In determining what subjects or specialisations you may wish to follow please note that the massage industry is part of the Wellness revolution and basically the industry can be split into two sectors:
Wellness and Health
Wellness and Health is looking after the day-to-day needs of a client, helping to alleviate and prevent stress and tension that accumulates in the human body which can lead to disease and illness. Maintaining the balance of health is the focus here.
Remedial and Rehabilitation
Remedial and Rehabilitation is catering to those who have musculoskeletal or postural problems that have lead to dysfunction in the body. Modern Musculoskeletal Therapies such as myofascial release or craniosacral therapy, as examples, are seen as being very affective for a wide range of problems. Practitioners who cater for the health and wellness are more focused on providing services for clients who will visit them on a regular basis for preventative health maintenance, examples of modalities used here are relaxation massage, aromatherapy, acupressure or polarity therapy. Remedial and Rehabilitation will focus on treating musculoskeletal disorders. Examples of modalities are trigger point therapy, positional release therapy, myofascial release, craniosacral therapy, etc. A massage practitioner with a Diploma can usually cater for both sections of the market to some degree. A good website to visit to see about practitioner courses would be www.craniosacraltherapy.com.au. This site has good information for post-graduates and practitioners wanting to undertake extra training.
Generally in most massage clinics throughout Australia, beginner practitioners will be asked for Relaxation and Therapeutic Massage for around 60% of their work. As they treat more clients they will be asked to perform more Remedial Treatments (musculoskeletal therapy).
Eventually, after a while in practice, massage therapists will usually find that they will tend to specialise and focus on one particular section of the market for best results and income stream. So eventually if a therapist focuses on the remedial market then their work load will be reversed with 60% Remedial Treatments being performed in their clinic.
