What is a career in massage really like once you leave the classroom and hit the clinic? Matthew Cleary, founding Director of Advanced Myotherapy in inner city suburb of Carlton commenced his studies at NMIT in 2001 and has since gone on to establish his highly successful Myotherapy business. Matthew and his team of therapists are highly sought after in the industry and have worked with organisations such as the AFL, South African Rugby Union team, professional sportspeople in the disciplines of gymnastics, ice hockey and boxing.
We spoke to Matthew about his fascinating career and find out what it takes to be successful in this industry.
What made you decide to choose Myotherapy as a career?
Myotherapy was a natural career choice for me as someone who first began working as a Remedial Therapist, discovering the impact it could have on people’s wellbeing. Helping people overcome debilitating pharmaceutical addictions to costly pain medications was a great inspiration. My mother worked in a Pharmacy for 43 years and establishing my first clinic in the adjoining Doctor’s surgery, allowed me to witness the needless dependence many people had on this type of treatment. Not only did I see the potential for an incredible long term financial benefit to people finding a natural solution to postural and lifestyle related musculoskeletal conditions, I became increasingly passionate about being able to contribute to a better quality of life for people.How does this differ from other massage careers?
Myotherapy has the advantage of more specialised training with regard to muscle health and injury recovery, especially longer term. Myotherapists are trained to a higher level than other Massage therapists as it requires more clinical knowledge for an educational approach in corrective self care understanding. Here lies the difference, where many Massage practitioners can merely offer treatment that will only suffice for a more temporary relief of pain symptoms.Tell us about some of your clients?
Working with the Brisbane Lions football club for ten years during their historical 3-peat premierships with consecutive grand finals, I gained incredible knowledge of the important role a therapist can have in helping people achieve a much better level of physical performance and injury recovery. Many of the clients that now come to my clinic are elite professional athletes from AFL players, to Ice Hockey teams, Soccer players and professional netball players. We treat many people for sports performance with a natural approach that promotes a greater self care and recovery awareness. Our patients also include many people who are referred from other health professionals such as Doctors, Neurosurgeons, Osteopaths, Chiropractors and the like for surgery prevention with natural drug free care.Is there much travel involved?
Our team of therapists all live very locally, although have originally come from the country for their studies and career. Melbourne is the leading city in Australia for Myotherapy as it is much colder and our lifestyle is much faster in pace than the warmer states. There is certainly more demand for more specialised muscle health care in the cooler climates. The demand for injury recovery and pain management in this city is much higher than elsewhere, as we are also the world’s sporting capital. So if you are in or near Melbourne, there is certainly not a great need for travel when it comes to work in the Myotherapy profession.What specialist equipment do you need to be a Myotherapist?
Though starting out as a mobile therapist, when I opened Advanced Myotherapy, It was important for me and the team to have electric tables so as to prevent muscular imbalances of our own. It’s important to have the table at the right height to avoid straining and injuring yourself as a therapist. Other than that, we have grown from a paper booking calendar to an online booking system which also saves our clients a lot of time being able to see therapists availability and booking appointments at any time of the day. This also allows for the phone to ring a lot less while we are in treatment, to keep the ambiance of a quiet practice.What advice can you give to budding Myotherapists?
Apply all of your knowledge and keep educating yourself. If you want success in anything you must live it, breathe it and love it. You will become infectious to others when you are passionate. Don’t be afraid to start out working hard. Business success is built on a solid foundation of commitment in hours, energy and time. You must have the experience if you want to gain the confidence that goes with getting results. This is what people respect. The experience comes from a willingness to start somewhere and not give up.Contact NMIT’s Personal Services department today to find out how you can start your career path in massage and myotherapy
