7 Useful Safety and Sanitation Tips for a Massage Practice

At the beginning of 2020, thousands of businesses, including massage therapy providers, shut down their doors due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, plenty of massage therapy providers have resumed working and opened their doors again. Regardless of that, some concerns remain. Massage business owners are still highly concerned regarding the health and safety of customers, therapists, and employees.

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Even though it’s impossible to go back to the way things were functioning before the pandemic, there are some new ways to work in the massage business. There have been some new safety and sanitation tips emerging regarding the health and safety of customers, and you must ensure that you follow each of them.

Acquire Professional Help to Ensure Your Business Is Safe

As a massage professional your job is to heal and treat pain from injuries and also to help people who’ve worked hard to relax. The service you provide is precious for your clients and maintains their welfare.

However, same with any other business, things may not always go according to your plan. An unsatisfied client claiming your services caused them pain, or an employee falling over and injuring themselves while on work can happen to any business.

When things like these escalate, they may cause some serious problems in your daily operations. That’s why it’s crucial to have massage business insurance in place for your business. That way you’ll be able to quickly recover from the financial burden of an unexpected liability.

Properly Prepare Your Working Space

It’s common practice to prepare a room for the client, but now more than before, concentrate on fully cleaning it in between every appointment. It means wiping down all surfaces, applying disinfectant to all surfaces, and eliminating all the unnecessary items from the room.

Furthermore, prepare all the massage oils or lotions in tiny plastic cups. That way the therapists will repeatedly touch only clean surfaces.

Practice Proper Hygiene

Although some massage therapists might go directly for gloves, hand washing is better for keeping clients and therapists safe.

Despite this isn’t a new protocol, washing hands for 25 seconds with lukewarm water and soap before and after therapy is an efficient way to eradicate spreading germs.

You can also review cleaning products for their efficacy in fighting germs and bacteria. See the EPA’s full list for authorized products that are able to kill the coronavirus on surfaces.

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Wear Adequate Personal Protective Equipment

Today wearing a mask is part of the new normal. Especially when being in close contact with somebody, it’s an essential safety measure. Massage therapists must always wear a mask while working.

Equally, it should be mandatory for clients as well to wear masks in order to minimize exposure. In case clients are unable to wear masks, then the massage therapist should wear a face shield along with the mask.

Reorganize Your Area

Prioritization of the health and safety of your clients is vital. This means making certain environmental modifications. So, take an environmental scan of your office space. Get rid of the furniture in your lobby or limit the number of seating to adapt to appropriate social distance.

Get rid of anything from the lobby space that clients can touch like magazines or similar. Anything they touch demands additional sanitization between every appointment. Put hand sanitizers in every room. You can also assess airflow. For instance, HEPA filters can maintain airflow and provide peace of mind to both therapists and clients.

Spread Out Appointments

While you are in the business of helping people, you need to consider scaling back the number of appointments at the same time. Rather than having a crowded lobby, spread out appointments to reduce crowding in your building.

Plenty of health care service providers are reducing check-in to one client at a time. Most of them ask clients to text the receptionist or therapist after the arrival and wait outside until advised to enter. That also helps with knowing who exactly enters the building and at what time.

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Limit Conversations

People are naturally social beings, however, in this case, it would be best to limit talking. By doing so, you will control the number of droplets spread in the room. One way to reduce discussions is to encourage clients to relax and enjoy a silent massage. You can also carry out intake screenings and questions via phone to limit talking in the lobby and the massage rooms.

Conclusion

Regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the safety and sanitation tips we mentioned are normal and have applied for quite some time now in the massage business. However, the new ones you must apply accordingly if you want to continue to operate safely during the ongoing pandemic.