Determined to achieve some real benefits from the Covid crisis we have been doing a lot of work to continue the evolution of our training programme.
We are putting the main lectures and talks that were delivered in the classroom onto video presentations that students can watch as often as they need and whenever they want. This frees up extra classroom time for more supervised hands-on practice as well as more rehabilitation and clinical reasoning skills, because being a Soft Tissue Therapist is much more than just doing massage.
But an even more significant development is in the update of our syllabus.
We will now include the principles of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) because it is important for us to be aligned with best practice in modern healthcare and have recognised the need to update the narrative around how Soft Tissue Therapy works.
As part of EBP principles the ISRM training will be underpinned by the Biopsychosocial framework which has always been present in the ISRM ethos and indeed it is the secret ingredient that has brought great success to therapists who have worked this way. But now we want to make it an integral part of our programme, so all our Soft Tissue Therapists will assess and treat a person with injury or pain through this more effective process.
The ISRM Soft Tissue Therapy (BTEC Level 5) qualification represents the best Vocational Qualification in the UK within the massage and manual therapy industry. It creates true professionals who are so much more than just Sports Massage Therapists.
We want to make this level of clinical excellence more easily available to therapists already working in the field. To do this we now intend to run Upgrade courses especially for experienced Massage therapists who want to move up to this new level of clinical practice. Click here for full details.
Government’s Covid legislation has not prevented education or travelling to and from it. This could be because educational facilities are much better able to control their environment. We work closely with our local venues to make sure we meet all the necessary regulations and operate in a safe environment. With sensible organisation we can achieve social distancing. We have plenty of sanitisers and everyone has to wear a face covering in the building and wear visors when working in close contact (hands-on). This may not be ideal but it has worked better than we expected and it is something we have unfortunately got used.
We keep students fully informed about any information that may affect them and make all possible allowances for the changing situation. You can contact the individual school for their local and most up to date protocols.
Tier 4 ONLY Latest regulations now include massage therapy (which we are allied to) on the list of close contact services which are not allo wed, so we have to suspend face to face classes in this situation. To help students through this most difficult time we have over 30 of our own online training videos to watch and all written assignments can be done online. Hopefully such extreme lockdowns do not last long and the schools can reschedule the classes in the best way possible.
During these difficult times it is hard, or impossible, for students to practice their skills outside the classroom. In response, we are now doing more talks and lectures online so we can have more classroom time doing supervised hands-on practice.
Our primary aim is to train students well but this needs practice. If towards the end of a course the lockdown circumstances have prevented a student from getting enough practice, we can give them more time or try to provide extra classroom practice sessions. Whatever the circumstances we will always aim to provide the very best training, because our reputation depends on it.
ISRM has been consulting with Health and Safety experts and working hard and to give the best advice and support to our members during the Coronavirus lockdown.
As the leader and pioneer of Sports Massage and Soft Tissue Therapy since 1989 we believe it is our duty to share our expertise with the whole industry so we offer these documents, free to download, for all hands-on therapists.
Hands-on Therapist - Return to Practice (Preliminary Guidence).pdf
Return to Practice Documentation
Other Coronavirus related information sent to our members
UK Government's COVID-19 recovery plan
If you have a Level 3 or 4 qualification in Sports Massage, or equivalent, and are interested in upgrading to a BTEC Level 5 in Soft Tissue Therapy:
BTEC Level 5 Upgrade course information