Texas Massage Therapy

Becoming a massage therapist in Texas can be accomplished in as little as eight months, depending on the class schedule at your massage therapy school. Basic Texas massage therapy courses are 450 hours long and then you have to have an additional 50 hours of internship. Texas massage therapy school is broken down into two parts each class day. The first part is classroom work. The second part is learning how to give massages.

Classroom work consists of lectures and course study. You will study a lot of anatomy and physiology. You will learn all of the systems of the body, with special emphasis on the bones and the muscles. The work is difficult and requires a lot of memorization. There are tests almost every week. You will be responsible for reading hundreds of pages of material each week.

The other part of Texas massage therapy school is giving and receiving massages each day. For one half of the allotted time, you will learn to give massages, starting with one area of the body at a time. Your instructor will demonstrate massage strokes and then everyone will partner up with another student and practice the massage strokes. During this time, your partner will be your client. When the time is up, you switch places. Your partner becomes the massage therapist and you become the client. This is the cool part, because each day, you will receive free massages. The back massages are fabulous!

It is a good idea to switch partners so you can practice on different body types and so you can receive massages from different people. Some have a natural gift of knowing just how to handle your muscles, while others are very hesitant and unsure of themselves. Learn from each person who massages you.

When you go home after class, you will need to read your chapters and study the material. You will also need to practice the massage strokes and techniques that you have learned on family members and friends. You will be busy the entire time you are a student, either studying or massaging someone. Do not waste your time watching TV during this time. Remember that you are investing in your future. Practicing techniques now will insure that you are a great massage therapist whose new clients will return again and again, providing you with a good, solid income as you begin your new Texas massage therapy career.

Once your classes have been completed, you will take final exams. You will have a long, written final exam covering all of the classroom material, including anatomy and physiology. It is difficult, but if you have been studying all along, you should not have a problem passing it.

Then, you will have to perform massage strokes and techniques on an instructor at your school. You will not know what massage strokes and techniques you will be asked to perform until you are actually at the massage table. So be prepared! You can only be prepared if you have been diligently practicing each day throughout Texas massage therapy school.

Once you have passed both finals, you become an intern. What does this mean?

The internship is providing 50 hours of massage therapy as a student. Basically, you will perform 50 supervised massages that the school will schedule for you. This takes about a month to complete. You will be scheduled to sit at your school and wait for clients to come in and be massaged.

If you have a lot of family and friends, you can ask them to call in and make appointments for you only. They have to pay the school for the massages, but they get a discounted rate, around $30 now. You, however, will not be paid and you are not allowed to take tips. If you do and you are caught, you can forget about getting your state license. Sometimes people will come in to see if you will accept a tip just to trap you. Be smart and always say, "Thank you, but we are not allowed to accept money while we are students."

While you are waiting for massage clients during your internship, you may have to do the school's laundry. I had to do a lot of it while waiting for clients.

There are many other students waiting to perform their massages as well. If you want to finish quickly, make friends with the receptionist who takes the calls and do whatever is asked of you with a smile. Laundry is a drag when you should be getting those 50 required massages out of the way, but if you play the game, you will get the massages over with quickly.

Once the required 50 massages are completed, your school will certify you and give you a state application packet so that you can take your Texas massage therapy test. These are given in Texas four times a year in Austin, our state capitol.

While you wait to become licensed, you can apply for a temporary license in Texas to become a massage therapist. While you wait, continue to study and practice on clients without charging them. Once you receive your temporary state license, you may begin to charge clients for your services.

You will have to take a long, written exam, as well as provide a five minute massage that is filmed and then evaluated by the state massage board. You will wait an additional six weeks to hear whether or not your state license has been granted.

Studying For The Texas Massage Therapy Exam

The written test will be a long one, covering material from day one of your massage therapy class until the final class day. there will be around 200 or so questions, depending on your state.

In Texas, we had to bring number two pencils and bubble our answers in on a separate answer sheet. The test information that the state mailed me a few weeks prior to the exam stated I would be given three hours to take the test. I took my time and went over all of my answers and I was out the door in 65 minutes. I was so familiar with all of the material that I was eager to answer the questions and go home. I have more on this in the section below.

There are some wonderful state testing study guides online.

I purchased a set of two for the Texas state test for $79 and they were so helpful. I took them everywhere I went for four months and studied them over and over.

Never let a day go by that you don't do some studying for your state exam. Start studying right away, as soon as you finish school. Do not wait until a few weeks before the test to begin studying.

When you are studying, focus and pay attention to each study question and choose the most likely answer. Do not read too deeply into the question or look for trick questions. They are not set up like that. I kept expecting trick questions, but they were not there.

Share how to study for the Texas massage therapy state exam with a friend or two and get together once a week and quiz each other. It is a great way to bond with a friend and get the help and support you need for your state exam.

Best wishes as you take your state exam.

Your state licensing massage therapy board requires a hands-on exam for you to be licensed.

