well done! I just wondered, how do you deal with the stress in your own hands, after a hard day of massage therapy?
Cg
Thanks Cg! I have been lucky over the years and haven't had too many issues with personal repetitive strain, injuries. This is not normal for the profession. The average practicing duration is only 5 years before a therapist will move onto another profession. I trained with a small class. I was 1 of 11 and the youngest at 17 when I started to study. We had a lot of hands on training and correction by our professors and bad form was corrected immediately. Now, like many colleges and universities it's all about the money and most class sizes are 50 students in number. The teachers just aren't able to correct properly because they have too many students to watch and instruct, so people end up with chronic injury themselves.
Very interesting to hear that it's all about proper form. I have always wondered that, because if I give a massage, it's not long before I want to stop.
The question first struck me when I went for a Thai massage, she used such force that I was left wondering how the hell she did that all day. I want to try Swedish massage next; the Thai one was nice, but rough, I'm scared to go back!
Cg
We call Thai massage lazy-man's yoga and depending on who's giving it, it can be extremely aggressive. I once had a Thai massage in a temple in Thailand, in a big room with 20+ other people all having treatments at the same time. At one point, the lady who was giving me my treatment, stood up, motioned me to stand-up which I did, then she picked me up around my waste and started shaking me up and down like she was shaking a champagne bottle. My friends, who were also having treatments at the same time were laughing uncontrollably...yeah, not so great in a temple and it's a wonder she didn't toss me into the nearest Buddha like a dwarf. LMAO
(Under the category of : "Things that Thai people do to North American people", for fun.)
Haha, lazy-man's yoga, love it! I wasn't shaken, but definitely stirred! She walked up and down my back like she was going for an afternoon stroll :-)
Cg
Hahaha! I can only imagine your surprise.
Good Lord
That all is legit info, makes complete sense.
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Thanks.
I remember seeing a picture of the 2 of you awhile back too, it does look like she is a giant and I remember you sayin then too how small you were to put it in perspective lol
I missed this post the other day, I am sorry about that.
Congrats on your milestone!
I also have wondered how you deal w the stress to your body w the job you have to do, but you have addressed some of that .
Have a good night RR.
Thanks for taking the time to comment Barry. I really appreciate it.
Hi..do u happen to know what sort of massage for impingement syndrome in the shoulder? Or exercises perhaps? Ive injured it recently with steroid injection done. Theres no relief with less ROM and pain. Theres no available physio till the 2nd wk of january as well. Can you help??
There are about 17 muscles that engage to move the shoulder joint. This makes it one of the most complicated areas to rehabilitate. As a result, you must be careful not to only treat the tissue where the pain is felt because the area of perceived pain is likely not the source of it. Without evaluating you, it becomes very tricky to advise you. Generally, I would say the postural position of the neck and upper arm both need to be worked on. Often impingement happens because the shoulders round forward and then the neck must cantilever out past the shoulders which creates a rounding of the upper thoracic spine. This posture holds all the muscles in too long of a lengthened position at the back and it keeps the pectorals too short just under your clavicle (or collar bone,.) at the front of your chest. When the pecs are too short it pulls the humerus (large bone in your upper arm) slightly out of its most desirable position. Most people make this worst by cradling the arm of the injured side in front of them, to alleviate pain. If this sounds like what is happening with you, you must work on getting your shoulders back, bringing your shoulder blades as close to your spine as you can and drop them, so that your shoulders aren't hunched and close to your ears. At the same time, you must retract your chin to pull your neck back into a better neutral alignment.
I often tell people to lay flat on their back on their bed. Move your shoulder blades close to your spine and push you head back into the surface of your bed at the same time. Hold for 30 seconds then release. Do this 3 times in a row and try to do this 4 times through out your day.
If this doesn't sound like it applies to you, then I'm reluctant for you to do anything until your are properly evaluated by your physiotherapist.
Pain will be worse at night and you should be taking an anti-inflammatory before bed to attempt to stay ahead of the inflammation as it builds through the night. This is not a long-term solution. You must fix the postural issues, but I can tell you it will be worse if you don't sleep or have broken sleep due to pain, so take the meds until you can get to physio.
Thank you. There is no pain unless there is a movement that brings it on. Brufen I think is only for the anti-inflam effect coz the swelling became worst post injection. Our hospital physio left me some reading material with stretches/exercises which am trying to do. I wasn't shown which to follow, am just doing them on my own. I have noticed though that the pain is not where it usually was post injury. A lot of times its in the frontal upper arm. Going away on holiday in a few days doesn't leave me much choice till am back unless I can find a physic there ;) I will just include your suggestion in my repertoire thanks much. C'est la vie.