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64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Densely packed with information, November 24, 2003
This review is from: Review for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork Certification (LWW Massage Therapy & Bodywork Series) (Paperback)
This book is just the right mix of information and brevity. It covers a lot of material but does not go into unnecessary depth on anything; it simply tells you what you need to know for the national exam. Organization is very good, and it covers all of the basic areas with all of the essential information. Topics that my school didn't cover in enough depth, for instance taxes, were dealt with well in the short sections on business practices. The quiz sections were for the most part accurate depictions of actual exam questions. The book has a couple of minor deficiencies. One, as another reviewer noted, is that there isn't enough information on Chinese medicine, compared to what is actually on the test. Another problem I have with the book is that while it covers a lot of diseases, they are perfunctory descriptions at best. But not much more is needed for the massage exam. I took the massage exam and passed with flying colors. I studied using this book, "Massage National Exam: Questions and Answers," and "Illustrated Essentials of Musculoskeletal Anatomy," along with a medical dictionary.
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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Book!, July 9, 2007
This review is from: Review for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork Certification (LWW Massage Therapy & Bodywork Series) (Paperback)
I used this book and did well on the nationals... the secret is that about a quarter of the questions on the actual test have to do with eastern modalities .. namely shiatsu and the chinese KO cycle... go to wikipedia and look up the KO cycle ... there it has a chart shaped like a star with a circle around it... print it out and come up with a way to memorize the chart (my secret was FEM Wild Woman.. like Fire Earth Metal Water Wood) then make word associations to remember the colors, (like water is blue, wood comes from trees that have green leaves, fire is red, dirt is yellow with some other colors mixed in and it comes from the earth)directions, organs, tastes, energies (like corporal soul, spirit soul etc), and emotions associated with each element...it sounds goofy but this technique saved me...memorize where and what each meridian is... MAKE SURE THAT YOU DO THIS!!! all of the things that i just listed ARE on the test.. other than the origins and insertions of the muscles it's the hardest thing about the test... i was shocked at how much of the test was this stuff that i was never going to use anywhere else! there was also a tiny bit on the chakras (a 5 minute review is probably enough)... ).. and a lot of the thinking questions (don't worry they're not as bad as the book put out by the national board makes them out to be) like "if an elderly person has a raised hip which muscles are weakened?" this exact question isn't asked but there are many like that..
the questions in the book are very similar to those on the boards...if you can pass the tests in this book the first time you should be able to pass the nationals (i thought that i was going to have a heart attack the day before the test because i was so overwhelmed.. i really didn't think that i'd pass because i'd only been cramming 8 hours per day for 2 weeks and didn't feel prepared and i actually, not only passed, but did well) .. just study this book and you'll be fine
i just thought that i'd write a little something to help out other people going through what i just went though... don't panic... i passed the first time and i attended a school that taught to the state boards and had no eastern modalities in it's curriculm ... if you study this book and the stuff that i just listed you'll be fine.. my mom also read that chewing gum helps when test taking because it helps the left and right hemispheres of your brain communicate better and i swear that it worked! Good luck!
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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Best on the market, but not perfect., July 22, 2005
This review is from: Review for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork Certification (LWW Massage Therapy & Bodywork Series) (Paperback)
This book will not hand hold you, but it will give you what you need to KNOW to pass. Mostly. I did a 720-hour program that was equally divided between Western and Eastern modalities, and this book was fantastic for review; I passed on my first attempt. But it was weak in kinesiology and even in some anatomy, and it was wholly lacking in Traditional Chinese Medicine. You will need to supplement when it comes to TCM meridians and their related emotions, colors, seasons, elements, tastes and so on. A Google search for "traditional chinese medicine five element theory" should get you in the right direction. Chart it out and memorize it, because chances are good that a lot of it will be on your exam. It certainly was for mine!
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