course decisions!!
hello everyone :)
Please help! I recently completed an ITEC holistic massage course with a view to doing the ITEC sports massage course, which I am booked onto and starts this thursday (!!!!!). I had been given a very positive view of the ITEC sports course by severalpeople who had done the course and had no concerns that this may not be a suitable qualification. However,having recently stumbled across this fantastic forum - I am beginning to think thatI may have madea big mistake....and am slightly panicking[&:]
I have spoken to the SMA, who said that i could do the Itec level 3 course and top this up to a level 4 qualification by doing their exam and that this would be a perfectlyrespectable thing to do.This would make the whole training much more easily achievable for me due to travel, money and time ( i live out in the sticks in devon), but even with the advantage of the ITEC course being on my doorstep, I am unsure as to whether it issensiblefor me to consider this (would it be limiting?!) or whether I should go straight for an AHG/LSSM course .... I wouldbereally grateful for any advice you can offer me.
Plus,I am slightly confused about all the upcoming legislation, should i be looking to dosports therapy course over a massage course?
sorry for the long essay!, thanks a lotfor your time :)
Answers:
Hi anmadogo,
welcome to the sports therapy world! :):)
There are lots of decisions to make, and the first advice I would give is not to do the ITEC course, regardless of whether you can join SMA by doing an exam, which I completely disagree with anyway.
I personally dont think ITEC sports massage is anywhere good enough for the standard that is now required in this industry.
Regarding statutory regulations, yes these have been approved by the Health Professions Council, and what this will mean is that anyone having done an approved course in Sports Therapy (not sports massage), will have the chance to become a government regulated professional, with the same status as a physiotherapist, podiatrist etc. They will become 'allied medical professionals', instead of complementary therapists, which is how the medical profession sees them at the moment. It will also mean that instead of the public only being able to see a physio to claim back money on health schemes, they will be able to see sports therapists, which will vastly increase the workload of sports therapists.
One downside that I can forsee for sports massage practitioners is, with all this in mind, sports therapists (as they are trained in sports massage) will obtain the majority of the clients, regardless oftherapists being members of SMA/ISRM/LCSP etc.
Answers:
Fantastic:D
Thanks for the advice sportstherapy,that has made things a lot clearer for me and I definitely won't be doing the ITEC course!!
I am in the process ofphoning around course providers and was wondering if you thinkAPNT sports injury courses are worth looking at? (or are they in the same bracket as ITEC courses?).
Also, if I were to go down the sports therapy route are there any courses you would recommend. (when you say "an approved course in Sports Therapy" who is it approved by?)
Answers:
APNT accredited schools run mainly ITEC courses, so be wary of this.
Approved Sports Therapy courses are those recogised by either the Society of Sports Therapists or Sports Therapy Organisation.
ITEC/VTCT/Premier Sports Therapy courses are not recognised by these.
If you do a course that isnt recognised chances are you will be wasting your money. A few years ago I may have said to do it, and then gain experience and then maybe do a top up course, but because the 'application for the regulation of sports therapy' has been approved by the Health Professions Council, there isnt time to do this.
Unfortunately there are still a lot of training providers with their heads buried in the sand, who are taking training fees for these courses without giving reliable information.
Answers:
Thanks a lot for your help, I feel more confident in my understanding ofthe whole sports massage/therapy course minefield![sm=bouncy.gif]
I have finally narrowed down my options to theAHG intensive sports therapy courseor LSSM sports massage course.........decision time!!!! [sm=banghead.gif]
PS can anyone lend me £2000?!!!!!;)
Answers:
hi,
pleas read previous threads about both training providers and then make your own decision, I prefer AHg, but others prefer LSSM, think about the course format, I find intensive is better but can you get 1 month off? Then consider whether you will be limited by just doing sports massage,
after 1 year i felt i needed to know more and understand more about what was happening and why, then how I could address and fix the problem. ( but that is just me).
