LMT Success Group - Medical Massage Certification?!?!

by Kris Kelley
(Las Vegas, Nevada)

I attended the LMT Success Group Medical Massage Certification seminar in Las Vegas, December, 2010.


Before I begin rambling, let me first say that this course is excellent and well worth the time and money.

You just need to understand what your expectations are, and then compare them to what you are actually getting from this course.

Also note that all the instructors were excellent speakers and well versed in Medical Massage and Orthopedic techniques.

With that said it is best if you know, or at least brush up on, your A & P and Kinesiology. After a day or two of class, speaking with other students, many were down-right lost in the class.

Here's the breakdown as I saw it: 70% of the classes were hands-on work with each other. Perhaps 20% was lecture and 10% was medical billing training.

Keep these percentages in mind as I continue on.

First, the 70% of hands-on was medical massage. Again, the instructors knew their stuff. With that said I'll also state that I didn't think we covered nearly enough muscles on the 'Day of the Back' and the 'Day of the neck.'

The muscles we did cover were covered in depth, but many were left out.

The day of the 'Upper extremeties' and 'Lower extremeties' were covered much more extensively.

So again, keep in mind that 70% of this 40 hour week-long course is hands-on training in medical massage. If this is not what you want, don't sign up!

The 20% of lecture is pretty self-explanitory. We reviewed the areas we were going to work on. These lectures were very good and informative.

The 10%, or only four (4) hours we spent on medical billing was very informational but at the same time dissappointing for me and many others. If you take this course assuming it's mostly about medical billing you'll be seriously dissapointed.

Not only was there just four hours to cover such a huge topic, but it felt rushed as well. As I looked around the room many were as lost as I was. Perhaps there needs to be a 'pre-medical billing course' prior to taking this one? Great material presented...just not enough in-depth discussion or lecture on it.

If you are looking to take this course for the medical billing aspect I highly recommend you save your money and contact Vivian Mahonney. She's the resident expert in medical billing. (As well as it was HER material we used in class!)

With all this said above, please don't get the impression that I was dissappointed in the overall seminar. I loved the seminar as I wanted to learn all that they taught.

My problem was with assumptions I had in what exactly was going to be taught, how much time was going to be spent on each area (especially the medical billing section,) etc., etc.

So, please keep in mind that these words here are only my opinions and my opinions alone.

As I said above, just know what you are getting into, or, what you are looking to (or specifically get OUT) of this class.

Also keep in mind that this is a week long seminar. That's a week away from your massage business, money spend on travel, money spent on accomodations at a hotel for an entire week, etc., etc.

Another point to keep in mind that at the end of this course I was 'certified as a medical massage therapist.' Ok, what does that really mean?

Does the state you live in recognize this title? Or, is it just another
self-promotion tool? (Which is OK, just understand this going into the seminar.)

There also seemed to be a bit of conflict in what was being taught.

The first half of the seminar was taught by one instructor and he was very strict in having us realize that this is medical massage not full body massage and such.

We only work on a very specific area. We are result oriented. Medical Massage Billing is also very specific as well. Ok, that's fine.

Yet, the second half of the seminar (the last two and a half days) was taught by another instructor.

She was all about assessment and rehabilitative actions for the client prior to the massage and after the massage.

But wait! This is about medical billing as well! First, we are NOT assessing, we're reading the Medical Doctors prescription and doing JUST that. He or she is the one doing the assessing.

Sure, we can contact the M.D. and ask them the re-assess based on our own findings, but that's another story.

Also, as massage therapists, we cannot 'recommend' any behavior outside our scope of the actual massage.

So technically we are not supposed to 'recommend' stretching or using thera-bands, etc., etc. We can actually get sued for doing this as it is outside our scope of practice. (One reason I'm now going to get certified as a personal trainer.)

Now, perhaps I'm all wrong and we can get around this or I'm mis-interpreting this.

If another massage therapist would like to comment back to me on this I'm all eyes and ears!

Please keep in mind also that five days straight, eight hours per day is a bit tiring. There's a lot to cover!

Another aspect of this was class size. There were 40 in our class, with only about ten to twelve tables. This then took a long time for every therapist to practice a technique and then feel it as a 'client.'

Perhaps this is why in the 'Day of the Back' and 'Day of the neck' not as many muscles were covered. There just wasn't enough time!

So, overall, it was a great class and learning experience for me!

My suggestion to you is this: If you are looking to take this course, figure out exactly WHY you want to take this course and exactly WHAT you are looking to get out of it.

Then, contact me. I can give you the exact 'low-down' on what to expect compared to what your own expectations are.

This is an expensive course (although strictly based on money it's a great value.)

What do I mean by this? Again, you are spending at LEAST five days away from your practice. You have to spend money to travel to the location. You have to spend money to support yourself for a week in another city. You will probably want to purchase items offered at the seminar. (BTW, I spent approximately $500.00 of 'stuff'.)

Get my drift? So, you have to ask yourself, "Is this for me?" "Is the value there in these courses?"

Thanks again for your time and if you have had a different experience than I did, please comment back to me on this!

Kris Kelley
At Your Door Massage
702.203.5670

P.S. - Feel free to call me if you are serious about taking this seminar but are not quite sure if it's right for you!

You can also fill out the 'contact box' at the bottom of my At Your Door Massage website and ask me questions. I don't post my E-mail, too much spam.

Comments for LMT Success Group - Medical Massage Certification?!?!

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Medical Massage Practitioner
by: William Sabbah

I agree with what you said. I am very disappointed about the whole thing myself.

I booked the course on-line, and paid the $745 to be certify, booked the flight to Tampa, got hotel reservation and on.. to find out they only teach 1/2 of the course.

In reality, you need to take the 'Professional' and the 'Master' level to get certify.

When I pointed to the instructor, she made me feel like it was my fault for not understanding.

Now, I'm stuck with 1/2 of the knowledge and can't justify another trip to another city.

I honestly feel I got ripped off.

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