Notes

Is Swedish Massage Standardizied?
Per definition massage could be thought as manipulation of soft tissue which includes musculature and connective tissue. Another more descriptive definition of massage is stroking, pressure and stretching of the skin and skeletal muscles.

First, one has to keep in mind that there surely is an overlap between different massage methods. A few of techniques are more or less exactly the same independently of the name of the therapist educational background or of the primary philosophy of a specific school.

The Swedish massage I have my training in is systematically centered on focusing on the soft tissue and specifically on the skeletal muscles. Nonetheless it must be emphasized that there is an improvement between schools in Sweden how the Swedish massage is conducted. This is in no way unusual regarding manual therapy generally. For instance chiropractic and physiotherapy colleges may vary quite much in curriculum between each other. In Sweden every school has its own curriculum and will teach their students massage based on the schools on literature. In Sweden predominantly the schools that have Swedish massage on the curriculum are private. Even though some state-owned university programs like physiotherapy includes a few hours of massage in their curriculum it is not any complete massage course in comparison to many of the private massage school. Prior to the 1970's physiotherapists in Sweden were well been trained in massage however when physiotherapy became a far more academic subject and programs were integrated within medical or health faculties there were a stronger demand that everything ought to be scientific based or evidence based. Therefore the paradox today is that a lot of the private schools without affiliation to university have the comprehensive programs in practical massage training. But university programs in health insurance and medicine are usually more extensive in science, medicine and human biology. Lots of the private massage schools are under state supervision but this more a bureaucratic formality and the authority really does not have any knowledge in manual therapy in general or massages therapy particularly. In Sweden the product quality assurance of a massage curriculum is done internally by the school itself. But there are about ten schools today that formed the Swedish Massage Advisory Council.

The main goal of the Swedish Massage Advisory Council is to uphold the professional skills of a masseur or masseuse and the credibility of the business enterprise. The council quality assures schools. This is achieved by all students who are enrolled in a member schools can undergo a national ensure that you receive certification as masseur. When council was formed 1998 there have been an agreement that the title masseur or masseuse was the most commonly known title among the clients. This was the reason for that the title certified masseur or masseuse (in Swedish the term may be the same for both gender) was established and marketed. Although today massage therapist is maybe has higher credibility as a title. Therapeutic massage diploma is really a title that every school or course provider can give without the reservation. The Swedish Massage Advisory Council has through it years established guidelines and minimum level of what a massage therapist must know and just how many hours of tuition is required in human biology, medicine, and massage and stretching. Additionally, there are requirements of clinical practice both supervised and done independently. Altogether there should a minimum of 390 hours of tuition and clinical practice. That is then examined when the students of the member school have passed a national theoretical certification exam. This exam is really a multiple choice quiz with most questions is regarding the students' proficiency in anatomy. There is also a national practical exam on the students' skills in surface anatomy, massage and manual stretching. However we in the Swedish Massage Advisory Council has agreed on which muscles and their insertion and functions a massage therapist need to know there's really no consensus on the practical massage. There is also an agreement which muscles a massage therapist will be able to passively stretch an individual but exactly how that is done concerning the position of the individual and therapist is something each school will decide. With regards to the practical massage the rules is more indistinct.

According to the Swedish Massage Advisory Council an avowed masseur or masseuse should have a good working and theoretical knowledge of the massage techniques effleurage, petrissage, frictions (circulatory motions with the tip of the fingers), vibration and tapotement. The therapist should be able to apply these techniques on an individual basis regarding the patients or clients requests, health, physical constitution and any contraindications that may exist. But how the therapist adapts the massage techniques regarding depth and rhythm each member school will decide. Even the length of treatment session and the sequence of the techniques differ.

The reason is that certified masseur or masseuse can give massage for pure relaxation as in a whole body treatment however the therapist should also be able to treat minor musculoskeletal disorders or rather muscle dysfunctions with an increase of localized massage in conjunction with manual stretching techniques and advise in basic exercise and stretching. The predicament is that the definition of the classical massage techniques isn't universal. For instance petrissage could be one technique with circulatory movement with the contact of the palm but petrissage can be mentioned being an overall technique that includes variations of kneading or compressions. Another dilemma is that lots of schools have included other soft tissue or myofascial release techniques in the massage routine. And to make a lot more diverse every school make their very own routine and there is no consensus on which massage techniques should be done on which body region. One example is that some schools teach their students tapotement could possibly be performed on the low body but other teach that tapotement can be achieved on the upper body as well.

Each of the member schools of Swedish Massage Advisory Council have their very own profile and specialization & most schools also graduate their students on a higher level than what's required. But unfortunately there are a lot of schools that are not members of the Swedish Massage Advisory Council. A few of these schools remain professional but others give away diploma after s few days' courses without any examination. It is of course one thing to possess shorter course for non professional use however it isn't very serious if it is meant as course for professional use.
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