there are several people on here who contribute to these type of threads and I suppose we are all a little biased so look at the advice, speak at length to training providers to ascertainif their course will fulfill your expectationsthen make your own mind up about what you want, after all its your money!!!
best regards
Gaz
Answers:
There seem to be two significant differences between the AHG and LSSM courses:
1) The AHG course is an intensive one (you will need a month off work and away from any existing massage clients) whereas the LSSM course is spread over nine months (attending the college for ten weekends with a gap of three weeks or so in between)
2) ‘sports therapy’ (AHG) is a wider subject than ‘sport and remedial massage’ (LSSM). For example, ‘sports therapy’ includes subjects such as cryotherapy and taping, which aren’t included on the LSSM syllabus. I would suggest that you need to consider exactly what sort of work you want to do. If, for example, you intend working with a small village football or rugby club, then the extra skills which you will learn on a sports therapy course will be very useful. But if you want to work at a national league football club or a national athletics team, then you will be reporting to a physiotherapist, and will probably only require the sport/remedial massage skills which you can learn at LSSM (incidentally these skills include STR, MET, and basic joint assessment, which are very useful when dealing with footballers and runners and are what make AHG and LSSM stand out from other course providers). And if you only intend working in a small clinic, rather than travelling with a sports team, then again you will probably only need the sport/remedial massage skills rather than the ‘on-field’ skills which distinguish sports therapists from remedial massage therapists.
Regards
Alan
Answers:
I can only comment about the LSSM course as that is the one that I'm doing and I don't have any knowledge or experience of the other course.
Personally I have found the LSSM course to be excellent - I have used the skills I have learned to good effect, including MET and STR. I have also spoken to other therapists and they have said that the quality of work from those that have studied at the LSSM is usually of a very high standard. I have also had people compliment me on the treatments that I have given as well (and I will hopefully qualify in January).
That is an interesting point raised about other skills such as taping and strapping, etc which can be used in on-field scenarios. I am currently working with a local rugby club and this would be an ideal skill. However the way I plan to overcome this is to do it as part of my CPD and gradually move towards sports therapy.
Answers:
Hi,
just to clarify one thing, AHG runs three different course formats, not just an intensive one. This is to cater for everyones needs.
1) 20 day intensive
2) 10 weekend run over 11 consecutive weekends with a weekend break in the middle, or
3) 10 months, one weekend per month.
Answers:
I think one of the main things you have to hinge your decision on is whether you want to be part of a HPC regulated profession, with all the benefits this will bring.
A sports massage practitioner with extra CPD does not make you a sports therapist (hence the reason the term is practitioner now, and not therapist) , and if in the future you wish to become a sports therapist, the only progression route will be through university for 3 years.
Answers:
Last one I promise!
Once sports therapy is regulated and comes under the HPC banner, then a sports therapist will work with autonomy at all levels, something which is already filtering into sport at the moment.
A sports therapist will be better trained than a general trained physio (in sport), and the major sporting governing bodies have already recognised this, hence the reason why the amount of work for sports therapists will increase dramatically. AsI mentioned previously, the amount of work in private practice will also increase due to the fact that all the Health schemes will be able to re-imburse clients of sports therapists.
Answers:
Hi again,
just another thought, travel costs travelling to and from a 10 month course must be quite high, more expensive than accomodation for 4 weeks I wonder?
Gaz
Answers:
hi guys, thanks for all your advice. You have given me a lot of food for thought and am much nearer (finally!) to making a decision thanks to your input.
Answers:
Have you considered Raworth College in Dorking? www.Raworth.com
They are not cheap but offer possibly the most thorough courses.
http://www.raworth.com/sports_massage.html
http://www.raworth.com/sports_therapy.html
You can become a full member of the SMA and Society of Sports Therapists with the Raworth quals.
You have to go there for an interview before they consider you for enrollment btw.
Good luck with your decision.
Answers:
Very interesting reading. I am considering the LSSM course for next year and haven't before heard of AHG. I'd be interested to know more about this. I've looked on Google but couldn't find any info....
