As a practicing massage therapist, you’ve already completed an education, but has that education completed you? Have you become your best so you can help your clients the most, or is there more to learn since your field has been evolving?

Regardless of where you went to school, you can learn a lot in our online Continuing Education program. The courses are affordable, 90-minutes each, and applicable to your day-to-day practice so you can stay current in pain science, musculoskeletal care, and much more. School opens this October.

Continuing education to keep you in the know

This year and into next, Vicars is launching a new, 2026–27 series of massage therapy continuing education courses: Evidence In Practice with Eric Purves. Each course has been pre-approved for 1.5 CE credits with the MTAA and CMMOTA, and 5 CE credits with the NHPC. The courses are webinars with Q&As, and recordings are available afterward.

As the field of massage therapy grows in Canada, so too must our courses. So, in addition to our curriculum, we’ve updated our Continuing Ed program to reflect recent evidence and insights in relevant practice areas:

• Pain Management – Updates on current pain science (webinar is October 26)
• Tendinopathy Management – Current insights into tendinopathies and treatments (November 18)
• Rehabilitation – Advancements and modernizations in musculoskeletal care (January 25)
• Peripheral Nerve Treatment – Mechanisms of injury to the peripheral nervous system (April 5)
• Post-Surgical Care – Based on current evidence (May 17)

The courses are $60 each, or $275 as a bundle price for all 5 courses. Vicars grads get discounts.

Professional development to keep you at your best

It really is crucial to keep up to date in our field, especially if you’re running your own practice. It helps to ensure you can keep clients safe and well with effective, evidence-based care that meets evolving professional standards.

On top of that, it keeps you on your toes, constantly learning and continually improving, and thus competing with other RMTs out there.

The field of massage therapy is ever-evolving

Health science and knowledge change all the time. For example, recently (perhaps since you graduated), the evidence on tendinopathy assessment has changed, which affects treatment planning and self-care strategies.

A tendinopathy treatment course like ours will help you think more critically about your tendinopathy clients, and anticipate and adapt to their individual needs. With this particular course, one of the outcomes we anticipate is you’ll be able to better understand the physiological changes in pathological tendons.

The standards are also changing

Professional and regulatory requirements continue to evolve. In the future, many RMTs (such as those in Alberta) may have to adapt to different or new standards and expectations around professional development, quality assurance, and clinical practice. This might mean these RMTs have to go through additional training or retraining.

By staying current through continuing education, you’ll help keep your knowledge and skills up to date. Additionally, you’ll have the chance to refresh yourself on professional boundaries and other relevant matters.

A teacher for the changing times

For our new Continuing Education series, Vicars has partnered with Eric Purves, MSc RMT, a registered massage therapist, educator, and researcher. In his career, he’s translated massage therapy research into real-world strategies and courses for client care, and taught courses worldwide in rehabilitation principles, persistent pain, and more.

Eric shares his excitement about the Pain Management course in particular:

“This is the most popular topic I have taught in 11 years as an educator. The knowledge you get from this course is foundational to everything that you do as a massage therapist… I want massage therapists to have a deeper understanding about the complexities of pain and to learn the skills necessary to provide better quality treatments for both acute and chronic pain conditions.”

So, there likely is more for you to learn in our field of massage therapy. And if you’d like to learn more about the Vicars Continuing Education program, we invite you to do so.