Quick! Why is this day, and every day this week, so special? What incredibly important field, medical treatment, and profession will be commemorated and celebrated all week?
That last question probably gave it away. The answer: massage therapy, of course! Every day, from July 18 to the 24, is special because it is ABMP’s National Massage Week (EveryBody Deserves a Massage Week). If you feel like a lazy or uninformed massage therapist for not knowing this, don’t worry: the event does not have a very large Web presence or general buzz about it. Indeed, searching for information about the week and events planned around it is extremely difficult.
And that’s really a shame as some of the information I was able to find make it seem like the idea of National Massage Week could be a very good one. Indeed, there are examples across the country (from Truckee, CA, Ozark, MO, and Fargo, ND) of businesses using the week to promote their business and the field of massage therapy in general.
The difficulty of trying to find other events that celebrate massage therapy in such a way, offering a broad, nationwide appeal, made me think that people should get behind the National Massage Week effort. The idea of celebrating and bringing more awareness to the world of massage therapy in a nationwide celebration, either through ABMP’s National Massage Week or some other yet-to-be-founded/discovered event is something all therapists and massage enthusiasts should embrace.
So spread the word about National Massage Week this week: If you know of some events happening locally, let people know about them through your own digital networks or by posting information in our comments section below. If there are other festivals, celebrations, or events that deserve notice, local or national, please leave us a comment so we can discover and get behind them. While National Massage Week and the World Massage Festival are good efforts, more should be done to get popular, nationwide events established that will celebrate the many benefits that massage therapy brings to the world.