We get a lot of emails asking how one becomes a certified trigger point therapist with us so we wanted to put this page up to provide more information for you.
After trying for some time to create an online certification exam, we have concluded that it’s not a viable option. Our objective has always been to provide the best treatment for people in physical pain. A therapist passing an online test doesn’t necessarily prove to us that they have the skills and knowledge to help someone with their physical pain.
Thus, the only way we will certify someone in clinical trigger point therapy is for he or she to take private, hands-on, classes with Dr. Perry herself. We apologize to those of you who can’t obviously take classes in person with Dr. Perry to become certified by her, but we really have no choice in this regard.
Certifying therapists is paradoxically both a big deal and not a big deal to us. On the one hand, we want to make sure that anyone certified by Dr. Perry is absolutely capable of helping someone in pain. But we also see certification as irrelevant. Dr. Perry has never been certified by any organization in trigger point therapy (there wasn’t a certifying organization at the time) but she has helped thousands of people in pain over the years.
As a trigger point therapist, it’s your passion to continually learn how to help your patients/clients that makes you successful, not your certifications. There is a running joke in medicine that the more letters you have after your name, the less effective you are as a doctor. To a certain degree, that is true.
If you want to help people with trigger point therapy, just start doing it. Don’t worry about certifications…just do it. Word-of-mouth will be all the “certification” you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will certification from us be all I need to practice Trigger Point Therapy legally where I live?
No, all our certification provides is confirmation that you are proficient in trigger point therapy. To legally practice trigger point therapy you need some type of license that has manual therapy in its scope of practice. Depending on where you live, this could be:
- massage therapy license
- nursing license
- chiropractic or medical license
- athletic trainer license
- occupational or physical therapist license
- personal trainer license (depending on the certification)
- alternative healthcare license
- chiropractic or medical assistant job (working under the doctor’s license)
We can’t possibly know the regulations where you live, so if you want to practice trigger point therapy on the public you will need to research your options yourself. For most people, becoming a licensed massage therapist will be the easiest route to take if they don’t have an appropriate license currently.
Do I need any prior experience or prerequisite education to take the Clinical Trigger Point Therapy Course and become certified?
No. Our course is designed to be self-contained and requires no previous experience or education in the medical field to take it. The course will teach you everything you need to know to help someone with trigger point therapy whether your are a doctor or a layman with no medical experience whatsoever.