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By Maria Borri

Apache Sports Editor

IVCCs therapeutic massage students will be celebrating Therapeutic Massage Awareness Week by giving massages at the Peru Mall on Oct. 27. The free individual seated massage sessions will be available near Centre Court from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"Massage: It Really Works" is the theme for this year's national celebration which began Oct. 22.

Cherie Weber, program director, said studies have shown therapeutic massage benefits people physically, emotionally, mentally and energetically. It is a growing profession within the health care field.

IVCCs students provided free seated massage in the main lobby of the college on Oct. 23 to make people on campus more aware of the profession and the benefits.

In addition to increasing awareness, Weber is also working to improve the professional stature of the field. On Oct. 26 she will be testifying before an Illinois Senate committee that is considering a Massage Therapy Licensing Act.

The Illinois House has already passed a bill that requires all massage therapists to be licensed. Therapists would have to pass an exam to qualify.

"I think licensure will give more credibility to those students and assure the public that massage therapists have met a minimum requirement of credit hours and knowledge," Weber said.

"The college supports this bill," she continued.

The House version of the bill passed 115-3, and Weber thinks the Senate will go along.

"The bill stands a good chance because there is no money involved," Weber said, adding that 30 states currently have some form of licensing.

Weber said licensing is one aspect of legitimizing the field. Setting strict professional standards for her students when they are working as therapists is another.

Those professional standards include meeting a dress code, covering body art, removing jewelry and piercings, keeping fingernails short and polish free, avoiding colognes, and avoiding smoke.

Some of those standards are for the safety of the student, Weber said, using the example of jewelry that might catch.

Other standards are to set a professional tone, being sensitive to the impression a therapist may make on a client.

"This is a very conservative area," Weber said. "Massage has been very slow getting started here."

"I've had some students withdraw from my introduction course because they wouldn't cut their finger nails or remove their piercings," she said.

The three-year-old Therapeutic Massage certificate program currently has 22 students enrolled. Available to part-time and full-time students, the courses are currently being offered three evenings a week and on Saturdays.

"This year is going great," said Weber. "We have a waiting list for the pre-admission course."

Classes offered to a beginning student for pre-admission into the 34-hour program are Introduction to Therapeutic Massage, Medical Terminology, and Strategies for College.

Three sections of the one-hour Introduction to Therapeutic Massage course are being offered this semester and an additional four sections will be offered in the spring.

This class meets one night a week for six four-hour sessions.

The introduction course provides an overview of basic Swedish massage techniques and is open to all students, not just those who plan on making a career in therapeutic massage. Weber said some students take it because they have family members who need massage therapy and some just take it for fun. She estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of the students in the introduction course are interested in massage as a career.

Once the student is enrolled in the program, during the fall semester they take Therapeutic Massage Techniques I, The Human Body, and Professional Development and Ethics (Anatomy and Phisiology). Basic techniques are taught in the massage class.

The spring semester consists of Therapuetic Massage Techniques II, Musculoskeletal System, and Therapeutic Massage Clinical I Seminar. The Massage Techniques II class offers one hour massages for $20.

The summer and final semester includes Therapeutic Massage Techniques III, Therapeutic Massage Business Practices-Marketing and Ethics, and Therapeutic

Massage Clinical II Seminar. In the second clinical class, students have to perform a full body massage properly and based upon the client's needs.