The time to get a massage therapy license will depend on which state school you plan for admission. Due to school differences, the time to get a massage therapy license may vary from 3 months to 1 year. To become a professional massage therapist, you must take various program courses. For this, you must go to the next course with each.
Now the question is will we be able to complete this course in 3 months? Yes, it is possible, but we will need some more extras. We will discuss the 500-hour Course Massage Therapy program. We will explain how to do this 500-hour course in 3 months.
3 Month Massage Therapy Program Schedule
- Usually, a 3-month massage therapy program is a 500-hour course. In this program, you must do four courses with a fixed time. Courses usually last from 1 to 2 years. Since we want to complete a short and timely course, it will be very trying for us.
- These program courses run 28 days a month. Classes for each course are held for 5 hours a day in the first month. After that, classes are held for 6 hours in 2 months. Classes are conducted for 130 hours in the first month, 28 days a month, and 5 hours per day. For the next two months, 52 days, and 364 hours of classes were conducted for 6 hours per day. This 3-month massage therapy program completes the 500-hour program with extra classes and 494 hours.
Related: How Much is Massage Therapy School
Included in a 3-Month Massage Therapy Program
The 500-hour program can be completed in three to six months but can take up to a year to complete student training. In a 3-month massage therapy program, a massage therapist has to do four courses. The courses mentioned below and the time used in them are mentioned below.
1. Anatomy & Physiology (100 hours)
- This course teaches you about our body and how it works. We will study different systems like the skin, muscles, nerves, and bones. The teacher will explain everything and give us assignments to complete.
- We will also learn about essential nutrition, which means knowing what foods are good for our bodies. We will learn how to use special words to talk about the body, like “anatomical position,” which means how our body parts are positioned, and “terminology,” which means the special words we use in this class. The teacher will guide us on how to plan our work correctly.
2. Pathology and Kinesiology: Muscle Palpation (70 hours)
- This course will teach us more about how diseases affect our body systems. The teacher will give us lectures, and we will do research projects to understand better.
- At the beginning of the course, we will learn some essential things like basic pharmacology, which means learning about medicines, medical terminology, which means particular words doctors use, signs and symptoms of a disease, which means knowing what happens when we are sick.
- Next, we will study infectious diseases like those that can spread through things like blood and saliva. We will also learn how our mental and emotional conditions, like sadness or worry, can affect our bodies.
- The kinesiology class will teach us about our muscles and how they work. We will learn about individual muscles and groups of muscles. We will also do fun things like sculpting and drawing to help us understand better. We will learn about things like Muscle attachments, which means how our muscles connect to our bones, Muscle fiber direction, which means how the muscle fibers are arranged, Bones, which are the hard parts of our body, Tendons, which connect our muscles to our bones, Bursae, which are little sacs that help our joints move smoothly, Fascia, which is like a net that covers our muscles, and Ligaments, which connect our bones.
- We will also learn about proprioception, which means knowing where our body parts are without looking at them; joint structure and movement, which means how our joints bend and move; and the different types of muscle contractions, which means how our muscles tighten and relax.
3. Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Applications (300 hours)
We will learn differently in this part of the course, like watching demonstrations, listening to the teacher, and practicing what we learn. One important thing we will learn is how to use our bodies correctly during massage sessions. It’s called Body Mechanics, and it helps us stay safe and not get tired.
We will also learn about different types of massages that help people relax and feel better. Some of these types are Swedish, Western, and Thai massages. The teacher will show us how to do these massages using our hands and touching the body gently.
Here are some of the techniques we will learn:
- Swedish Massage: It’s a gentle massage that helps people relax and feel calm.
- Thai Massage: It involves stretching and pressure to help people feel more flexible and less tense.
- Deep Tissue Techniques: This massage targets the deeper muscle layers to alleviate tension and knots.
- Western Massage: It’s a general term for different kinds of massages that help people relax and relieve stress.
- Hot Stone Massage: It uses warm stones to relax muscles and make people feel calm.
- Intro to Postural Assessment: We will learn how to look at someone’s posture (how they stand and sit) to understand their need for special treatment.
- Sports Massage: It’s a massage for people who do sports to help them recover and prevent injuries.
- Hydro or Cryotherapy: We will learn about using water or cold treatments to help people feel better.
- Aromatherapy: We will learn about using pleasant smells from plants to make people feel relaxed and happy.
These techniques will help us become good at giving massages and making people feel better.
4. Business & Ethics (30 hours)
Massage therapists need to create and maintain the business aspects of their practice. The teachers take this class through lectures and research projects and teach them everything about it in this course. These include:
- Maintaining boundaries of clients’ emotional needs
- The right interview strategy
- Keep in touch with other healthcare professionals
- nonverbal and verbal communication skills
- Privacy issues and session record-keeping habits
- Standards of opportunity, ethics, and practice
- Single and multiple session planning strategies
- Liability for income reporting
- Liability insurance and legal entities are required, such as independent contractors, employees
- State and local certification requirements
- Marketing strategy
Related: How Much Do Massage Therapists Make at Massage Envy
Ultimate Conclusion
The duration of the massage therapy program depends on which state school you have been admitted to. Due to the change of location, the 3-month massage therapy program can be as long as one year, but you can become an LMP or CMP from all the programs. Although the value of your license does not change over time, your income will change due to the change in the job location.
