Why do you need to know... ? Intake Forms Explained

by Pallas Hutchison

We have had several incarnations of our intake form over the years. Each revision has something that surprises clients. You don't have to provide us with any information you aren't comfortable sharing. However, you won't get a massage from us without a completed intake form. 

Our current intake form has three parts: Contact & General Information, Massage Information, and Health History. I'd like to break down why we ask some of this seemingly unnecessary information.

Contact & General Information:
Name: We keep records of our clients. Records include dates/times of past visits, which massage therapist (LMT) they saw, what that LMT did, as well as billing information. We need your name to be able to find your file.

We need your phone number and/or email address to communicate with you about appointments & billing. We also use this information for marketing, which you can opt out of any time.  

Filling in your birthday allows us to send you a little something as a gift. This is usually a discount or upgrade for your next service. If we have multiple clients with the same name, the birthday allows us to select the correct client profile. (Surprisingly more common than I expected.)

Your occupation tells your LMT how you use your body. Different professions have different physical demands, all of which impact your body. If we know what you do for a living, it helps us determine what areas you might need focused work on. Consider it a hint or cheat code for us. We appreciate it. 

Odds are against us having to use your emergency contact information but we would rather have it up front that not know who you need us to call if something goes sideways. In 17+ years of business, I have had to call one emergency contact. A pregnant client went into labor & I had to call her husband. 

Telling us who Referred you allows us to thank our loyal clients for helping us to grow our business. If you were referred by a physician, we can follow up (with your written permission) to get information on your diagnosis and other documents that allow us to bill services under your insurance plan. Tracking referrals also helps us with our marketing campaigns. If we know how clients find us, we know what is working and what is a waste of our resources.

Massage Information
This section is all about making sure we provide a high-quality service tailored to you. We don't want you to be disappointed or underwhelmed with your experience. The less information you give us to go on, the harder it is for us to meet your expectations. If this is your first massage, you may not know the answers to these questions and that is 100% fine. New clients tend to have more questions or be hesitant to ask questions. Knowing this up front, the LMT can take extra time to go over the basic massage etiquette, ensure you are getting a service that meets your goals, and stays within your comfort level. 

Letting us know your preferences for types of massage, pressure, and goals/expected outcomes helps us to place you with the LMT that best suits your needs. Listing any symptoms you currently have gives us a way to screen for more serious conditions that you need to be referred out for. For example, a massage may help arm pain but if you're having other heart attack symptoms, you need to go the ER first. 

Telling us what the symptoms interfere with gives us another glimpse into your lifestyle. Your lifestyle gives the LMT more clues on what questions to ask to determine how you use your body and what areas you will need us to focus on. If you aren't sleeping well, your body isn't getting a chance to repair itself. The best massage for you at might focus on allowing you relax and catch up on sleep. Different sports use different muscle groups. Training for a marathon has a different impact than going to yoga occasionally. Having a baby is more physically demanding (picking up, carrying, etc) while having a teenager is more mentally stressful. (These statements are based on my own experiences as a parent. Feel free to disagree with me.) 

Health History
Different medical conditions affect the body differently. Some can cause mild discomfort; we would adjust timing, pressure used or positioning to reduce discomfort. Others can be dangerous. Add medications and their side effects, that's more variables for us to consider. There are a handful of specific conditions that would require us to get medical clearance prior to providing a service, no exceptions.

Here are some examples of conditions and how they impact massage:

• Clients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy may have ports that determine the optimal position for A massage. Their doctor may recommend specific timing during the treatment cycle to receive massage.
• Clients on blood thinners should not receive hot stone massage, massage with firm pressure, or cupping because it increases the chances of bruising.
• Clients with osteoporosis should not receive massage with firm pressure to avoid accidental fractures.
  
• Clients with a prosthetic may need help getting on or off the massage table. They also don't need the prosthetic worked on, which changes how the massage therapist allocates the time. 
  
• Clients with a history of blood clots need medical clearance before receiving any services. If massage increases circulation and moves a clot, the client could have a stroke.

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There are many more conditions and I won't take the time to list all of them here. If you have a condition that you want specific information about, please give us a call. We'll give you an honest answer about if/how we modify massage to suit that specific condition.