trained in side-lying pregnancy massage and find it a most enjoyable experience for both mother and myself. I receive satisfaction in knowing my clients feel relief and relaxed when they leave. I see women at all stages of pre- and postnatal, and obviously vary the techniques and specifics depending on what stage of pregnancy they are at. William Cornwill massagemag.com/linkedingroup Reader Feedback MASSAGE Magazine Social Networking HOW’S BUSINESS? I’m wondering if MASSAGE Magazine could run a survey on the current massage market to see how other massage therapists around the country are doing financially. My business of 18-plus years has been steady up until late this past fall, and for no apparent reason has seen a steady decline. I’m wondering if the market is down for everyone, if it’s just regional, whether lowering my prices would bring clients back, or whether there is something else going on—such as a new therapist that is providing better quality services or lower prices. I have not had lulls like this for well over a decade. I’m curious what the market is doing right now across the rest of the country. Are other therapists seeing fewer clients than they were? Are others having to lower their rates to stay afloat? Is there another economic downturn occurring? Thank you for your help! Candace Via email EDITOR’S NOTE: Readers may weigh in on Candace’s questions by sending an email to edit@massagemag. com—or by participating in our online discussions on LinkedIn (massagemag. com/linkedingroup) or Facebook (facebook.com/massagemagazine). THANK YOU Thanks so much for letting me work with your website on [my] article, “9 Ways an Outdoor Digital Sign Makes Massage Advertising Easy” (massagemag.com/outdoorsign). Your layout and embedded hyperlinks really make this a first-class posting. I appreciate being associated with your organization. Sarah Robison Danville, Illinois | www.massagemag.com | September 2015 | MASSAGE Magazine | 17 18 | MASSAGE Magazine | September 2015 | www.massagemag.com | A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released July 30 shows that 53 million, or 22 percent, of American adults are disabled. Among disabled people, mobility problems—“defined as serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs,” the report noted, are most prevalent, and such problems account for 13 percent of all adult disabilities. Disabled adults may be ideal candidates for massage therapy, as the flexibility and pain relief effected by massage could benefit range of motion and mobility; however, disabled people are often not encouraged to visit massage therapists, according to massage therapist Gary Tyler, Jr., who specializes in working with a disabled and geriatric clientele. “I feel the biggest obstacle that a disabled person encounters, is that many times they are not getting the help they need because movement is not always very easy for them,” Tyler told MASSAGE Magazine. “I find many clients in wheelchairs that have to have 24-hour care, so getting to an office can be very challenging for them.” Because of that, a massage therapist who wants to work with disabled clients must be flexible in terms of locale and ways of working, Tyler said, and willing to provide massage therapy on-site. “Often, when we work with people with disabilities, we are working with them in a wheelchair, a bed or other device,” he said. “When you work on a person with a disability, you have to look outside the box.” In addition to mobility-related disability, the other disabilities highlighted in the CDC report, Prevalence of Disability and Disability Type Among Adults— United States, 2013 were related to cognition, vision, the ability to live independently, and the ability to practice self-care such as bathing and dressing. The report and graphics may be viewed or downloaded at cdc. gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/ features/key-findingscommunity-prevalence.html. “I would never call massaging a disabled person a challenge so much, but an opportunity to help a person in pain,” said Tyler, who sees clients with conditions including Parkinson’s disease, dementia, cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis at his South Windsor, Connecticut, practice, Total Touch Therapeutic Massage LLC. “Also, having experience and an understanding of disabled people helps to make them feel as comfortable as possible,” he added. “That is my goal when working on any client.” —Karen Menehan Massage schools in the U.S. are facing challenges— diminished enrollments among them; however, commitment to creating top-notch school curricula, first-rate educators and well-trained new therapists is unwavering among the profession’s leaders. This was evidenced at a recent gathering of 215 massage school owners, educators, school directors and representatives from massage organizations and businesses, who met to discuss, and create plans for, massage education. The Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE) and Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation co-hosted the 2015 Educational Congress July 23–25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (MASSAGE Magazine was one of many congress sponsors.) Organizations represented at the congress, some which held their board meetings on-site, included the Massage