Keeping risk away as a massage therapist isn’t always easy. As a massage therapist, you have to make sure you are taking care of yourself so you don’t get carpel tunnel, backaches, or knotted muscles. Then, of course, you need to take care of your clients to make sure that they don’t get injured. A client’s injuries can occur before, during, or after the massage, so, unfortunately, it is almost impossible to predict and prevent every disaster that could occur.
Odds are there are literally a hundred other things you would rather do than figure out ways to reduce the liability risks associated with your profession. But because it’s so important, not only for your career but, in some cases, good for life outside your job as well, we want to get you started. The following are five ways you can reduce risks as a massage therapist.
- Make sure you stay up-to-date on the latest techniques and practices. Staying educated means that not only are you able to better help your clients, but it also allows you to know if a technique you have been using is no longer recommended.
- Take good care of your booth or salon and equipment. The risks associated with injuring a client during a massage are great enough without worrying that they will trip on a loose cord or have a massage table collapse while they are on it.
- Get professional liability insurance. Ok, it’s true that we may be biased here, but we’re not the only ones who recommend having a massage therapy insurance policy. Even some of the professional associations for massage therapists offer insurance policies for their members because they understand how important it is. Insurance really is one of the most important ways to reduce risk because it may allow you to transfer financial risk in case something goes wrong.
- Stick with your intuition. This goes for all aspects of your career. Sometimes something may look fine, but deep down you just have a gut feeling that something could be wrong. Don’t ignore your intuition. Taking some time to fix the issue is a lot better than neglecting the problem and having a serious accident occur.
- Always be ready for emergency situations. Unfortunately, you just never know what can go wrong. It is important that you prepare yourself as much as possible for emergency situations. These emergencies range from something as minor as the power going out to situations as serious as a client having a heart attack during the massage or an earthquake or other natural disaster happening while you’re at work.
There are many other risks, some of them associated with your own personal circumstances. Don’t ignore these or just “hope for the best.” You will be in a better situation to help your clients alleviate stress through massage if you yourself have less stress. And the best way for you to do that is to reduce the risks that bring stress in the first place.
Feel like there is something missing from our list? Comment below!
