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September 5, 2007
Canadian Vs. American Massage Therapists
I shared a conversation about back pain that I had with a fellow massage therapist north of the border (and no, I don't mean in Tennessee). Matvey Kipershtein BA, RMT is a massage therapist who trained in Canada. Canada has different training requirements for their therapists than America does.
As of yet, the United States does not have a national minimum requirement of training for massage certification. Unless a therapist wants to be nationally certified, individual states have their own education requirements usually ranging from 600 to 750 hours. Several states require 1000 hours of training for certification.
Canada is divided into provinces and each has its own requirements for massage certification.
In Canada, regulation of the massage-therapy industry is as varied as the country itself. In British Columbia, a practitioner bearing the title registered massage therapist has completed at least 3,000 hours of training. In Alberta, a therapist need not have any formal training. Three provinces - British Columbia, Ontario and Newfoundland/Labrador - have provincial standards for registered massage therapists; the rest do not.
Massage therapist Matvey Kipershtein describes his education:
Registered health profession in Canada is something that the government is licensing and it has a regulating body of which I have to be a member. In order to become massage therapist you have to graduate the government approved school and then pass the licensing exams. 2200 hours of education is the rule in Ontario. The most thorough massage education is in British Columbia; they have to do at least 3000 hours. You see, the health legislation differs from province to province.
As for the difference in schooling I don't know what you studied in America, but here we had theory courses such as one year of anatomy, basic physiology, and a year of pathology. In the practical part we had to study all the musculoskeletal disorders, neurological conditions, circulatory conditions and how to treat them with massage.
We had student clinics with two patients a week all during school. The final year we had specialty clinics like pregnancy, sports, and geriatric outreach. I also did a multiple sclerosis clinic. You could also choose other specialties like stroke, spinal cord injuries in a hospital, AIDS, etc. We also did a number of sport events. All the clinics are supervised by experienced massage therapists. So in total we had to accumulate at least 2200 hours of theory and practice. I think my school went quite beyond that.
Kipershtein, BA RMT is a massage therapist trained in Canada. He is currently attending Osteopathy school. Tomorrow I will expand upon what it means to become and Osteopath in Canada.
tags: massage massagetherapy wellness massage therapy bodywork health
Posted by linda at September 5, 2007 7:14 AM
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