August 2, 2024 • 12 mins
Topics:
- Healwell News
- State and National News
- MPower Shut Down
- Baylor Research Article (They like us!)
- Association News
- Upcoming Live and Online events
Healwell's Glossary of the Massage Therapy Profession
ABMP News Page
AMTA News Page
USOLMT News Page
Dept of Ed Asynchronous Ban Public Comment
ABMP Nebraska Call to Action
AMTA List of Resources for MPower Students
Baylor Article Press Release
Baylor Open Access Article
MTF Fundraiser
USOLMT Board
Lorimer Moseley TED talk: Why Things Hurt
Black Massage Therapist's Conference
Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture) is performed by the Skidmore Community College Orchestra and used under Creative Commons licensing.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the Rubdown, a news update about
massage therapy.
I'm your host, kori Rivera,licensed massage therapist and
correspondent.
Every month, the Rub will bringyou news from the world of
massage therapy.
Today's Rubdown will includenews from July 2024.
24.
(00:33):
Don't forget, the HealWell bloghas a helpful glossary of terms
.
You can find the link to thisguide in the show notes.
If we've missed any, please letus know by emailing us at
podcast at HealWellorg.
First up HealWell news.
The HealWell Service Departmentprovided 937 massage sessions
in July to the DC, maryland,virginia area, bringing our
total sessions for the year to6,340.
Healwell Homecoming,gold-sponsored by the American
(00:56):
Massage Therapy Association, isSeptember 20th through 21st.
On Saturday, september 21st,we'll be holding an event called
the Grand Noodle, which I'mmentioning again because it's
the event I'm most excited for,and now I can report that we
have leaders from AMTA, abmp andCOMTA joining us.
This 3CE event will seeattendees talking about the
profession of massage therapy.
(01:16):
Conversation prompts will beorganized around HealWell's
three areas of focus service,education and research.
The Grand Noodle's purpose isto discuss real solutions to the
real problems facing themassage therapy profession.
Come, make connections, findsupport and talk about the heavy
things with hope, pragmatismand laughter.
Nothing is easy, but we can dohard things together.
(01:43):
Up next state and national news.
We have two stories today aboutthe Department of Education.
The first story is that thefederal rule, known as the 100%
rule, that would have limitedthe length of entry-level
massage therapy programs totheir state's minimum
requirement in order to receiveTitle IV funding, has been
temporarily halted.
The injunction was handed downby a court in Texas in response
(02:04):
to lawsuits from a companycalled 360 Degrees Education LLC
and others like it, includingone from the American Massage
Therapy Association.
The rule was originally set togo into effect on July 1st and
there has been a flurry ofactivity by both states and
schools to prepare for thechange.
Entry-level education programshave been redesigning their
curriculums in order to meet thenew reduced-hour rules.
(02:24):
Addressing the problem from theother direction, the following
states have changed theirentry-level education
requirements for licensing to atleast 600 hours since the start
of the year.
The states are Louisiana,missouri, north Carolina, new
Jersey, colorado, delaware,tennessee, florida and Nevada.
Rhode Island has increasedentry-level education hours to
(02:47):
800 and has also increased theircontinuing education to 24 CEU
every two years.
Previously, their continuingeducation requirement was 6 CEU
each year.
Until further decisions aremade, schools will be able to
continue to operate under theprevious rule, which allowed
them to accept Title IV fundingfor programs up to 150% of their
state's minimum hourrequirement.
(03:07):
Our second story about the USDepartment of Education is that
the department has proposed acomplete ban on asynchronous
education in clock hour programs.
Asynchronous content, which isoften delivered as a prerecorded
lecture, saw an increase in useduring the pandemic.
The department contests thatstudent engagement during
asynchronous education is noteffectively monitored.
The department has not made adecision yet and is open to
(03:29):
methods other than a completeban.
The public is invited tocomment on the proposed rule
change.
Comments can be made untilAugust 23rd.
Directions for submittingcomments can be found at the
link in the show notes under theheading addresses.
In Nebraska, where massagetherapy is licensed as a health
(03:49):
profession legislative bill, onewould put a tax on massage
therapy services.
There are no other healthcareprofessions included in the
proposed list of newly taxableservices.
If you are a Nebraska resident,please visit the ABMP link in
the show notes to learn how youcan contact your government to
protest this change before itgoes into effect.
The following states havevacancies on their massage
therapy boards Oregon, newJersey and Montana.
(04:12):
Please check the link in theshow notes for information on
how to apply for your board.
