Key Point

• Avoid giving advice on personal problems and issues that may be out of your scope.

Have you ever been asked for advice by a client? Most massage therapists have. Whether we give it should depend on if it’s outside our scope of practice and how it could affect the therapeutic relationship. Consider these scenarios:

• Client No. 1 says, “I won the bid for the pie you baked for the animal shelter auction. It was delicious! How do you get your pie crust so flaky?”

• Client No. 2 says, “I notice my leg pain worsens when I sit at my desk for a long time. What should I do?”

• Client No. 3 says, “I think my husband is cheating on me! On the way here, I saw him going into La Bistro with a woman!”

• Client No. 4 says, “My doctor just diagnosed me with . He wants me to take  treatment, but I’d rather do something natural. What would you recommend?” 

Obviously, it’s not an ethics violation to tell a client a pie crust recipe. And it’s within our scope of practice to suggest to the client they get up from the desk and stretch their legs several times a day. But when a client asks our advice on personal matters, that’s when we need to refrain from giving our opinions. There’s a power differential at play in the treatment room; clients often view us as more than we are. We’re massage therapists—not doctors or psychologists. 

In spite of good intentions, giving advice on personal problems can backfire. Let’s say you give Client No. 3 the number of your divorce attorney and tell her she ought to take her husband to the cleaners. That evening when her husband gets home, she makes a big scene and threatens him with divorce, only to find out the new CEO of his company took him to lunch to offer him a promotion. The client jumped to conclusions, and so did you.  

In the case of Client No. 4, we should never prescribe. We may be familiar with herbs, supplements, oils, or other alternative treatments, but we should never cross the line of disparaging physicians and their prescribed treatments. The more serious the client’s condition, the more important it is for us to avoid the urge to give advice. If your client says they stubbed their toe right before leaving home, it’s not an ethics violation to offer them a pillow to prop it on and an ice pack to soothe it, but recommending something in place of a physician’s prescribed treatment is outside our scope of practice. The correct answer in that case is, “I’m sorry to hear you’re dealing with that, but it’s outside my area of expertise and my scope of practice. I can’t advise you on that. But you could always seek a second opinion from another professional.”