Massage Therapist, return to work?

[Bostongirl 0]

Hi, my name is Jamie and I am scheduled to be banded on November 4 (one month away, I can't believe it!).

I am a part-time Massage Therapist and need to tell my supervisor how long I plan to be out for. The dr. told me that I will have to just use my judgement, which I understand, but that doesn't really help me give a date to my boss. I know that in most jobs you are able to return in about a week but I use my body, and more specifically my core, quite a bit more than some one sitting at a desk.

Are there any other MT's out there or anyone that is also in a physical type of profession that could give me an estimate of how many weeks I'm going to need to be out?

[MacMadame 81]

Hi Jamie-

I am not a massage therapist and I didn't get banded, but I noticed no one has answered your question so I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

A lot of bandsters go back after 1 week. Some even go back sooner. But they have desk jobs. My surgery has a slightly longer recovery time and I had a hiatal hernia repaired which adds even more to the recovery time. I went back at 1.5 weeks to my desk job and found I was exhausted. I was okay by Wed. which also was my 2 week point. So in retrospect, I think 2 weeks would have worked better for me.

For you, having to be on your feet more, you probably need more than the average bandster though. If that's not feasible, maybe you could start back part-time at first and see how it goes?

Hopefully someone else who does a job like yours will chime in now.