Empower Career Training, anational massage therapy
education program, officiallyand abruptly closed on July 19,
2024.
Students of the school receiveda letter citing that, due to,
(04:33):
quote, the loss of viablestudent financing programs in
the market unquote the schoolwas no longer able to continue
teaching classes and wasshutting down.
Empower had schools in Virginia, arizona, colorado, illinois,
florida, texas, new Hampshire,minnesota and Alaska.
The Arizona State Board forPrivate Post-Secondary Education
, which is the government bodythat oversaw Empower in Arizona,
(04:55):
was notified one hour beforethe students received their
email.
Schools are supposed to provide60 days notice of a shutdown.
Empower advertised its servicesto both potential students and
potential employers.
It had been working closelywith the Hand and Stone
franchise.
In an interview posted on Handand Stone's website with Empower
CEO Pete Med and their vicepresident, jeff McGrath, it was
(05:17):
stated that Hand and Stoneprovided quote job opportunities
and tuition sponsorshipagreements to our graduates.
A former Empower studentdescribed that students would
take out private loans in theirname, sign a contract to work
for Hand Stone for one to threeyears after graduating from the
program and obtaining a license.
Hand Stone would then pay theloan after the therapist
satisfied the agreed-upon clockhour requirements.
(05:38):
Another student stated that theprivate loans were issued by a
company called MPower Financingout of Virginia.
The Arizona State Board forPrivate Post-Secondary
Education's president, kevinLaMountain, stressed that if a
loan provider reaches outdirectly to a student, the
student should contact thePost-Secondary Education Board
immediately.
Students have until July 19,2025, which is one year from the
(06:00):
shutdown to file a claim withthe Student Tuition Recovery
Fund.
If you are an Empire studentand are looking for more
information, please contact oneof the following government
(06:22):
bodies Department of Licensingand Regulation, the Alaska
Commission on Post-SecondaryEducation, the New Hampshire
Department of Education or theArizona State Board for Private
Post-Secondary Education.
The show reached out to NathanNordstrom, senior Director of
Training at Hand and Stone andVice President of the Alliance
for Massage Therapy Education,but he respectfully declined an
(06:42):
interview at this time.
This story is still developingand the show will continue to
reach out to Hand in Stone forcomment.
The University of Baylorpublished a study titled
Prevalence and Determinants ofMassage Therapy Use in the US
Findings from the 2022 NationalHealth Interview Survey.
In the academic journal Explore, the Journal of Science and
(07:05):
Healing.
The authors of the article areDrs Jeff Levine and Matt
Bradshaw.
Dr Levine is a professor atBaylor University and Duke
University, and his educationalhistory includes religion,
sociology, epidemiology andpublic health.
Dr Bradshaw is a Baylorprofessor that studies health,
religion and early lifeexperiences.
The study used data from the2022 National Health Interview
(07:26):
Survey, which conductedface-to-face interviews with
27,651 people.
In a Baylor University Media andPublic Relations article, dr
Levine said what our study showsis that it's probably not
helpful any longer to labelmassage as an alternative
therapy, with all of themarginality that that term
conveys.
Alternative therapy, with allof the marginality that that
(07:49):
term conveys.
Licensed massage therapistsought to be respected as
mainstream practitioners whoseprofession provides a
therapeutic approach not just toaddress pain and functional
challenges, but to fosterwellness and overall well-being,
physical and emotional.
Everyone can benefit fromworking with a skilled massage
therapist.
They're hidden gems in thehealthcare system.
Let us take a moment tocelebrate this statement, and
(08:39):
now let us not rest on ourlaurels because, my friends,
there is still a ton of work todo.
Our next segment is news fromthe Massage Therapy National
Associations.
The USOLMT Board of Directorshas elected Sharon Sterling to
the role of Secretary-Treasurer,positioning the board as 501c6
ready.
501c6 is the tax exemptiondesignation for a business
association.
Usolmt is still looking for aDirector of Advocacy and for
(09:00):
state point persons to volunteer.
The Massage Therapy Foundationhas released two episodes about
K-Series on their podcast,research Perch.
The episodes feature Dr NikkiMonk of Indiana University,
robin Michio of Children'sHospital of Philadelphia and
their guest Dr MichaelFleischman from Victoria
University in Australia.
And last, here are the massagetherapy events coming up.
(09:25):
If you want to catch a HealWellclass, we have oncology classes
August 23rd through 25th inHarrisburg, pennsylvania.
