"Have Thumbs Will Travel" reads the card of a man.

[James Boelter]

...who passed the NCBTMB (national certification boards for massage). So I am legal now. I wish I hadn't waited for so long after graduating...the exam was ridiculously easy (though I may have lucked out in the random questions pulled out of the data bank). I was ridiculously overprepared. Nothing about the rotator cuff. Nothing about the 9 ligaments in the spinal column. Nothing about the median aperture of Magendie or Wharton's duct. Nothing about CCK, Peyer's patches, brush borders, proper calcium to magnesium ratios in the diet, ependymal cells, the conus medullaris, the Corporea Quadragemica or the spino-thalmic tract. I spent six weeks making sure all that stuff and more was securely stuffed in my memory banks, and I didn't need any of it (the TCM stuff about meridians and five elements that I picked up on my own did come in pretty handy -there were at least a dozen questions -out of 160- that fell in that category, none of which was covered in my Swedish/Sports/Deep tissue oriented classes).

I'd like to thank Bob, Vince, Jarlo and Arthur (and everyone else here) for the many suggestions and supplemental ideas and topics I've encountered whilst slapping bodies for fun and not-a-hell-of-a-lot-of-profit. It's been (and will continue to be ) fun discussing perspectives with the pros.

Next step: Certification in deep tissue massage, trigger point or neuromuscular therapy. Oh yeah, and maybe finding (or creating) a paying gig somewhere. Wish me luck!

[Scott Sonnon]

Congratulations!

[Connie Brown]

Congrats James. I love your posts about this.

Even though now I have that song stuck in my head.

xox

[Jarlo Ilano]

James,

Wonderful! I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun exploring. Remember, every time you place your hands on someone is a new experience (sometimes even on the same person!).

Congratulations.

[JasonE]

Congratulations! I hope to start my own CMT training next January, and I'll remember to take my exam right away!

[bob_stra]

Holy crap! The NCBTMB really sounds like it tries to kill you. I'm sure I don't know half of that stuff :-)

Kudos to you! Well done.

As for paying gigs, the cheapest start up is chair massage at airports. Though you will have to organise your own insurance etc etc. "Massage" magazine has all sorts of tips on this regularly, FWIW. I think I might also have a few "guerilla marketing" articles kicking about on my hard drive if you'd like to have em.

The new trend (IMHO) will be aged care massage. Lots of opportunity for clinically rewarding work there.

Please - watch your hands. Beat the 90/5 statistic if you can (90% of therapists quit after 5yrs due to injury)

[Vbrown]

Great job James! Sounds like it could have been a monster of a test. Good on ye for being prepared for the worst.

Now go out and pay back that financial aid! :D

V

[James Boelter]

Update: actually landed a paying gig at a local Hotel spa club as an 'on call' therapist. Not nearly as much money as I could make working for myself (a 40/60 split), but the spa provides the room, the table, the linen, and the scheduling desk, so it's a good pain-free toe-in-the-door. Plus I can work out at the health club myself in my free time and use the pool and sauna.

We will see how long it is before some potential client gets freaked out/creeped out by me practicing kinetic chains on the exercise mats and I am asked to please refrain from being so bizarre in public. :cry:

[Scott Sonnon]

Congrats, James! Your hard work is paying off.

[Vbrown]

Sweet! Sounds similar to my future approach if I ever get out of school <insert heavy sigh here>

Don't give out any freebies. Value you knowledge and hard work. You've earned the respect you deserve, don't just give it out.

Best of luck!

Vince