It’s important to find a trained massage therapist with whom you have a good rapport. Start with the locator on the American Massage Therapy Association’s website. Then get a feel for the person in a phone call before you go in for a treatment (if he or she won’t take the time for a phone conversation, move on). Here’s a checklist of what to ask and discuss:
• How long have you been in practice? This will give you an idea of their experience level.
• What’s your specific training? If a therapist is listed on the AMTA’s service, you can rest assured he or she meets at least minimum standards of education, certification, licensure, and ethics. But you may want to find out whether he or she specializes in some type of work, such as deep massage.
• What’s your area of specialty? It helps if the therapist works with athletes and is familiar with tennis players.
• Name your particular physical issues and ask whether that practitioner can help with them.
If you like the answers you get, go ahead and book an appointment. Then pay attention to whether the therapist is communicating well with you. Do you feel comfortable in the office? Is the manual pressure he or she’s applying to your liking? Is the therapist paying attention to how you feel? If everything checks out, you’ve found yourself a massage therapist.