A massage therapist uses his or her hands, fingers, forearms, and elbows to provide gliding, rubbing, kneading, friction, joint mobilization and tapotement to clients depending upon their physical condition, needs and desires. Moist heat, ice, diaphragmatic breathing and therapeutic exercises are also utilized by the massage therapist to help clients reduce pain, improve flexibility and circulation, and reduce the negative effects that unchecked stress has on the human mind and body. Potential students should be physically fit because this work demands physical activity. Evening and weekend work are common as are long periods of standing and reaching. Aside from outdoor events such as sports massage the work is done indoors, in a massage room, in a club, in a doctor's office, in a salon, in a spa or in corporate settings.
Wages vary for massage therapists depending upon where they work and their level of experience.
Massage therapists can receive both pay and tips. Rapid growth is predicted in this field through 2005. Customer satisfaction is a major issue with this profession. There is an increasing demand for massage therapists with some 40,420 positions projected. In the State of California there is no such thing as a certified massage therapist.