Thanks!
Jo
Please help! I recently completed an ITEC holistic massage course with a view to doing the ITEC sports massage course, which I am booked onto and starts this thursday (!!!!!). I had been given a very positive view of the ITEC sports course by severalpeople who had done the course and had no concerns that this may not be a suitable qualification. However,having recently stumbled across this fantastic forum - I am beginning to think thatI may have madea big mistake....and am slightly panicking[&:]
I have spoken to the SMA, who said that i could do the Itec level 3 course and top this up to a level 4 qualification by doing their exam and that this would be a perfectlyrespectable thing to do.This would make the whole training much more easily achievable for me due to travel, money and time ( i live out in the sticks in devon), but even with the advantage of the ITEC course being on my doorstep, I am unsure as to whether it issensiblefor me to consider this (would it be limiting?!) or whether I should go straight for an AHG/LSSM course .... I wouldbereally grateful for any advice you can offer me.
Plus,I am slightly confused about all the upcoming legislation, should i be looking to dosports therapy course over a massage course?
sorry for the long essay!, thanks a lotfor your time :)
Answers:
Hi anmadogo,
welcome to the sports therapy world! :):)
There are lots of decisions to make, and the first advice I would give is not to do the ITEC course, regardless of whether you can join SMA by doing an exam, which I completely disagree with anyway.
I personally dont think ITEC sports massage is anywhere good enough for the standard that is now required in this industry.
Regarding statutory regulations, yes these have been approved by the Health Professions Council, and what this will mean is that anyone having done an approved course in Sports Therapy (not sports massage), will have the chance to become a government regulated professional, with the same status as a physiotherapist, podiatrist etc. They will become 'allied medical professionals', instead of complementary therapists, which is how the medical profession sees them at the moment. It will also mean that instead of the public only being able to see a physio to claim back money on health schemes, they will be able to see sports therapists, which will vastly increase the workload of sports therapists.
One downside that I can forsee for sports massage practitioners is, with all this in mind, sports therapists (as they are trained in sports massage) will obtain the majority of the clients, regardless oftherapists being members of SMA/ISRM/LCSP etc.
Answers:
Fantastic:D
Thanks for the advice sportstherapy,that has made things a lot clearer for me and I definitely won't be doing the ITEC course!!
I am in the process ofphoning around course providers and was wondering if you thinkAPNT sports injury courses are worth looking at? (or are they in the same bracket as ITEC courses?).
Also, if I were to go down the sports therapy route are there any courses you would recommend. (when you say "an approved course in Sports Therapy" who is it approved by?)
Answers:
APNT accredited schools run mainly ITEC courses, so be wary of this.
Approved Sports Therapy courses are those recogised by either the Society of Sports Therapists or Sports Therapy Organisation.
ITEC/VTCT/Premier Sports Therapy courses are not recognised by these.
If you do a course that isnt recognised chances are you will be wasting your money. A few years ago I may have said to do it, and then gain experience and then maybe do a top up course, but because the 'application for the regulation of sports therapy' has been approved by the Health Professions Council, there isnt time to do this.
Unfortunately there are still a lot of training providers with their heads buried in the sand, who are taking training fees for these courses without giving reliable information.
Answers:
Thanks a lot for your help, I feel more confident in my understanding ofthe whole sports massage/therapy course minefield![sm=bouncy.gif]
I have finally narrowed down my options to theAHG intensive sports therapy courseor LSSM sports massage course.........decision time!!!! [sm=banghead.gif]
PS can anyone lend me £2000?!!!!!;)
Answers:
hi,
pleas read previous threads about both training providers and then make your own decision, I prefer AHg, but others prefer LSSM, think about the course format, I find intensive is better but can you get 1 month off? Then consider whether you will be limited by just doing sports massage,
after 1 year i felt i needed to know more and understand more about what was happening and why, then how I could address and fix the problem. ( but that is just me).
