A brigade of MTs attracts an
army of patients

As recently as three years ago, Rottinghaus only had one room in his office space dedicated to massage therapy. But the room was nearly always occupied. He had two LMTs splitting the time, alternating days, working three days a week each. It was one of those light-bulb moments when he realized a small brigade of massage therapists might lead to a large army of patients.

It has. In the intervening years, which included the move to his current location, Rottinghaus has seen his massage therapy staff increase geometrically three times, and it’s still growing.

The practice employs 26 LMTs, who rotate through five massage rooms, which Rottinghaus estimates to be used about 80 percent of the time.

“We saw that massage was something my patients really benefited from,” he says of his initial foray into massage therapy as part of his practice. “It didn’t take long at all, less than a year, before we built up to the point of where it is today.”

Among the keys for making this particular venture work is making sure the therapists don’t work — too much, that is. Rottinghaus estimates the career span of a typical MT at only three years before burnout sets in. With that in mind, his therapists don’t work full time, not in terms of days, hours, or even shifts within a day.

An MT will typically work a four-hour day and a 20 to 25 hour week. With each of five rooms available for 71 hours through the week, that translates into about 350 room hours available for massage therapy.

“The key is not to work them back to back to back on all massages,” Rottinghaus says. “They work four-hour shifts. Some of the therapists work eight hours, but we don’t have them work 12 hours.”

He keeps his staff fresh by making sure they visit each other; each therapist has access to massage therapy of his own, with special care given to hands, wrists, and shoulders.

“We make that available for them and make sure there is no breakdown of their musculoskeletal systems, just as we do with the doctors,” Rottinghaus says.