Massage Therapy wasn’t always the plan, but plans change. When I was a kid being a doctor was always the plan. I played with blood pressure cuffs and told everyone that when I grew up I was going to be a doctor. Little did I know that doctors went through 12 years of school and then barely had a family life when they were out of school and working. Although, being a doctor was always the plan, so was having a family. I am the kind of person that has to be all in and I realized that I couldn’t be all in and do my best at both being a successful doctor and having a happy successful family. So the plan changed to being a nurse and having a family.
The first two years of high school I worked hard in all my classes and tried to get into every medical class offered. I took wilderness and first aid, health classes, sports medicine, and interned at the hospital. They were all such amazing classes and I learned so much but they just weren’t exactly what I wanted. Junior year I took EMS/Fire at my school and it was the most incredible class I had ever been a part of. I changed my plans once again and everything in me knew I was going to be a paramedic firefighter.
I started interning at the fire department and going on ride alongs. I kept up in all my classes at school and poured my heart into my new dream. I started doing more workouts knowing that the physical demand of the job would be my biggest struggle. When I got back to school my senior year, ready to start applying for scholarships and programs, my back started causing me problems. I pushed them aside for weeks and then months, I thought it was just a sore muscle and I just needed to push through. So I kept pushing through and applied for scholarships and paramedic fire programs in the area.
After pushing through the pain for a couple months I went to my doctor and was sent to physical therapy because it was the only treatment my insurance would cover. When I started going to physical therapy I could barely walk and was in pain constantly. After a few months of going to physical therapy things were only getting worse, so I started looking for more treatment plans. It was at this point, 8 months into my injury that I was finally told it was all due to my pelvic floor and core muscles not working properly.
Up until this point in my life I didn’t even know what your pelvic floor muscles were. Let alone that muscles could go through trauma and stop working the way they are supposed to. I learned that your pelvic floor muscles are the foundation for your entire core, they line the entire base of your abdomen from your pubic bone to your tailbone, supporting your bladder, bowel, and reproductive organs.
In addition to this the pelvic floor and core are the base for almost every movement. You use your pelvic floor and core muscles for, sitting, standing, walking, balance, good posture, and so much more. Since mine were not working properly this was putting extra strain on all the muscles and joints in my back. I developed problems not only with my muscles but with my facets and discs in my vertebra and my sacroiliac joint. I started paying out of pocket for acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractic appointments.
Meanwhile, the testing for the student paramedic firefighting program came and went. I had to cancel my application and thought my opportunity was over. A month later I got an email from the Cloverdale Fire Department wanting me to come by for an interview. I interviewed the next week and was offered the position with the condition that my back would be better by July of 2018. I took the position and started coming to the department for training. I kept going to all my treatment and didn’t do any unnecessary physical activities. I had all my equipment and my own room at the station, but my back just wouldn’t get better. June came and I finally realized that there was nothing more I could do to make my healing be on my terms. So I canceled my position with the department.
After giving everything I had to my dream I didn’t really know what to do next, but I knew that I didn’t have forever to figure it out and school was starting soon. So I sent my application into Sage School of Massage and Esthetics. I didn’t know if it was even what I wanted to do but it had helped me and I wanted to help other people. All the careers that I had ever wanted to go into were all to help people.
The truth is that going into massage was the fastest decision I have ever made in my life, I like to think things through before I do them. I have been so scared that I made the wrong decision, but I know that I didn’t. This is the job that gives me everything I have ever wanted. I can be successful as a massage therapist helping so many people through my knowledge and personal experiences, but I don’t have to sacrifice my dreams of a family to do so.
I get to help people from a natural standpoint without the use of pharmaceuticals and surgeries. I get to care about the whole person instead of just their pain. I get to work amazing hours, not overnight hospital shifts or 48 hour paramedic shifts. I get to hopefully even be my own boss at some point in my career and set my own hours. I am beyond excited to help other people the way that I have been helped.
Now that I am in school I feel so blessed to be getting this education. I have learned so many valuable things, not only to help me in my career but also my personal life. I have loved learning about how we develop rigor and dysfunction in our bodies, and what we can do as massage therapists to manually release these muscles in our clients and aid in their healing. I have also loved learning about nutrition and how what we eat or don’t eat affects us positively and negatively. Learning what vitamins we are lacking and how we can supplement them in our life. It has been incredible how learning about this is changing not only my life but my classmates as well.
As for incoming massage therapist students the best advice I can give is to take school seriously and learn as much as you can. The thing that has been the most time consuming and the most helpful in my learning experience at Sage School of Massage has been doing outside of school massages every week. As a student at Sage you are required to do two massages every week on your own outside of class, practicing what you learned, writing soap notes and getting feedback from people. These two massages a week are in addition to our three clinical massages every week. Although this adds so much stress and is a big time commitment it has been so important to my education.
When you graduate from massage school and get your diploma you can then take your boards and when you pass you are licensed. At that point you are a licensed massage therapist and can start working on your own. I don’t know how I would be ready for that if I wasn’t used to doing massages on my own and practicing everything as I go through school. I personally think that this is the best thing you can do to prepare yourself for success when you are done with school.
My post graduation plans are to get a job doing treatment work at a wellness office in Central Oregon. I want to be able to bill insurance so that people who can’t afford massage can still receive the treatment they need. This is very important to me because if I had found a massage therapist that would have taken my insurance I could have gotten the treatment I needed sooner. By the end of my first year of working I want to be debt free from my school loans. After I am debt free I would like to go back to school to further my knowledge and help more people.
I would like to take a cadaver class so that I can visualize what is in the body and therefore have more of an impact on my clients. I would also like to become certified in Structural Integration and learn how to do visceral work. I would highly recommend massage therapy to anyone who has a heart for it. The schooling is amazing information for your life and personal wellness. The career itself offers amazing hours and although I have not officially started my career I find so much fulfillment and happiness through my practice massages. I am looking forward to seeing what job offers I am given and where I end up working this spring after I graduate from massage school. I can’t wait to learn more and see where my education takes me.