October 23rd through 25th inKeene, new Hampshire.
Healwell's hospital-basedmassage therapy stewardship is
November 5th through 8th inWashington DC.
We have scar classes with KathyRyan September 21st and 22nd in
(09:45):
Fairfax, virginia, duringHomecoming, and October 26th
through 27th in Santa Monica,california.
And, as mentioned before andwill be mentioned again, kol
Homecoming is September 20ththrough 21st.
I hope to see you there.
Other live events include theAmerican Massage Therapy
Association National ConventionSeptember 12th through 14th in
Tampa.
(10:05):
The Massage Therapy Foundationwill be having a dance party and
karaoke event at the conventionon Friday, september 13th,
starting at 7 pm.
You can purchase tickets onlineor at the Massage Therapy
Foundation's on-site table.
Space is limited and tickets goquickly and who doesn't want to
see their fellow massagetherapists rock out to some
karaoke?
The FSMTB annual meeting isOctober 3rd through 5th in
(10:29):
Washington DC.
The Black Massage TherapistConference is October 8th and
9th in Charlotte, north Carolina.
Early bird tickets areavailable now.
Laura Mermosley, professor ofclinical neurosciences at the
University of South Australia,who was a physiotherapist and
then a neuroscientist, a painscientist and a science educator
, will be doing a rare tour ofNorth America in September and
(10:50):
October.
He'll be visiting Vancouver,san Francisco and New York City.
You can check out his TED Talkat the link in the show notes
and, if you're an early planner,the Massage Therapy
Foundation's InternationalMassage Therapy Research
Conference, or IMTREC, will beApril 27th through 29th in
Alexandria, virginia.
While the conference usuallyoffers continuing education
credits, it is different fromthe traditional massage therapy
(11:12):
conference.
Research conferences are theplace researchers can present
their work to clinicians andother researchers in their field
.
Instead of hands-on classes orworkshop, the event is mostly
lectures followed by questionand answer sessions In the
HealWell community.
This month the theme will beneuroplasticity and we're going
to have a special community-onlyedition of Ruth Werner's Stump
the Pathologist live class onAugust 29th.
(11:37):
If you have any national orstate level news about massage
therapy that you would like toshare, please send an email with
your news and a link to yoursource to podcast at HealWellorg
.
You can subscribe to ourPatreon for early episodes and
full interviews and you canalways join us in the HealWell
online community.
You can now text the show byclicking the link in the show
notes.
Each news update, I'll beasking a question and reading
responses the following month.
(11:58):
This month's question is whatare your professional goals for
this fall?
This has been your July rubdownand thank you for listening.
Welcome to the Rubdown, a news update about
massage therapy.
I'm your host, kori Rivera,licensed massage therapist and
correspondent.
Every month, the Rub will bringyou news from the world of
massage therapy.
Today's Rubdown will includenews from July 2024.
24.
(00:33):
Don't forget, the HealWell bloghas a helpful glossary of terms
.
You can find the link to thisguide in the show notes.
If we've missed any, please letus know by emailing us at
podcast at HealWellorg.
First up HealWell news.
The HealWell Service Departmentprovided 937 massage sessions
in July to the DC, maryland,virginia area, bringing our
total sessions for the year to6,340.
Healwell Homecoming,gold-sponsored by the American
(00:56):
Massage Therapy Association, isSeptember 20th through 21st.
On Saturday, september 21st,we'll be holding an event called
the Grand Noodle, which I'mmentioning again because it's
the event I'm most excited for,and now I can report that we
have leaders from AMTA, abmp andCOMTA joining us.
This 3CE event will seeattendees talking about the
profession of massage therapy.
(01:16):
Conversation prompts will beorganized around HealWell's
three areas of focus service,education and research.
The Grand Noodle's purpose isto discuss real solutions to the
real problems facing themassage therapy profession.
Come, make connections, findsupport and talk about the heavy
things with hope, pragmatismand laughter.
Nothing is easy, but we can dohard things together.
(01:43):
Up next state and national news.
We have two stories today aboutthe Department of Education.
The first story is that thefederal rule, known as the 100%
rule, that would have limitedthe length of entry-level
massage therapy programs totheir state's minimum
requirement in order to receiveTitle IV funding, has been
temporarily halted.
The injunction was handed downby a court in Texas in response
(02:04):
to lawsuits from a companycalled 360 Degrees Education LLC
and others like it, includingone from the American Massage
Therapy Association.
