Adrian School of Massage

    What is Cancer? Cancer is when a normal body cell mutates and replicates uncontrollably.  The oncogene is the gene that has been given credit f or  in certain circumstances, transforming a cell into a tumor cell.  Thus the oncology unit at ASM that educates  it's students on the pathology of cancer and appropriate manual practices for these patients.    Recent studies show that c ancer will affect 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women  in the United States.  That is a large population so chances are very high, that as massage therapists we will work with someone with a cancer history or in treatment for cancer.  That is why it is so important for us to know how to safely and effectively work with these clients.       Information on how to work with this demographic has changed so much in just the last decade! Years ago massage therapists were told not to do bodywork on cancer patients in fear it would accelerate the ...

    YOU are our hero!  You were with us as we made the decision to go back to school. You supported our dreams and agreed to take this journey with us. We see you, love you and appreciate you <3     We are half way through our one year program. It has been awesome and hectic. I am enjoying my time with everyone at ASM. I'm learning so much and really getting a lot out of the process.  I look forward to applying all I will have learned into my daily life as a massage therapist.  With that being said. I'm exhausted!        As mentioned before, massage is most frequently a second career so most of the students are working all day and in class three evenings a weeks. I am also in student clinic, so I am spending time at the school giving massage on top of classroom hours.  When I'm not in the classroom or clinic I am studying....or trying to.  Because I also have kids to care for, laundry to get done, dinner to ge...

    Ask any student what word sends fear straight through their bones and they will tell you mid-terms....and that is only because they haven't made it to finals yet. Any time you are asked to regurgitate everything you have learned in one shot you are apt to turn into a puddle of nerves. Especially in a unit like skeletal/muscular anatomy. It's a LOT of information in such a short amount of time. I was worried in effort to cram the new information in I had to be loosing previously learned information out the other side of my brain.      We were told that the written portion of our test would include the bones, muscles, origin/insertion and other facts we have covered in the unit. We would also be partnered up for a manual portion where we would draw muscles out of a hat and locate them on our partner and demonstrate the action they perform. While the manual portion scared me the most I can appreciate that this is a huge part of what our daily lives as massage ...

     Here it is, the class we have been hearing about since day one!  "Just wait until you get to Skeletal/Muscular Anatomy!" "No, THAT isn't a muscle test, you haven't seen anything yet!" "Only a few of us passed that quiz" "start studying the muscle origins and insertions NOW!".  The senior class has knowingly or not scared the crap out of us!     So our first day rolls around and just walking in the door you could smell the fear ;-) We had previously had the pleasure of meeting our instructor Kathy Davis as a substitute for our A&P class. It was nice having a sense of who she was and her teaching style from that preview. She also has the unique experience of being a teacher and student at the school! So she knows first hand what we are all going through. With that, she started right out explaining the importance of all this information in our career.  The requirement of this knowledge is something we will need and use daily, not j...

    By now you know I am a nervous Nelly and my own worst critic.  I regret to inform you that going into my first day of clinic was no different. I asked a million questions, looked and reviewed the schedule 100 times, thought through my client intake, massage routines and SOAP note procedures YET I was still so antsy I got very little sleep the night before.     Before even attempting to lay down for the night I reviewed the student clinic dress code. I wore my black athletic pants and Adrian School of massage t-shirt. Since I live in flip flops all summer I made sure I dug out a pair of socks and set out my tennis shoes. CHECK! Next I packed my bag for the day. I needed my massage products, product holster, and bolster. For clinic we use linens provided by the school so my sheets got the day off CHECK! I packed a second bag with a bottle of water, a snack, my computer (should I get some down time I could blog;-) and my notebook in case I needed a quick remin...

    Tis the season. The weather has slowly but surely changed to beautifully sunny skies. No better feeling (other than a massage) when your skin is soaking up the sun and just when you feel you are getting to warm... splashing in to a cool pool of water. How many years did we LIVE for the last day of school so we could spend the next couple months playing the day away with friends. My kids had their last day of school last week.  I was caught up in the excitement with them until class time rolled around and I said, "ok boys, mommy is headed to school come give me kisses" "SCHOOL mommy it's summer!" I am LOVING massage school and once I get there it's a good time but it does make it harder to get out that door in summer.     BUT we are grown ups and have responsibilities we made a commitment and there is SO much to do. By now we have reached the end of our Swedish unit! The Swedish exam, like all exams...sounds  a little scary. You are taken into a massage...

  Practice hours are, understandably, a large part of your schooling. We have already discussed getting over the awkward phase of working on your classmates. The 30 hours of practice you will do on your friends and family. Now we have worked our way up the food chain ;-) to the professionals. As part of the program at the Adrian School of massage you be giving 6 hours per trimester of massage on professionals. These are either your instructors, or those that have passed through the halls before us and graduated from ASM.     Does the thought of putting your new found skills to work on the body of practicing professionals make the butterflies in your belly dance? Or is it just me? I mean, we have learned I'm an anxious person with a touch of perfectionism. If that is even a word. SO before setting up these meetings you better believe I formulated a mental check list.       #1 What is Expected? There are paper your professional will be filling out for you ...