What if therapeutic massages weren’t priced for time but rather for working through chief complaints?
Hear me out.
Currently massages are expected to run from 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 minutes or sometimes longer.
If those are therapeutic massages, you might be assessing and working on the persons chief complaint for maybe only a portion of that time (maybe the whole time depending on their issue).
Say you do finish treating the affected muscles in less time then the person booked for so you are left filling in the rest of the time with whatever just to say you worked on them for the allotted time they scheduled.
But, what if there was no time limit on someones treatment and you get paid the same no matter how long it takes you?
If you think about it, every other healthcare provider works in this way. Doctors, chiropractors, physiotherapists, they all have their clients pay for their treatment need rather than for time. A good healthcare provider takes their time with someone no matter what the client is scheduled for. They aren't watching the clock during a treatment and they aren't making small talk just to fill a void.
Imagine you going to your doctor or physiotherapist and you have the expectation of seeing them for exactly 30 minutes but they finish making their treatment plan with you in 10. What are you just going to stare at each other for the next 20 minutes? No, your going to get out of there and pick up your prescription or do your exercises.
Why are we charging our clients for time when their issue might not need the whole time to treat?
If the client has a specific dysfunction that, for example, only involves the lower trap, lower serratus, and pec minor, why would I spend time treating legs and glutes when I could just treat the muscles creating the issue?
Personally, I think time based treatments are good for those of us who need relaxation massages. You can generally treat many areas in an allotted time. I think our society is trained to think that this is what massage is about. Relaxing, unwinding, feeling “loose” are good goals to have but expect that from a relaxation massage and expect relaxation massage to have a time limit.
Scheduling in this way can come with potential challenges though.
For one, you can allot 30 minutes to get a specific treatment done, it might only take you 15 minutes to do everything you need to, and then your left with a giant gap until your next client.
OR
30 minutes might not be enough time and you bleed into the next appointment.
Another issue is cleaning up between clients. You might have to rush to do that and you might not be able to finish your notes before your next client is scheduled to come in.
A benefit is that you would be able to increase your client load per day.
Clients might also appreciate the specific treatment costing less money and possibly even waiting less than a week for their next treatment (depending on the issue and the therapists availability of course).
I think this structure is a good way to train therapists to be more efficient in their assessments. Learning how to narrow down the root cause of someone’s dysfunction is important. So therapeutic massage treatments in this case would involve more screening tests, muscle testing, measurements of range of motion etc before treating the specific problem areas. It still might take a few treatments to make a lasting change but at least you are getting to the point each treatment.
Additionally, I think this structure would change people's perception of what massage is. People will start considering massage as a therapy rather than a privilege or a treat.
Do you already structure your practice in this way? How do you like it?
As a client, would you be open to paying your massage therapist for treatment rather than for time?
I wanna hear what you think! Sound off in the comments!
~Felicia
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