The rule was originally set togo into effect on July 1st and
there has been a flurry ofactivity by both states and
schools to prepare for thechange.
Entry-level education programshave been redesigning their
curriculums in order to meet thenew reduced-hour rules.
(02:24):
Addressing the problem from theother direction, the following
states have changed theirentry-level education
requirements for licensing to atleast 600 hours since the start
of the year.
The states are Louisiana,missouri, north Carolina, new
Jersey, colorado, delaware,tennessee, florida and Nevada.
Rhode Island has increasedentry-level education hours to
(02:47):
800 and has also increased theircontinuing education to 24 CEU
every two years.
Previously, their continuingeducation requirement was 6 CEU
each year.
Until further decisions aremade, schools will be able to
continue to operate under theprevious rule, which allowed
them to accept Title IV fundingfor programs up to 150% of their
state's minimum hourrequirement.
(03:07):
Our second story about the USDepartment of Education is that
the department has proposed acomplete ban on asynchronous
education in clock hour programs.
Asynchronous content, which isoften delivered as a prerecorded
lecture, saw an increase in useduring the pandemic.
The department contests thatstudent engagement during
asynchronous education is noteffectively monitored.
The department has not made adecision yet and is open to
(03:29):
methods other than a completeban.
The public is invited tocomment on the proposed rule
change.
Comments can be made untilAugust 23rd.
Directions for submittingcomments can be found at the
link in the show notes under theheading addresses.
In Nebraska, where massagetherapy is licensed as a health
(03:49):
profession legislative bill, onewould put a tax on massage
therapy services.
There are no other healthcareprofessions included in the
proposed list of newly taxableservices.
If you are a Nebraska resident,please visit the ABMP link in
the show notes to learn how youcan contact your government to
protest this change before itgoes into effect.
The following states havevacancies on their massage
therapy boards Oregon, newJersey and Montana.
(04:12):
Please check the link in theshow notes for information on
how to apply for your board.
Empower Career Training, anational massage therapy
education program, officiallyand abruptly closed on July 19,
2024.
Students of the school receiveda letter citing that, due to,
(04:33):
quote, the loss of viablestudent financing programs in
the market unquote the schoolwas no longer able to continue
teaching classes and wasshutting down.
Empower had schools in Virginia, arizona, colorado, illinois,
florida, texas, new Hampshire,minnesota and Alaska.
The Arizona State Board forPrivate Post-Secondary Education
, which is the government bodythat oversaw Empower in Arizona,
(04:55):
was notified one hour beforethe students received their
email.
Schools are supposed to provide60 days notice of a shutdown.
Empower advertised its servicesto both potential students and
potential employers.
It had been working closelywith the Hand and Stone
franchise.
In an interview posted on Handand Stone's website with Empower
CEO Pete Med and their vicepresident, jeff McGrath, it was
(05:17):
stated that Hand and Stoneprovided quote job opportunities
and tuition sponsorshipagreements to our graduates.
A former Empower studentdescribed that students would
take out private loans in theirname, sign a contract to work
for Hand Stone for one to threeyears after graduating from the
program and obtaining a license.
Hand Stone would then pay theloan after the therapist
satisfied the agreed-upon clockhour requirements.
(05:38):
Another student stated that theprivate loans were issued by a
company called MPower Financingout of Virginia.
The Arizona State Board forPrivate Post-Secondary
Education's president, kevinLaMountain, stressed that if a
loan provider reaches outdirectly to a student, the
student should contact thePost-Secondary Education Board
immediately.
Students have until July 19,2025, which is one year from the
(06:00):
shutdown to file a claim withthe Student Tuition Recovery
Fund.
If you are an Empire studentand are looking for more
information, please contact oneof the following government
(06:22):
bodies Department of Licensingand Regulation, the Alaska
Commission on Post-SecondaryEducation, the New Hampshire
Department of Education or theArizona State Board for Private
Post-Secondary Education.
The show reached out to NathanNordstrom, senior Director of
Training at Hand and Stone andVice President of the Alliance
for Massage Therapy Education,but he respectfully declined an
(06:42):
interview at this time.
This story is still developingand the show will continue to
reach out to Hand in Stone forcomment.
The University of Baylorpublished a study titled
Prevalence and Determinants ofMassage Therapy Use in the US
Findings from the 2022 NationalHealth Interview Survey.
In the academic journal Explore, the Journal of Science and
(07:05):
Healing.
The authors of the article areDrs Jeff Levine and Matt
Bradshaw.
