New Jersey Massage Training Center

LMT’s have long fought for their little scope of practice.
Now, it’s important to stand up and support your right to use these important modalities.
We are asking New Jersey massage therapists to send a simple email before June 23rd and preferably ASAP to

[email protected]
Subject “Public Comment for Next Board Meeting”

The folks on our NJ Board are way overworked, understaffed, really good people given a tremendously difficult task of managing our rapidly growing profession. Use your own words and make your email respectful and professional. Maybe even on an email letterhead. Add your own professional training, experience, and even client testimonies.

If you know any DPTs, MDs, or Chiropractors who would write a statement about advocating for LMTs to use tape, we could use their testimonies!

But do it NOW. Remember deadline for our comments is June 23rd.

Here’s the issues…

Taping – The Deputy Attorney General (DAG) for our Board is firmly against LMTs using Tape! The Deputy Attorney General believes it falls under the provision of medical care and actually used the word "dangerous." We know it absolutely isn’t and need to advocate for this by sending the board an email with the Subject "Public Comment for Next Board Meeting: Taping". Share your clinical expertise on how it can be administered safely and effectively with adequate training.

Red Light Therapy – This is new technology that is being used across our state at Spa’s. Currently, it has not been officially approved under our scope of practice. They need to know more about the devices used and how it functions. They are also looking to see what other states have approved or not. Send the board an email with the Subject "Public Comment for Next Board Meeting: Red Light Therapy".

Ultrasound – For years, we understood that licensed massage therapists were permitted to use and teach ultrasound within appropriate professional boundaries (was allowed from 2015 through 2022). Then in 2023, they denied CEs and said it was out of scope.
We obtained coverage under our professional liability policies, developed a curriculum specifically for LMTs, and submitted that curriculum to the Board. The handheld units we use and teach with are widely available to the public, and massage therapists have found them to be helpful tools when used responsibly as part of soft tissue work. In our experience, ultrasound may support treatment goals by helping calm trigger point sensitivity, increase circulation, and assist muscle recovery.
The decision to allow LMTs the opportunity to enhance their effectiveness through the use of ultrasound was ratified by the Board approximately eleven years ago. At that time, Mark Carangelo, LMT—School Director, Massage Hall of Fame inductee, and then Vice Chairman of the Board of Massage—received permission to use and teach ultrasound directly from our Board’s attorney. Once that approval was received, professional programs were designed specifically for licensed massage therapists. It became an important addition for LMTs and was well received by their clientele. We respectfully ask the Board to consider whether New Jersey can provide leadership on this issue rather than looking only to other states for directions.

Today an even dozen LMT’s took Working with TMJ
Here’s what they said…

“Maggie’s TMJ class was great learning!”
Esquivel Rivera, LMT

“This was an amazing course. I really appreciated the wealth of knowledge and skills.”
Jennifer Sisco,LMT

“Valuable information, easily applicable to practice. Very worthwhile course.”

“Class was great. Learning was easy and leveled. Definitely will take another class with Maggie!”
Michelle Giurco, LMT

“Great teacher! Lots of information.”
Yan Suarez, LMT

“Great material. Definitely felt more confident to work this area by the end of the class.”
Stefanie S., LMT

“Very eye opening and interesting class!”
Ashley Blair, LMT

“This class was amazing!!”

“Great course, important work. I will definitely use what we learned in my practice. I will recommend this class.” Constance DeAngelis, LMT

“Maggie is passionate, genuine and funny. Her teaching is engaging and clear.”

“Possible more pictures of how to massage facial muscles- list of what order to massage.”
Leeann McDonell, LMT

“Excellent.”

