Looking for a massage place

[relyt92]

Hey guys, I'm looking to find a good massage place with RMT's. This is for lower back pain, and am looking for somebody who does deep tissue massages or similar ones that aren't afraid to use a bit of force. I did a search of the forum but most of the results are fairly old, and I don'\t know what places have/haven't changed since those threads so I figured I'd start my own. Ideally I'd like a place that's located east of deerfoot, south of mcknight and north of peigan, but I'm willing to drive for a good place.

Thanks in advance.

[G-ZUS]

Not sure if you want a male or female but there is a guy on 52st and 44 Ave NE called Hitman Massage

[Cos]

.

[BlueTurboShark]

I go to beacon hill (Jade Prince) but she very booked up too or inner balance spa (Anna Dolan) on 10th by Kensington but she only works wed-thur so she books up fast too.

[rob the knob]

for insure, rules change recent.
be sure you can be cover for insure.



Massage therapists upset by insurance companies setting standard for billing


BY MEGHAN POTKINS, CALGARY HERALD JULY 26, 2012

38

STORYPHOTOS ( 1 )



Adam Pike is a massage therapist with Massage Heights in Calgary.
Photograph by: Grant Black , Calgary Herald
CALGARY — A new insurance standard for massage therapy has some Alberta masseurs feeling rubbed the wrong way.

Major insurers are moving toward a policy of refusing claims from massage therapists who have less than 2,200 hours of formal education or equivalent training, leaving some longtime practitioners out in the cold.

Sunlife is refusing claims from therapists who don’t meet the standard, and Manulife will implement a similar policy this October. Alberta Blue Cross said it will follow suit in May.

Calgary masseur Adam Pike said he could lose up to half his clients with the change.

“I’m worried. At first I thought I’d have to get another job. I’d be looking at losing probably half of my clients,” said Pike, who trained for 11 months at CDI College and now maintains a steady stable of clients at Massage Heights clinic in Calgary.

“It’s sad. This is going to take a lot of good people out of the industry.”

There are an estimated 5,000 masseurs operating in Alberta, most of whom have trained anywhere from 100 to 2,200 hours.

Alberta’s industry — unlike B.C., Ontario and Newfoundland where massage therapy is a recognized health profession — isn’t regulated and is populated by practitioners with varying amounts of training.

Insurers say the 2,200-hour policy — the equivalent of a two-year diploma program — will bring the industry in-line with other jurisdictions.

“The requirement of 2,200 hours of formal education, or competency equivalent, is the standard that has been adopted by provinces where massage therapy is a regulated profession and, increasingly, by the health benefit industry in Alberta,” said Susan Bramm, of Alberta Blue Cross.

Both Sunlife and Manulife say they decided to implement the standard absent any rules set by a professional college.

But the new standard could also make it more difficult for the public to find a massage therapist whose services can be billed to insurance,

“Potentially, the number of recognized practitioners could decrease substantially and that may affect access,” said Chandra Kastern, spokesperson for the Massage Therapist Association of Alberta (MTAA).

But Kastern added that the new standard could also cut down on massage services that don’t properly qualify as therapeutic.

“It all comes down to the quality of care that the public receives from practitioners. Right now, they are getting a rainbow of things that may or may not be massage therapy,” Kastern said. “There’s been no standard to strap on a shingle and say you’re a registered massage therapist.”

Still, some industry leaders worry that insurers are using the standard to deny payouts and that the rules can unfairly penalize competent masseurs.

“Someone who has been in practice for years, who has education, could be refused. It’s not fair,” said Eric Morin, a spokesperson for the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada (NHPC).

Veteran masseuse Lucinda Pearce said several of her patients’ claims have been denied in recent months.

“Sunlife changed their standards and all of a sudden my regular clients started getting refused their receipts. The reason they were given was that I didn’t meet the qualifications,” said Pearce, who has been in business for six years and estimates that she has 150 regular clients. “It was unprofessional and embarrassing.