there are several people on here who contribute to these type of threads and I suppose we are all a little biased so look at the advice, speak at length to training providers to ascertainif their course will fulfill your expectationsthen make your own mind up about what you want, after all its your money!!!
best regards
Gaz
Answers:
There seem to be two significant differences between the AHG and LSSM courses:
1) The AHG course is an intensive one (you will need a month off work and away from any existing massage clients) whereas the LSSM course is spread over nine months (attending the college for ten weekends with a gap of three weeks or so in between)
2) ‘sports therapy’ (AHG) is a wider subject than ‘sport and remedial massage’ (LSSM). For example, ‘sports therapy’ includes subjects such as cryotherapy and taping, which aren’t included on the LSSM syllabus. I would suggest that you need to consider exactly what sort of work you want to do. If, for example, you intend working with a small village football or rugby club, then the extra skills which you will learn on a sports therapy course will be very useful. But if you want to work at a national league football club or a national athletics team, then you will be reporting to a physiotherapist, and will probably only require the sport/remedial massage skills which you can learn at LSSM (incidentally these skills include STR, MET, and basic joint assessment, which are very useful when dealing with footballers and runners and are what make AHG and LSSM stand out from other course providers). And if you only intend working in a small clinic, rather than travelling with a sports team, then again you will probably only need the sport/remedial massage skills rather than the ‘on-field’ skills which distinguish sports therapists from remedial massage therapists.
Regards
Alan
Answers:
I can only comment about the LSSM course as that is the one that I'm doing and I don't have any knowledge or experience of the other course.
Personally I have found the LSSM course to be excellent - I have used the skills I have learned to good effect, including MET and STR. I have also spoken to other therapists and they have said that the quality of work from those that have studied at the LSSM is usually of a very high standard. I have also had people compliment me on the treatments that I have given as well (and I will hopefully qualify in January).
That is an interesting point raised about other skills such as taping and strapping, etc which can be used in on-field scenarios. I am currently working with a local rugby club and this would be an ideal skill. However the way I plan to overcome this is to do it as part of my CPD and gradually move towards sports therapy.
Answers:
Hi,
just to clarify one thing, AHG runs three different course formats, not just an intensive one. This is to cater for everyones needs.
1) 20 day intensive
2) 10 weekend run over 11 consecutive weekends with a weekend break in the middle, or
3) 10 months, one weekend per month.
Answers:
I think one of the main things you have to hinge your decision on is whether you want to be part of a HPC regulated profession, with all the benefits this will bring.
A sports massage practitioner with extra CPD does not make you a sports therapist (hence the reason the term is practitioner now, and not therapist) , and if in the future you wish to become a sports therapist, the only progression route will be through university for 3 years.
Answers:
Last one I promise!
Once sports therapy is regulated and comes under the HPC banner, then a sports therapist will work with autonomy at all levels, something which is already filtering into sport at the moment.
A sports therapist will be better trained than a general trained physio (in sport), and the major sporting governing bodies have already recognised this, hence the reason why the amount of work for sports therapists will increase dramatically. AsI mentioned previously, the amount of work in private practice will also increase due to the fact that all the Health schemes will be able to re-imburse clients of sports therapists.
Answers:
Hi again,
just another thought, travel costs travelling to and from a 10 month course must be quite high, more expensive than accomodation for 4 weeks I wonder?
Gaz
Answers:
hi guys, thanks for all your advice. You have given me a lot of food for thought and am much nearer (finally!) to making a decision thanks to your input.
Answers:
Have you considered Raworth College in Dorking? www.Raworth.com
They are not cheap but offer possibly the most thorough courses.
http://www.raworth.com/sports_massage.html
http://www.raworth.com/sports_therapy.html
You can become a full member of the SMA and Society of Sports Therapists with the Raworth quals.
You have to go there for an interview before they consider you for enrollment btw.
Good luck with your decision.
Answers:
Very interesting reading. I am considering the LSSM course for next year and haven't before heard of AHG. I'd be interested to know more about this. I've looked on Google but couldn't find any info....
Thanks!
Jo