How To Become A Massage Therapy Instructor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a massage therapy instructor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Massage therapy instructors train students who want to become massage therapists. While massage therapy can be very beneficial, it can also seriously injure patients if done incorrectly, which is why massage therapists usually need to take classes and pass a licensing exam before they can start working. Massage therapy instructors prepare students to become licensed massage therapists.

Massage therapist instructors need to know a lot about massage to teach their students about different techniques and how to perform massages safely. They also need to be excellent teachers and communicators to prepare effective lesson plans, answer student questions, and offer additional help if a student needs it.

Massage therapy instructors need to be licensed massage therapists themselves with several years of experience before leading a class of impressionable students. Other requirements vary from state to state and person to person. Some massage therapy instructors have bachelor's degrees; others do not. Some may need to get a license in adult education, depending on their state. Massage therapy instructors earn an average salary of $73,654 a year.

ScoreMassage Therapy InstructorUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,616

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.9

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 11.26%

Black or African American 7.20%

Hispanic or Latino 10.25%

Unknown 4.94%

White 66.08%

Gender

female 69.42%

male 30.58%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

6.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.1

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a massage therapy instructor

Explore massage therapy instructor education requirements

Most common massage therapy instructor degrees

Bachelor's

33.9 %

Associate

21.8 %

Diploma

16.1 %

Start to develop specific massage therapy instructor skills

Skills	Percentages
Anatomy	9.23%
Physiology	9.23%
Respiratory Therapy	8.66%
Course Materials	8.29%
Curriculum Development	8.06%

Complete relevant massage therapy instructor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New massage therapy instructors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a massage therapy instructor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real massage therapy instructor resumes.

Research massage therapy instructor duties and responsibilities

Plan and deliver instruction and mentor to achieve specific objectives base upon establish curriculum in anatomy, physiology and massage therapy.
Instruct classes on deep tissue, kinesiology, Swedish massage and structural integration technique.
Instruct on specific massage modalities to include Swedish, sports massage, neuromuscular techniques, connective tissue manipulation and acupressure.
Implement a detail, student- orient curriculum base on anatomy & physiology and basic massage techniques.

Prepare your massage therapy instructor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your massage therapy instructor resume.

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