Scope of profession - sports massage
1 - Introduction
2 - Background
3 - Scope of profession
4 - The scope of practice of the individual sports massage practitioner
5 - Seeking advice
The development of the scope of profession of a Sports Massage Practitioner is a dynamic process. This process has produced the embryonic profession we have today and must be allowed to continue. Growth must be based on evidence and research and have the best interest of the public at heart.
A defined scope of profession must support newly qualified Sports Massage Practitioners and set a basis of understanding for the public. However, a scope of profession must not be so rigid that it restricts opportunity and innovation for both individuals and the profession. It is, therefore, not appropriate for the profession to list skills or modalities that are available or practiced, as this will stagnate the profession and prevent development of practice.
To ensure that Sports Massage remains current, there needs to be a framework in place to assist Sports Massage Practitioners in their practice. This will be both in the initial post qualification period, when skills and knowledge are consolidated, and at the frontier of the profession where members may be practicing in innovative ways. New practitioners need to be encouraged to establish skills and experience in foundation skills before taking their expertise into new areas.
The Sports Massage Association (SMA) is responsible for developing the profession, assisting members to define and develop their career, and at the same time aiming to protect the public at all times. Sports Performance Services (SPS) Ltd aims to highlight and promote the contribution of Sports Massage Practitioners and Sports Massage in current and emerging roles.
The Sports Massage Association (SMA) has its origins in the National Sports Medicine Institute (NSMI) (UK), a sub-department of the Government's department of Culture, Media and Sport. Following a survey of elite athletes by English Institute of Sport (EIS), which investigated the provision of sports massage in UK, executives at NSMI set up the Sports Massage Advisory Group (SMAG) in 1998, tasked with establishing course standards and a core curriculum for sports massage education. In October 2000, following discussions with SPRITO, the national training organisation for sport and recreation, and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) NSMI proposed the establishment of a Sports Massage Council with the express purpose of establishing a recognised, professional body for sports massage in the UK. The intention was to ensure that sports massage practitioners received recognition for the contribution they had to offer in the provision of sports care services to athletes and that athletes and consumers received the protection and quality assurance provided by a professional body. In July 2001, the Sports Massage Association (SMA) was established with funding from Sport England as the professional body for sports massage in the United Kingdom. The SMA was officially launched to the public during the Commonwealth Games Manchester 2002.
Sports Massage is defined as the two pillars of practice of:
- Massage
- Kindred methods of treatment
Sports massage can be defined as ‘a healthcare profession concerned with the delivery of massage and other care services for the benefit of all sportsmen/women and other population groups involved in physical activity. It includes the management, manipulation and rehabilitation of the soft tissues of the body. All aspects of sport, conditioning/training, pre-competition, inter-competition, post-competition, post travel, injury prevention and injury recovery are appropriate for sports massage'.
In modern healthcare, skills are no longer unique to one professional grouping, so it is inappropriate to publish a list of activities that are ‘in' or ‘out' of scope of practice; instead activities/skills should be linked to the two pillars of sports massage.
Therefore:
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The Scope of Practice of Sports Massage is defined as any activity undertaken by an individual Sports Massage Practitioner that may be situated within the two pillars of sports massage practice where the individual is educated, trained and competent to perform that activity. Such activities should be linked to existing or emerging occupational/educational and/or practice frameworks acknowledged by the profession, and be supported by a body of evidence.
4 - The scope of practice of the individual sports massage practitioner
Sports massage practitioners may choose to work as either a generalist or a specialist practitioner. They may choose to practice within the first pillar of practice or they may wish to extend their practice into the second pillar of practice and develop further skills.
- A generalist develops a broad base of skills, knowledge and experience in a range of areas, enabling them to deal with most clients presenting with straightforward to moderately complex needs.
- A specialist develops finely honed skills and experience in a very specific area of practice, arising from a detailed and particular knowledge base.
In exercising the autonomy of the profession, individual practitioners decide upon the nature of massage best suited to the identified needs of the individual client. This is based on performing an appropriate assessment of individual needs, reaching an appropriate decision based on the extent of the assessment performed, and using professional judgment to implement massage appropriate to the client needs.
At all times Sports Massage Practitioners must work within Rules of Professional Conduct.
The professional body is the final arbiter about the nature of practice of individual members and whether what they perform is identifiable as sports massage. Should there be a challenge to an individual's activity/competence, the professional body would be required to confirm that the individual was working within their personal scope of practice. Providing there is evidence of an individual's competence to undertake the role/activity in question, and that the activity sits within the two pillars of practice, the individual would be covered by their Professional Liability Insurance as working within the scope of profession.
A Sports Massage Practitioner may practice any activity that falls within the remit of the two pillars of practice, provided they are appropriately educated, trained and competent to practice in the way that they do. Their practice must be both lawful and reasonable and the practitioner must be insured to practice. The way a Sports Massage Practitioner practices should have the overall aim of being of benefit to identified client needs and their practice should be recognised as fitting within an existing or emerging occupational or practice framework recognised by the profession.
A Sports Massage Practitioner will broadly describe their individual scope of practice within a recognised scope of the profession, and will then define precisely their specific scope according to their interests, competence and capability.
Individual competence, capability and practice will be determined by:
1. Governance and regulation
- Common & statute law of the country in which the Sports Massage Practitioner works
- Requirements of the statutory regulator, the HPC
- Rules of Professional Conduct
- Standards of Sports Massage Practice
- Decisions of governing committees
- Job description and contract of employment/service agreement
2. Demonstrable evidence of knowledge, skills and competence
- Qualification
- Personal Development Portfolio
Sports Massage Practitioners are required to recognise the limits of their own competency and must practice within them. The qualifications, knowledge and skills a member utilises in their practice should demonstrate that the member is practicing sports massage within its overall scope and not another profession. Members must avoid misleading the public to believe that sports massage is something it is not, or that that their sports massage qualification allows them to practice another profession.
Sports Massage Practitioners undertaking new and innovative roles, where they may be unique in their practice, must be prepared to demonstrate, if needed, how their actual or proposed practice is linked to the principles of sports massage.
3. Professional accountability and justification
- Individual Sports Massage Practitioners are personally accountable for their practice and are answerable for their acts and omissions regardless of direction or supervision from another profession.
- Intervention should only occur on the basis of an appropriate assessment of client needs, reasoning and decision making, and that the intervention proposed is believed to provide client care or benefit.
- Individuals must act in accordance with a reasonable body of opinion and there must be a reasonable and logical explanation for their actions. Meeting these two statements is one of the legal tests of acceptable professional practice.
Practitioners should consider that with contemporary ways of working, the most appropriate responsible body of opinion, or expert opinion, may come from another external source.
4. The best available body of evidence to support practice
- Evidence may come from a variety of sources and publications according to the activity.