You may be wondering how to practice massage for the state exam. Of course, you will study the material you used while in school, including your textbooks, flashcards, and any other study materials you collected while in class. There is a lot of online help, including this website. Plus, there are magazines and countless books for your convenience.

A few weeks before your test, your state massage therapy board will send you a packet of information. This will list all of the types of strokes and how many of each type you will need to perform during your test. You will probably have to perform joint mobilizations as well.

There are some wonderful videos on the internet for you to get that show variations of each massage stroke and joint mobilizations so you can practice.

Don't wait until you get your state packet to start practicing. Practice your routine each day. Your school instructor should have gone over what is on the state test with you prior to your final exam so you could be prepared. When you get your packet, change anything in your routine that needs to be changed.

You will have to prepare to massage all body parts and perform mobilizations for all joints because you will not know which ones you will actually perform until a few minutes prior to the practical portion of your Texas massage therapy exam.

Practicing for the state exam is simple. Have at least two variations of each massage stroke for each body part and know how to do joint mobilizations for every joint. Review all of this with study videos and get together with some friends from massage school and practice on each other.

My massage instructor tried to tell us what the Texas massage therapy exam is like. He prepared us each week, but I was still not prepared for how it would really be.

Two weeks before the Texas massage therapy exam, I got a packet describing both the written and the practical exam requirements.

I will try to convey to you what the Texas massage therapy state exam is like.

I had to go to Austin (the state capitol) for the exam so I spent the night before the exam at the hotel where the exam is given. It was a bit pricey, but at least I did not have to worry about traffic or parking early the next morning.

Hundreds of people in scrubs were all over the hotel. There were many sessions for both the practical and written tests for Friday and Saturday. I had no idea that there would be so many people candidates taking the tests.

At 7am on test day, I had to go down to a large banquet room and stand in a very long line. I then registered for both portions of the test, showing my testing card (mailed to me by the state board with the packet) and my photo ID. You will not be allowed to test without both of these important items.

Then we were each given a time for the written exam and for the practical exam. I was amazed as the officials went over the rules for the Texas massage therapy tests.

For the practical exam, I had to go up to the fourth floor at 10am in my scrubs with my sheets and bolster. 15 minutes before I was to test, I was given a small piece of paper telling me the two body parts to massage and the body part for joint mobilization. Not much time to prepare. This is what the Texas massage therapy state exam is like.

I was also assigned a partner for the practical test. A partner is another student who you do not know. My partner never showed up so I had to use a proctor. The proctors are temporary workers hired by the testing company who know nothing about massage therapy.

When it was finally my turn, we entered a hotel room where there was a massage table, a TV camera and camera operator, and a timer.

I had to adjust the height of the table, put my sheets on it, help the proctor onto the table and tell her what to do and drape her.

My proctor would not undress so I had to massage her through her clothes. My instructor did not cover this when he went over Texas massage therapy exam information. I thought I would have points taken off for this but apparently I did not.

I was so worried and thrown by this that I was afraid I had failed the test. Lesson? Always be prepared for the unexpected and just do your best. You cannot control circumstances sometimes and worrying about them is futile.

Getting back to the test, the person behind the camera told me where to stand for the massage and when I was ready to begin, I had to walk over to the timer and set it for five minutes and turn it on. That is right, I had five minutes to do my demonstration.

I then walked back to the table, looked at the camera, introduced myself and began my demonstration. During this time, I had to tell the camera what I was doing and announce each time I did a different stroke and variation of the stroke and each time I changed body parts. When I finally finished I had to walk back over to the timer and turn it off.

It was nerve-wracking and I was a complete wreck, but I did finish my demonstration before the timer went off. I was so happy and relieved when it was over, yet I thought I would have to pay again and return in four months to retake the practical portion.

For the written test (which seemed like a piece of cake after the demonstration fiasco), I had to go into the banquet room at 2pm that same day after checking in through the long line and showing my photo ID again. A proctor showed each person where to sit. No drinks were allowed--only pencils and a small purse that had to be placed under our chairs. No backpacks, phones, or snacks.

They passed out the answer sheet and we had to bubble our names and ID number they gave us on it. Then they gave us the test booklets. Once each of the more than 500 candidates taking that particular test received a book, they allowed us to begin.

They told us we had three hours to complete the Texas massage therapy test but I was ready. I took my time and even went over all of my answers. I turned in my test after 65 minutes and left. I was the third person out of there. I was grateful that they were wrong about the time.

After that, the real fun began. I waited for three long weeks and checked the mail and the website everyday. I was convinced that I had failed the practical portion because my proctor would not undress for the camera.

Finally, on a Friday night, after I got home from grocery shopping, I checked the website again and saw that it had finally been updated. I got scared and checked for my name among the newly licensed massage therapists. I could not believe it--my name was there! I was so excited. I received my license in the mail the next morning.

So now you know what the Texas massage therapy exam is like. Good luck in your studies. You will do a great job.

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