student clinic worries

[Harrana]

Hi Guys n Gals, I've gotten to the clinic part of my schooling and now I'm worried about my work. Everyone I have worked on in school and out of school has loved my work. (Please don't think I'm concieted) I've gotten a lot of return clients and the students in my class would request tradeouts with me so I have felt like my work is good. My instructor has paid me huge compliments and she won't let any other student touch her.
Now my problem is this. Working in the clinics I have had two reviews saying that my work was too slow. That kind of bothered me and freaked me out. One, ok, they just prefer different work. Two, maybe there is something to it. Some have commented that I wasn't going quite deep enough. I go deep. DT was my last class so I'm pretty fresh on it. I think that some people feel like you have to hurt them to get results and I try to hurt people as little as possible. The whole point is to help them right? I LOVE trigger point therapy and a lot of my personal clients come specifically for trigger point work and spot work. My frustration with the student clinic I guess is that all you have to go off of for a history is their intake which is not very thorough and half the time you get people on the table and they say "oh yeah by the way." I try to ask them about injuries, specific problem areas etc. Most of them say just a full body relaxing massage or just my back or something like that. I ask for feedback during the massage, pressure, tenderness etc. I like to take a detailed history and really figure out what they need but half the people are late for their massage and there is no time. So basically my question is what can I do about this? Are people just dumb and don't communicate their needs or do I need to improve on my pace or depth or what. I know people should come and get what they want but I'm not one of those people who does deep tissue because I want to see how deep I can go before they can't take it any more. The slow think kind of threw me off too. I know some mts students start off working way too fast so maybe these people who only get a $25 student massage are used to people going fast and deep and that's what they think they need. I don't know. This is really long sorry. I just had to get it off my chest and hear from some professionals.

~Diana}]i[{~

 

[Andrra]

Everyone is going to have their opinion and preference on massage.
When I first when to the therapist I use now, she felt really slow too. I find myself now, slowing down more than I did before in my own work and liking her tempo, but initally I thought she was too slow.

One difference with student clinic vs. being in the work environment - most of the time once you are out of school you don't get the feedback. When I was an instructor, I explained to the students that one of the purposes of the clinic appointments were to get experience with different bodies and different issues.
Some people can take more pressure than others. I can tell you there have been many times someone has told me to go deep and I have, but it was too deep for them. They don't really know what they are asking for sometimes.
Others can take as much pressure as you can dish out. Eventually, you will be able to know which client is which. Some people like a very slow pace and others will like it faster. All a personal preference and nothing to take personal.

I am sure you are doing an excellent job. Not every person you provide massage for will like you. Most won't provide feedback, even if you ask. There have been many conversations on the board about that.
The student clinic clients also have to remember that a student is working on them. It is not the time to go and get a reduced rate massage it is a time for them to provide input and their bodies to help you learn and practice. This can be cause for the tardiness too. They just look at it as a cheap massage - not as what it truly is.

Hang in there. Listen to the comments, but know that things like depth and speed preferences are very different from person to person.

Have Fun!

 

[visualthailand]

With the above being said, take this opportunity to play with your tempo and speed. At home, try to give a massage that is realllly slooooow - all of your different strokes. One of the benefits of school is allowing yourself to learn and that includes the clinic. You are a student. Take advaneforum.xxxe of it. Also, read through the SOAP notes for your clients and see if you're able to gleen any information from them. *I am assuming your school's clinic takes SOAP notes.*

 

[Irvine]

Thank you both for the encouragement. I guess I needed a reminder not everyone will be satisfied. Masthera I'm glad you mentioned the feedback. I hadn't thought about not getting feedback after school. We do use SOAP notes but only a few of the instructors emphasize it so alot of the SOAPs aren't very thorough. A lot of vague descriptions like worked on trigger point in shoulder. No muscles or how the tissues responded etc. My instructor made a point of us being very specific so I always seem to run out of room. I am still a student and in 4 weeks I'll start my internship at a chiro office. (Yikes!) I'm a little nervous about that too it will be a totally different environment. I'm really excited though because I think I will learn a lot.

 

[TeenageBoy]

By going slow you are waiting for the tissues to relax and respond to your touch... by going fast you are potentially going to be too vigorous. I can't stand a massage when it is too fast, I can't get into that relaxed mode. I had a hard time when I was in school learning to slow down because I always felt rushed to fit in the entire routine. I have honestly dropped about half of it and added other things that I have learned so it is totally different from what I originally learned.

As for pressure, drop your table one more notch... lunge and lean into your client, that way it will feel a lot deeper to them and you can get a lot more leverage. My pressure was nothing to what it is now, especially after I learned myofacial release. But Deep tissue sometimes isn't deep if you aren't applying yourself into the body. Talk to one of your professors to look at your body mechanics to see how you can increase your pressure beyond what I have mentioned above. Sometimes it is really simple. Othertimes they are just sick and don't understand that if I go any deeper I will break something... Otherwise known as being run over by a Mack Truck Massage....

 

[xOxSnowXAngelxOx]

I think that it is unusual to find a student who gives a slow massage. The clients at the clinic are probably not used to it. SLOW is usually much more relaxing and more effective.

Student clinic is a good environment to get accustomed to working on different bodies and learning about different aspects of the massage business while in a supervised setting. In many ways it does not reflect what is in the real world.

You will not be getting reviews when you're out in the real world. People will either rebook or they won't. If they don't rebook, it's not necessarily because they didn't like your massage. In the beginning you will wonder what you are doing wrong. It most likely has nothing to do with the quality of your massage. It will take time to get over this.

Meanwhile, don't get too hung up on the negative comments in clinic. Don't let it rattle your confidence. Try giving the massage a little faster and see what happens. Talk with your clinic supervisor or your instructor about these comments about going to slow.

It's good that you want to look at the negative comments to see how you can improve, but just don't let it shake your confidence. You will not be the right therapist for every person. Concentrate on the people who LOVE your work. There will likely be far more of them than there are ones with negative comments.