Working with TMJ
Mon., March 9
Mon., June 15
Mon., Aug 24
Mon., Oct. 26

https://www.newjerseymassage.com/working-with-tmj.html

MLD Basics in A.C., Cupping 1, Reflexology, ETHICS/NJ Law (in person)
Abdominal work and Shiatsu facelift, Thoracic Outlet and Tunnel Syndrome

Featured Article
HOW TO HEAL FASTER!
by Larry Heisler, M.A., LMT
www.newjerseymassage.com

A fella came in for a medical massage session and began
my intake by saying;

"I was sitting at a red light when a car came barreling into me at 35 miles an hour. Apparently, the driver wasn't paying attention. The ensuing whiplash left me with herniated discs in both my cervical and lumbar regions. Consequently, I've had years of pain.
And here's the problem...
that was five years ago, and it still hurts,
sometimes bad."

My first response was, "Yikes that's tough, "
and then I continued by saying, "Our body is made to heal, and over time it usually does. But sometimes when an individual eats a lot of sugar, or an excess of highly inflammatory foods like red meat, their body does not have the essential building blocks for adequate healing, and they suffer much longer unnecessarily. Add to those refined carbohydrates like white bread, desserts, soda, white rice, junk food and you create a roadblock to self-healing.

Obviously, many Americans have serious nutritional deficiencies, and critical healing takes significantly improved nutrition along with other important regular practices like exercise, massage therapy, controlling stress (cortisol) and a very good vitamin/mineral supplement program to supercharge your outcome.

Another important hindrance to healing successfully is an acidic bloodstream. All these bad food elements; sugars, refined table salt, soda, sparkling carbonated beverages, coffee, and most of the flesh foods including meat, poultry, fish and cheese and simple carbohydrates in general, are all highly acid forming. Remember, your body goes out of its way to maintain alkalinity (homeostasis, a mildly alkaline ph of 7.35).

An acidic bloodstream creates an oxygen deprived environment that depresses the immune system and can become a breeding ground for everything from cancer to candida but most importantly can slow down recovery to a crawl.

When nutrition pioneer, Dr. Nathan Pritikin was in residence at the Mayo Clinic, he introduced his revolutionary plant-based diet and exercise protocol to the clinical world of medicine.

At that time the notion of curing degenerative diseases like heart disease, arthritis and diabetes with diet or supplements was considered ridiculous and physicians strongly admonished anyone promoting the idea. They were to be labeled quacks.

Miraculously Dr. Pritikin's predominately plant-based program was showing for the first time, in clinically controlled studies that heart disease, the major cause of death at that time in the United States could be reversed!

Furthermore, his program was successfully treating patients at Mayo with every form of cardiovascular disease like congestive heart failure and many other serious degenerative conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, insulin dependent diabetes, gout and severe cases of hypertension.

In one study group of men confined to wheelchairs, blood supply to the legs was so bad that the average patient could only walk a few hundred feet. After six months of Pritikin's low fat, low protein,
high fiber nutrition and walking program, the results were so dramatic as to be almost unbelievable. Every wheelchair bound patient was walking 6 to 10 miles a day!

"According to Dr. Melvin P. Judkins, who supervised the angio-graphic studies of the patients, a return to normal without drugs was effected in 100% of the experimental group patients with angina, diabetes treated by oral agents, gout, arthritis and elevated blood lipids; in 75% of those with hypertension and diet controlled diabetes; and in 50% or more of the insulin dependent diabetics and those with congestive heart failure.

When questioned about the amazing reversal of diseases,
Dr. Pritikin, who first proposed the highly complex carbohydrate diet in his book, Live Longer Now explained that with a regular exercise routine, the diet produces changes within a few weeks which increase blood flow and raise the oxygen content of the blood. The improved circulation quickly improves the patient’s condition and permits the body to start the healing process that is key to permanent recovery. In other words, when a person eats a plant-based diet, they significantly increase their oxygen content and blood circulation thus dramatically speeding up their healing and recovery." Bestways Magazine (1977)

So, a plant-based can significantly oxygenate your body and speed up healing.
AND THAT'S NOT ALL YOU CAN DO TO SPEED UP HEALING...

