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What's Happening at the RMTAO
Your Membership and Insurance Expires in Less Than Two Weeks
If you haven't renewed already, your membership and insurance  expires in less than two weeks on September 30, 2020. Log in and renew today!
If you renew your insurance through the Trisura Portal, you get a $5 discount on insurance as well as access to a free unlimited legal consultation.
Show your support as we chart a new course for the massage therapy profession, focusing on helping the Canadian Massage Therapist Alliance (CMTA) in their continued fight for tax exemption, advocating to the provincial government for the inclusion of massage therapy in more team health care initiatives, building relationships with insurance companies to ensure that massage therapy continues to be fairly covered, facilitating the creation of future research and meeting regularly with the CMTO to bring your concerns to the forefront.
In addition to representation and support, there are a lot of practical benefits to being an RMTAO member, including record keeping resources, guidelines and toolkits, and materials you can share with your patients to market your practice.
Sharing Your Self-Care Videos
Many RMTs already have videos that they share on their websites, on their social media channels, or with their patients directly to give their patients advice on helpful at-home exercise or other self-care strategies.
Do you already have that type of video, and you've always wanted it to reach a wider audience? During Massage Therapy Awareness Week at the end of October, we hope to share videos created by our members explaining at-home exercises for patients, or other topics relating to massage therapy.
We know many members have already created this type of video, so if you have one, or if you feel like making one, send it to us! Just have the video uploaded on YouTube (private for now if you want), and we'd be happy to take a look.
Together we can help spread the word about how massage therapy can help people reduce their pain and get back to doing what they love.
To send a video or for more information, email Laura Fixman, Manager of Communications, at laura@rmtao.com.
The Importance of Exercise for Pain Management
One in five Canadians suffer from chronic pain. When also considering acute injuries, it is likely that most Canadians will experience some sort of pain in their lifetime. Now, more than ever, physicians are recommending that people try non-pharmacological therapies to deal with their chronic pain.
In addition to offering hands-on manual therapy options, Registered Massage Therapists can recommend a remedial exercise routine that can help you effectively reduce your pain and get back to doing the activities you love.
Read more...
Connect Through Community-Based Networks
The RMTAO facilitates Community-Based Networks (CBNs) to give RMTs the opportunity to connect with their local peers to discuss practice questions, network and seek advice.
There are active CBNs across Ontario that regularly hold meetings on a variety of topics. All Ontario RMTs and massage therapy students are welcome to attend.
CBNs continue to meet virtually, and have been doing so since the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, to discuss new practice requirements and help guide their peers through this new reality, and they are a great venue to discuss the latest development in the massage therapy profession.
You can contact your CBN coordinator to suggest meeting topics. If you don’t see a CBN in your area, you can contact Christian Hall, Member Services Coordinator at christian@rmtao.com in order to start one.
View a list of active Community Based Networks
Program Spotlight: TELUS
As part of RMTAO membership, you get access to discounts on new phones and phone plans through TELUS.
As a benefit of RMTAO membership, TELUS is offering you:
- Eligible devices starting from $0
- 30% discount on your monthly bill on selected 2 year plans
- Bonus data when you share your data with a tablet from as low as $10/month
- Add a line and receive a bill credit for each line for up to 9 friends/family preferred monthly rate plans
- An up to $450 device subsidy is available on select smartphones.
If you have any questions about the TELUS rate plans, call: 1-844-888-4440 or email epp@telus.com, and a TELUS representative would be happy to help!
Read more about the TELUS discount program...
Member Question of the Week
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I've already renewed, so how can I access my insurance coverage certificate?
If you purchased your insurance directly through the RMTAO, which would typically mean you purchased your insurance all in one transaction, you can download your insurance certificate by logging into the RMTAO website and clicking on My Insurance Coverage Certificates on the left side of your screen.
If you purchased your insurance through the Trisura Portal, you can download your insurance certificate by logging in to the Trisura Portal and clicking on Insurance Already Purchased.
You will need the information on your insurance coverage certificate to renew your registration with the CMTO.
Do you have a question? Email info@rmtao.com
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Business Tip of the Week
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Create Psychological Safety in Your Virtual Meetings
Teams do their best work when people feel they can raise questions, concerns, and ideas without fear of repercussion. But this psychological safety can be hard to create in virtual meetings, where detecting nonverbal social cues can be difficult and distractions are everywhere. The good news is that videoconferencing offers some simple but effective tools to help. Your software probably has a polling function that can give everyone on the team an opportunity to be heard. You can even make these polls anonymous to help people express their feelings and opinions without fear of being singled out. Similarly, encourage your team to use the chat function if they're more comfortable contributing nonverbally. And think about whether every meeting needs to be a video meeting — a classic conference call may allow for better listening and make people feel less self-conscious. But if you do choose audio-only, be sure not to interpret silence as agreement. Follow up with a summary of the meeting to make sure that everyone is on the same page — and check in individually with anyone who seemed disengaged or reticent to contribute.
