8 reasons to bring breast and chest surgery patients to your massage therapy practice

As massage therapists, we are privileged to work with a variety of people, some of which can be interesting, some of which can be excruciatingly boring.

Working with breast and chest patients can be an intimidating prospect for some therapists and they steer clear of it, however it's a truly amazing clientele to work! 

Here are 8 benefits of expanding your practice to include a new breast and chest surgery demographic.

1. Expand your knowledge

When you start working with a new clientele, you have the opportunity to learn more about the human body, and the human condition.  Learning about what breast and chest patients go through in their surgical rehabilitation process allows for significant learning on behalf of the RMT, and provides endless fascination on how a body heals through trauma, medical treatments, surgery; and when one takes a holistic body-mind approach to healing, the implications for meaningful treatment are even greater.

2. Learn new techniques

Treating breasts and chests can come with some new hand-skills and styles of treating that offer a profound opportunity for therapeutic recovery for your patient.  As techniques for breast and chest are often lighter on your body, you'll likely be able to sustain your practice much longer as physical burnout is not as high, plus learning new ways to combine intention & mindfulness with evidence-informed techniques makes for a power-packed therapeutic experience for your patients.

3. Build confidence

When you start learning about how to treat a formally "no-go" zone in the body and realize you are in fact capable of working with sensitive areas in a professional, comfortable manner, your confidence level can build significantly.  You can not only feel comfortable with the hands-on skills, but you'll also know language used to address sensitive topics, gain consent and even take therapeutic images. 

4. Keep your clients in your roster

When you become educated on working with breast and chest patients, you no longer need to refer patients on to other therapists, who you think are more qualified than you.  With some education, you can also treat these remarkable patients, and keep them in your client list.

5.  Connect with a network of like-minded therapists

It can be lonely as a massage therapist, where we are constantly alone in our treatment room with just our client, and no one to reach out to who is a like-minded therapist.  When you take the Mastectomy Guide courses, you're automatically hooked in to a heart-centred network of like-minded therapists invested in making a difference in the world.

6. Fill a giant gap in the world

Currently, millions of people around the world are suffering every year with the after effects of breast surgery.  We are on a mission to fill that gap, so patient's quality of life and long-term comfort and functionality are significantly improved.  The huge gap present in the world today for breast surgery rehabilitation means chronic pain, body dysmorphia and isolation are normal experiences, when they really don't need to be. The skill sets we bring as RMTs are so well positioned to relieve restriction, pain, circulation issues, numbness improvements, scar tissue formation, as well as normalizing altered body image, overcoming trauma, being seen/heard/validated by a knowledgeable practitioner with a mindful presence, which can help ease isolation, fear and overwhelm.   

7. Welcome new clients into your practice

If working on breasts  (or the place where breasts used to be but are no longer) is new for you, then taking our courses can help open the door to accepting a new clientele into your practice.  Maybe you're tired of the same-old-same-old and want to expand your horizons! Maybe you know people going through breast cancer or Trans/non-binary top surgery and want to be able to offer support in a different way.  Either way, by opening your practice to breast and chest surgery patients, you're bringing in a new demographic that is really beautiful to work with, and offers endless opportunities for learning and growing.

8. Ignite a new purpose and passion

Massage therapy for breast and chest surgery patients is a new avenue that is opening up, filled with a real and genuine deeper purpose.  These are beautiful people, who are currently suffering when they don't need to be.  The reason, I believe, they are suffering so much is a lack of resources that we, as RMTs, are perfectly positioned to fill! When we educate ourselves on how to help this new clientele, we are tapping into a deeper purpose and igniting a new passion for serving the world, which is extremely personally satisfying as well as therapeutically needed in society - so it's a win/win for everyone :-)

So there you have it, 8 reasons why adding in breast and chest surgery patients to your practice is a REALLY good idea!  Please consider signing up for one of our accredited certification courses, so you too can be a progressive therapist with purpose! 

To learn more about our courses, please visit our page: www.mastectomyguide.com/store