1. MANUAL LYMPH DRAINAGE
When you clear the waste passageways, the body can speed up healing and recovery. The human body contains between 500 and 700 lymph nodes, and these are a major part of our bodies’ sanitation system. The lymph is just under the skin and requires a very light pumping/stretching action to move them along. Throughout your body there is a virtual road map where the lymph travels and moves. Some of the pathways carrying lymph are like smaller side streets in your home neighborhood, others are like larger routes and there are a few main roads and highways. If you know the pathways, the special strokes used in MLD can dramatically speed up the removal of the body’s waste. This can be especially powerful when the body is overwhelmed with health and nutrition challenges or preparing for surgery and specifically to speed healing post op. Lymph transports at a speed of 10-12 beats per minute. When you have more waste products (pollutants, to***co, chemical exposure, excess fats, sugars, alcohol), the lymph system can be especially burdened, and travel (detox) can be hampered. To speed up the system or as it is called the lymphangiomotoricity, exercise, diet and breathing exercises can really help and an actual 50-minute MLD session can speed up the process by a factor of 10 times! Thus, massage therapists trained in MLD can significantly help drain the bodies’ wastes clearing up many conditions and boosting the overall immune system and the bodies healing capacity.

2. Eat a predominately PLANT-BASED complex carbohydrate diet consisting of whole grains, beans, seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables, sprouted greens like broccoli sprouts, lots of green leafy vegetables, sea vegetation (kelp, wakame, arame, hijiki), fermented foods especially miso (as in all types of soups regularly, minimum three times a week), maybe some tofu, tempeh, perhaps a small amount of animal foods such as fish or seafood. When eating flesh foods, make them a side dish, not a main course. Try more alkalizing foods like lemon water, apple cider vinegar, and natural alkaline Spring water like Mountain Valley, Icelandic or Fiji. Minimize the highly acid forming foods and beverages (coffee, chocolate, sugar, and its substitutes, simple carbohydrate rich foods like soda, bread, white rice, etc. and animal flesh foods (beef, pork, etc.) and dairy products (can be inflammatory and acid forming).

3. You can try natural anti-inflammatory supplements like Vitamin D, nattokinase, magnesium blends, MSM, turmeric/curcumin, DHA, essential fatty acids like flax, borage or evening primrose oil, Co Q 10, antioxidants, sea vegetables. I take a comprehensive supplement program that includes supplements that you might have to look up like gamma tocotrienols, N-Acetyl Cysteine, olive leaf extract, pine bark pcynogenols, glutathione, alpha lipoic acid, and a bunch of mixed formulas with all the mushrooms and more esoteric herbal blends. Many of the supplements I take significantly improve the life expectancy of lab animals, I’m betting they will do the same for us!

4. ENZYME THERAPY

For special soft tissue recovery, surgery and bone healing:
It is well known and established that athletes treat sports injuries and especially their recovery from vigorous competition with of all things, digestive enzymes. Apparently digestive enzymes, the type folks take for assimilating their food better, also works for athletes when taken in larger doses and especially in between meals. The theory is the enzymes flush out the waste products of competition like lactic acid, much faster and helps the athlete recover from fatigue more efficiently. In a double-blind study, oral enzymes with placebos, athletes taking the enzymes three times a day before the events, were shown to heal 50% quicker than those taking the placebos. In an article written by K. DeFelice in the January 2003 issue of Sports Nutrition Magazine, Mr. DeFelice states,
"Sports injuries are often treated with protease enzymes because of their ability to effectively reduce inflammation and at the same time speed the real healing of bruises, swelling, and other injuries."

That same article also states,
"Several studies showed that when enzymes were taken before surgery, the swelling from the injury left around seven days quicker, on average, than those taking a placebo; post-surgery recovery was also much more rapid (e.g. Duskova and Wald 1999). Although studied extensively abroad, North America has not been as quick to recognize these conclusions and adopt enzyme therapy."

ONE MORE THING...
Anything that increases circulation speeds up healing. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine wrote the first medical textbook. He identified the diseases of his day and cited treatment protocols for each affliction. Massage was one of the main treatment protocols. He recognized that massage alkalizes the bloodstream and most conditions proliferate in an acidic blood environment.
IN OTHER WORDS, MASSAGE THERAPY IS A HEALTHY GAME CHANGER! Tell your friends...

