There is so much information to learn and so many topics to cover when you start on your journey to becoming a massage therapist by enrolling in a massage therapy school.
Sometimes people talk about client assessment protocols. To those who haven’t worked in the field of massage therapy or been trained in massage, those words may not make any sense at all!
What is an assessment protocol for massage therapy?
When someone mentions assessment protocols, they may be speaking to the questions a massage therapist would ask their client prior to providing them with a massage.
This is not an official list of questions by any means, but here are some ideas on questions you might be trained to ask as part of the assessment protocols.
- Why are you here for a massage?
- This gives you an idea of what the client is looking for and how to better provide services to match their wishes and in turn result in a happier client who might return! Return visits from clientele could end up becoming your main source of income when you become a massage therapist, so providing massage therapy that makes them want to come back to you should be one of the most important things in your job.
- Are you in any pain?
- This is a really important foundational question to ask your client. Finding out whether or not they are in pain and then asking them details about the pain such as where it is, what seems to worsen or lessen the pain, and so on.
Depending on the massage therapy training you take, real professional massage therapy instructors will help you to know how to behave and what to ask before you start a massage session with any client.