Dr Levine is a professor atBaylor University and Duke
University, and his educationalhistory includes religion,
sociology, epidemiology andpublic health.
Dr Bradshaw is a Baylorprofessor that studies health,
religion and early lifeexperiences.
The study used data from the2022 National Health Interview
(07:26):
Survey, which conductedface-to-face interviews with
27,651 people.
In a Baylor University Media andPublic Relations article, dr
Levine said what our study showsis that it's probably not
helpful any longer to labelmassage as an alternative
therapy, with all of themarginality that that term
conveys.
Alternative therapy, with allof the marginality that that
(07:49):
term conveys.
Licensed massage therapistsought to be respected as
mainstream practitioners whoseprofession provides a
therapeutic approach not just toaddress pain and functional
challenges, but to fosterwellness and overall well-being,
physical and emotional.
Everyone can benefit fromworking with a skilled massage
therapist.
They're hidden gems in thehealthcare system.
Let us take a moment tocelebrate this statement, and
(08:39):
now let us not rest on ourlaurels because, my friends,
there is still a ton of work todo.
Our next segment is news fromthe Massage Therapy National
Associations.
The USOLMT Board of Directorshas elected Sharon Sterling to
the role of Secretary-Treasurer,positioning the board as 501c6
ready.
501c6 is the tax exemptiondesignation for a business
association.
Usolmt is still looking for aDirector of Advocacy and for
(09:00):
state point persons to volunteer.
The Massage Therapy Foundationhas released two episodes about
K-Series on their podcast,research Perch.
The episodes feature Dr NikkiMonk of Indiana University,
robin Michio of Children'sHospital of Philadelphia and
their guest Dr MichaelFleischman from Victoria
University in Australia.
And last, here are the massagetherapy events coming up.
(09:25):
If you want to catch a HealWellclass, we have oncology classes
August 23rd through 25th inHarrisburg, pennsylvania.
October 23rd through 25th inKeene, new Hampshire.
Healwell's hospital-basedmassage therapy stewardship is
November 5th through 8th inWashington DC.
We have scar classes with KathyRyan September 21st and 22nd in
(09:45):
Fairfax, virginia, duringHomecoming, and October 26th
through 27th in Santa Monica,california.
And, as mentioned before andwill be mentioned again, kol
Homecoming is September 20ththrough 21st.
I hope to see you there.
Other live events include theAmerican Massage Therapy
Association National ConventionSeptember 12th through 14th in
Tampa.
(10:05):
The Massage Therapy Foundationwill be having a dance party and
karaoke event at the conventionon Friday, september 13th,
starting at 7 pm.
You can purchase tickets onlineor at the Massage Therapy
Foundation's on-site table.
Space is limited and tickets goquickly and who doesn't want to
see their fellow massagetherapists rock out to some
karaoke?
The FSMTB annual meeting isOctober 3rd through 5th in
(10:29):
Washington DC.
The Black Massage TherapistConference is October 8th and
9th in Charlotte, north Carolina.
Early bird tickets areavailable now.
Laura Mermosley, professor ofclinical neurosciences at the
University of South Australia,who was a physiotherapist and
then a neuroscientist, a painscientist and a science educator
, will be doing a rare tour ofNorth America in September and
(10:50):
October.
He'll be visiting Vancouver,san Francisco and New York City.
You can check out his TED Talkat the link in the show notes
and, if you're an early planner,the Massage Therapy
Foundation's InternationalMassage Therapy Research
Conference, or IMTREC, will beApril 27th through 29th in
Alexandria, virginia.
While the conference usuallyoffers continuing education
credits, it is different fromthe traditional massage therapy
(11:12):
conference.
Research conferences are theplace researchers can present
their work to clinicians andother researchers in their field
.
Instead of hands-on classes orworkshop, the event is mostly
lectures followed by questionand answer sessions In the
HealWell community.
This month the theme will beneuroplasticity and we're going
to have a special community-onlyedition of Ruth Werner's Stump
the Pathologist live class onAugust 29th.
(11:37):
If you have any national orstate level news about massage
therapy that you would like toshare, please send an email with
your news and a link to yoursource to podcast at HealWellorg
.
You can subscribe to ourPatreon for early episodes and
full interviews and you canalways join us in the HealWell
online community.
You can now text the show byclicking the link in the show
notes.
Each news update, I'll beasking a question and reading
responses the following month.
(11:58):
This month's question is whatare your professional goals for
this fall?
This has been your July rubdownand thank you for listening.
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