New Jersey Massage Training Center and New Jersey Massage Looking for the best State Licensed and Nationally Certified massage therapy school in NJ? The North Jersey Massage Training Center offers masters level courses for massage therapist continuing education, credits good in NJ, NY, CT and PA.

Sold out CANCER Massage:Two Day
with Lucy Zirpoli, the original coordinator of the NJ School of Medicine and Dentistry Hospital massage program. Here’s what 12 LMT’s said…

“I enjoyed the class. Lucy has real world experience with the topic and I appreciate that.”
Rebecca C., LMT

“It was great! Love the way you broke up lecture and bodywork.” Jennifer Neal, LMT

“Great! Loved meeting Lucy and getting a slice of her vast experience and knowledge!”
Lisa Johnson, LMT

“I’m so glad I signed up and attended. Such valuable information.”

“Great class, amazing teacher.”
Danielle Douglas, LMT

“Lucy Rocks!! Looking forward to using my new skills. Judith Hempel, LMT

“Lucy was great! Very informative class. I learned a lot!” Christina Umstead, LMT

“Well structured and held attention of the class effortlessly! Luci is kind and patient!”
Gina Fantacone. LMT

“You can truly see her passion for this subject.”

“Very good info, appreciated the personal anecdote about related situations.”

“Very complete program, very therapeutic.
Really knows her stuff!”

“Evaluation is all fives for excellent”

Cancer Massage
Wed. & Thurs., March 4 - 5
Tues. & Wed., June 9-10
Wed. & Thurs., Sept. 9 - 10
Sat. & Sunday., Nov. 29-29

https://www.newjerseymassage.com/continuing-ed-by-subject.html

Another BIG NJ Massage Board meeting!

Here is the need to know:

CPR training must have the hands on and evaluation portion done in person! You can do the theory online but there needs to be an in person component for them to accept it.

Additionally, for renewal, you only need CPR & AED! First aid & Infant CPR is not a requirement although it can be an additional add on if you so choose.

Tabled for the next meeting because they need MORE information, deadline for our comments is June 23rd:

Kinesio Taping - DAG is firmly against LMTs using KTape! The DAG believes it falls under the provision of medical care and actually used the word "dangerous" 😱 We need to advocate for this by sending the board an email with the Subject "Public Comment: Kinesio Taping". Share your clinical expertise on how it can be administered safely and effectively with adequate training.

Ultrasound - was allowed from 2015 through 2022. Then in 2023, they denied CEs and said it was out of scope. Have you used Ultrasound? Send the board an email with the Subject "Public Comment: Ultrasound"

Red Light Therapy - in April 2023, there was a board determination that it is out of our scope. Send the board an email with the Subject "Public Comment: Red Light Therapy" to advocate for this modality.

They need our help! Send your comments so we can get these modalities to become a part of our scope.

HOW TO HEAL FASTER by Larry Heisler, M.A., LMT

Ayurvedic Shirodhara: Four students, here’s what they said…

“I love these Ayurvedic classes! Shirodhara is the most relaxing treatment. I am so happy to now be able to offer it.”
Tina Aponte, LMT

“Loved it! Nancy was informative and a great teacher!” Alyson Marrero, LMT

“Extremely informative and eye opening!”
Debra Gallo, LMT

“Best class!!!”
Arthur’s Robinson-Nevling, LMT

​Ayurvedic Massage Training
Fri., Jan. 2
Fri., April 3
Fri., Sept. 4
​Nancy Smith
​
Ayurveda: Introduction to Marma Therapy and Practice
Fri., Feb. 6
Fri., May 8
Fri., Oct. 2
Nancy Smith
​
Calming the Mind through Ayurvedic Shirodhara
Fri., March 6
Fri., June 5
Fri., Nov. 6
Nancy Smith