Can a nurse make massage therapy a full-time career?

Nurses Entrepreneurs

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I am considering starting massage therapy classes this fall. I have been an RN for 10 years. I was wondering if massage therapy can be a full-time lucrative career or will it remain as something to do on the side along with a nursing job?

Hello all, I am currently an LPN in Florida my husband is a successful lmt/Personal trainer with his own gym. My dilema is should i continue with going for my RN or massage therapy he supports me with either but wants me involved with the buisiness other than glorified house keeping for the gym. I would really like to know more about the buisiness than him bringing someone else to do the books and such as I said he's doing very well despite economy.

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I'm a nurse with a BSN, and I am in graduate school to be a NP. I've decided to take a little time off school because I want to become a LMT. My massage therapist is looking into nursing school...I think these fields go hand in hand.

Since I know massage therapy is hard on the body I am wanting to specialize in reflexology, a reflexology treatment is no so hard on the practitioner. There is also a style of massage where the practitioner uses his/her feet and I am interested in learning this as well.

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I am in a similar situation as many of you. I have been a massage therapist for 12 years, but it has ben a very difficult road...not much money and lots of strain on my body. I have also been a Pilates teacher for 5 years, and am starting a BSN program in the Fall. I would love to work part time in all three areas, and worry about finding a job in nursing when I graduate.

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Specializes in Ambulatory Care/Rehabilitation.

I sold my Massage Therapy practice when I started my final year of nursing school. I live in a small (70,000) city and made a generous living at my practice, which I had for 12.5 years. I am planning to take boards to be Nationally certified in Massage Therapy so that when I move to my new state, I can practice both nursing & massage therapy. YES!! You can make a very lucrative income from massage therapy. To have the knowledge & skill of both will be an invaluable asset! The teaching & education that can be done for people is amazing! Go for it! I didn't get out of Massage Therapy because I didn't like it or was burned out....I always wanted my RN degree and couldn't juggle both since I had such a huge practice. Plus, I knew I was moving out of state when I complete nursing school. Hope this helps!

Nikki

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Specializes in Critical care/trauma.

I live in Florida, near Miami. I've been a massage therapist for 3years. I graduated from Broward College RN:nurse: program in Dec. and passed boards first try in Feb:yeah:!!! I stumbled into massage therapy because i did'nt get accepted into other RN programs at some other schools after several attempts:mad: I got tired of waiting and wasting time soo I sat down and figured out a plan to use the pre-req classes I had already taken for Nursing. After much research I came up with massage therapy:D I made a decent living out of it but my dream was to become an RN. Once I passed my massage boards and got a job I immediately went back to pursuing Nursing. I applied to Broward College and got in:yeah: Massage therapy opened alot of doors for me it also came in handy while I was in RN school because of the work flexibility and good pay! However, as mentioned its very hard on the body and I can't see myself doing it full-time for the rest of my working days:eek: In fact I have been counting down the days until I can start a full-time nursing job! These days its hard for New Grads, soo still no luck with an RN job. All in all I'm glad things turned out the way they did and I'm now licensed in two awesome professions. I'm a RN,LMT:yeah:

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These threads are all three years old but I thought I would put some info in here. I am an LMP, RN with 15 years of experience as a licensed massage practitioner and one year as an RN.

The American Massage Therapy Association publishes research for its members to access. 2012 research shows that about 18% of the US population receives at least one massage annually; this number has been fairly steady for the past 7 years. There has been a downturn in the massage field, just as in other discretionary income areas, due to the recession. However, if the Affordable Care Act is deployed, the number of clients may increase as people choose insurance programs that allow for its use to treat pain conditions.

More than 80% of massage therapists have a "day job" that makes more money for them than massage, and more than 80% of massage therapists come into the profession having other careers first.

In past AMTA research it was stated that the average length of career for those who do just massage for their income is 7-9 years. After that most MTs burn out physically and/or emotionally.

I did burn out and at that time an opportunity came to go to college, so I became an RN. I see opportunity to use the RN credential to increase my legal scope of practice so that I can counsel, assign exercises, and make nutritional recommendations. None of those practices are actually covered under the legal scope of massage therapy.

I don't know if burnout is the path of every nurse or every massage therapist, but it seems to be rampant in both professions. The larger question is, what can we as women do about that?

I intend to keep up my nursing practice as a home health nurse. So I will have nursing part time and massage therapy part time.

My good wishes go with all who are exploring ways to open into healing and wholeness.

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