Is change always good?

An editorial I wrote was published in the August 2007 issue of Massage Magazine titled "Oh no, not another exam." I wrote it from a practitioner's perspective about the new examination from the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) about the possible negative impact of veteran massage therapists as new qualifications replace old ones.

I do want to say that I am not attached to the NCBTMB. Indeed it caused me many problems when it became widely accepted and changed the standard for the entry level practitioner. I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject and there may, indeed, be reasons to change the exam, but man, we were so close to having a universal exam. Why change it now?

Why does massage feel so good?

Withing the first few days of massage school we saw what we called the "touch video." I do not know the name of it, but I think it was from Nova. It visually described how important touch is to being human. If a newborn receives everything he needs except human touch, he will die.

There was an experiment at a corner store in which the checkout clerk would sometimes avoid touching the customer when they gave them change, and sometimes touch them ever so slightly. Outside a census taker would ask them how they rated the store and if the clerk touched them in any way. Those who had been slightly touched said they weren't touched, and their rating of the store was significantly higher than the group that was not touched.

I think massage feels good because humans need touch to survive. Touch heals us and completes us and makes us fully human.