Adapted from ““How to Foster Psychological Safety in Virtual Meetings,” by Amy C. Edmondson and Gene Daley
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Research Article of the Week
Clinician and Patient-reported Outcomes Are Associated With Psychological Factors in Patients With Chronic Shoulder Pain
Background: Validated clinician outcome scores are considered less associated with psychosocial factors than patient-reported outcome measurements (PROMs). This belief may lead to misconceptions if both instruments are related to similar factors.
Questions: We asked: In patients with chronic shoulder pain, what biopsychosocial factors are associated (1) with PROMs, and (2) with clinician-rated outcome measurements?
Methods: All new patients between the ages of 18 and 65 with chronic shoulder pain from a unilateral shoulder injury admitted to a Swiss rehabilitation teaching hospital between May 2012 and January 2015 were screened for potential contributing biopsychosocial factors. During the study period, 314 patients were screened, and after applying prespecified criteria, 158 patients were evaluated. The median symptom duration was 9 months (interquartile range, 5.5-15 months), and 72% of the patients (114 patients) had rotator cuff tears, most of which were work injuries (59%, 93 patients) and were followed for a mean of 31.6 days (SD, 7.5 days). Exclusion criteria were concomitant injuries in another location, major or minor upper limb neuropathy, and inability to understand the validated available versions of PROMs. The PROMs were the DASH, the Brief Pain Inventory, and the Patient Global Impression of Change, before and after treatment (physiotherapy, cognitive therapy and vocational training). The Constant-Murley score was used as a clinician-rated outcome measurement. Statistical models were used to estimate associations between biopsychosocial factors and outcomes.
Results: Greater disability on the DASH was associated with psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale combined coefficient, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.25-1.03; p = 0.002) and social factors (language, professional qualification combined coefficient, -6.15; 95% CI, -11.09 to -1.22; p = 0.015). Greater pain on the Brief Pain Inventory was associated with psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale combined coefficient, 0.076; 95% CI, 0.021-0.13; p = 0.006). Poorer impression of change was associated with psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia coefficient, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87-0.99; p = 0.026) and social factors (education, language, and professional qualification coefficient, 6.67; 95% CI, 2.77-16.10; p < 0.001). Worse clinician-rated outcome was associated only with psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (depression only), Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia combined coefficient, -0.35; 95% CI, -0.58 to -0.12; p = 0.003).
Conclusion: Depressive symptoms and catastrophizing appear to be key factors influencing PROMs and clinician-rated outcomes. This study suggests revisiting the Constant-Murley score.
Wolfensberger, A., Vuistiner, P., Konzelmann, M., Plomb-Holmes, C., Léger, B., & Luthi, F. (2016). Clinician and Patient-reported Outcomes Are Associated With Psychological Factors in Patients With Chronic Shoulder Pain. Clinical orthopaedics and related research, 474(9), 2030–2039.
Read the full article...
The Learning Curve - The RMTAO Education Series
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The Learning Curve - The RMTAO Education Series
The Learning Curve provides education to massage therapists in a variety of hands-on workshops and lecture-based seminars across Ontario focused on three main areas-Competency, Business, and Modality. The Continuing Education Program is designed to help massage therapists increase their knowledge base to continuously improve for both their own personal success and that of the client.
Click here for more information about the courses that are offered by the RMTAO.
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Upcoming Community Networks and Related Activities
The RMTAO has created a feature on RMTAO.com for Community Networks. Members and non-members can access information about the latest upcoming network activities on our list of upcoming events!Don't see a Community Based Network near you? You can contact Christian Hall at christian@rmtao.com to learn more about starting one!
North Bay Community-Based Network
Date: October 1, 2020
Time: 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Location: Virtual. This meeting is exclusively for RMTs and massage therapy students in North Bay and the surrounding area. Contact Kelsey Quinn for details on how to access the meeting.
Topic: This will be a round 2 of re-opening and is open to RMTs and RMT students in North Bay and Parry Sound district only to keep the agenda tight and focus on northern practice. This meeting will be via Zoom.
Contact: Kelsey Quinn , info@breatheinwellness.ca
Read more about the meeting
Niagara Community-Based Network
Date: October 1, 2020
Time: 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Location: Virtual. This meeting is exclusively for RMTs and massage therapy students in Niagara and the surrounding area. Contact Don Dillon for details on how to access the meeting.
Contact: Don Dillon , relief@dondillon.ca
Read more about the meeting |
A new pilot program in rural Ontario is providing health-care services to thousands of people who don't have family doctors — and much of it is being done remotely, partly as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more...
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