Interview/Assessment Questions

As few months ago I published a blog article here about why RMTs do a client interview and assessment prior to starting a treatment.  It seemed to resonate with a lot of people so I figured I'd expand this topic a little bit to the more specific questions I ask for all follow up appointments.  If you'd like to take a peek at the original article, you can check it out here.  On your first treatment we go over your health history and do an assessment if it is needed to have a starting point to measure your progress, or if things worsen to have a better idea of what can be done differently for future treatments.  When we get into subsequent treatments, I ask these three questions (or some variation of them).  So here they are:

Question #1: How were you feeling after your last massage?

I ask this question because you are my main source of information regarding how the treatment is working.  Some clients notice a difference right away, some it takes a few seeing to notice anything and others don't notice any change at all.  This question helps guide the conversation to see what needs to be changed for the treatment to be successful.  If you felt great, say so - we love hearing that we've made a positive impact on your life!  If you were sore for a long time, your symptoms worsen or the treatment wasn't what you were expecting, this question gives you an opportunity to say that without feeling bad.  I want you to feel like you are getting the most out of your care (I sound like a broken record but communication is ESSENTIAL), so if you feel otherwise we can change the massage treatment or I can refer you to someone who may be able to provide better care.

Question # 2: Has anything changed since your last treatment?

In the perfect world, right after your treatment you could step into a pod and not be stressed or lift anything heavy/incorrectly and preserve your body.  But life happens.  Things start to change the second you get off the table and start moving again, or you think about the seemingly endless to-do list and start feeling a little bit stressed (because you're so relaxed from your awesome massage).  Your body can handle changes both good and bad.  If you were to experience zero emotional, physical and mental stress you wouldn't need massage therapy.  But things change all the time.  This question is key because I want to know what, if anything has changed since your last treatment.  Those changes may not seem relevant but sometimes they can affect your treatment plan. You could have a new injury that may require us to treat areas we don't normally treat (or a referral for someone better qualified to take care of you), or be on new medications that may require alterations to the techniques or postponing the treatment if your health would be at risk.   All of which play a huge role in determining your treatment plan.

Question # 3: What would you like to work on today?

This is probably the most important question of the three.  This is your treatment, so I want to know what you'd like to get out of the session.  Most of the time it will be "the usual", meaning continuing on our previous treatment plan.  But like I mentioned in the previous section life happens.  For example, our treatment plan could be working on releasing some trigger points to help increase your range of motion but you could have has a stressful week at work, or a family emergency and you just want to take some time to power down.  In these cases, a relaxation massage would be great because instead of being sore from the tissues being released on top of your emotional stress, you'd be feeling very relaxed and the tissues may let go naturally instead of the using mechanical pressure to make loosen the soft tissues.  Sometimes your treatment goals change, in either the short term or the long term.  What I'm more concerned about is what are you hoping to get out of the session.

If you've been seeing me for a while, you may already be used to answering these questions, but I hope this can give you a bit of a background as to why I ask them.

Thank you for stopping by today and  I hope you have a great weekend!

If you'd like to learn more, please feel free to check out the Standards of Practice below, or you can ask me!

http://www.cmto.com/about-the-profession/standards-of-practice/