Headline

Susan G. Salvo is a Licensed Massage Therapist, educator, and author of the most widely used massage-therapy text books on the market.

The Therapist: Susan is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Natural Therapeutic Specialist, and a Certified Instructor. She holds an associate in history and a baccalaureate in education from McNeese State University, where she is currently working on her master’s degree. She received her massage training from the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics in Albuquerque where she completed a 1000-hour program in 1982. Susan's training includes: cadaver labs, polarity, infant massage instructor, myotherapy, Trager, hakomi, reflexology, pregnancy massage, craniosacral therapy, neuromuscular therapy, spa specialist, and watsu. She has studied under many talented people including Bonnie Prudden, Ben Benjamin, Bob King, Benny Vaughn, Maria Mathias, and Harold Dull. She owns and operates "Bodyworks Massage Therapy" which she founded in Lake Charles in 1983. Susan is a charter member of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) and has served as: President, Second Vice President, Secretary, Chairman of the Board, and Education Director. In 1989 she was honored with the title "Member of the Year" by the LA AMTA. Susan is nationally certified by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. In 1987 she founded the LA AMTA sports massage team, which is still active today.

The Author. Susan is a nationally known author, having written the best-selling textbooks Massage Therapy: Principles and Practice and Mosby’s Guide to Pathology for the Massage Therapist, both of which are published by Elsevier. Susan has contributed to the National Certification Exam as a member of their test item writing committee. She participated with the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards as a member of their standard setting team. Susan is one of the initial task force members of the Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge Project. She has contributed a chapter on “Geriatric Massage” for Modalities for Massage and Bodywork published by Elsevier. For the text Teaching Massage, published by Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins and produced by the Associated Bodywork Massage Professionals, she contributed the chapter entitled “Teaching Massage to Students with Special Needs.” Salvo co-authored a chapter entitled “Draping and Basic Massage Strokes” for Muscle and Bone Palpation Manual with Trigger Points, Referral Patterns, and Stretching published by Elsevier. In 2009 -2010, she helped in the creation of Massage Online for Mosby’s Pathology for Massage Therapists and Massage Online for Essential Sciences for Therapeutic Massage. She is also the former technical writer for Sportsworld.

The Instructor. As an educator, Susan has been instructing adult learners since 1983. Susan is the owner and director of the Louisiana Institute of Massage Therapy. She teaches a wide range of massage techniques, but her specialties are entry level massage knowledge and skills. Ms Salvo is one of the featured experts interviewed in the documentary film, History of Massage Therapy in the United States released in 2007. She was also a speaker at the 36th Annual Institute on Oncology Nursing in 2009. As a guest speaker at the 2010 AMTA’s national convention, Ms Salvo will lecture on Geriatric Massage as well as Massage and Cancer. She is a well known and talented instructor, who guest lectures at massage schools, hospitals, and universities across the country. She has also created several instructional massage videos on YouTube.

The Awards. In 1995, Louisiana Governor Edwin W. Edwards presented Ms Salvo with the Pacesetter Award for business achievement. Later that year, she was honored with the title, “Business Person of the Year” by the American Business Women’s Association. The following year, she received the 1996 State Small Business Person of the Year Award from Louisiana Governor Murphy J. “Mike” Foster, and the first Eagle Award for Business Achievement by the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury. In 1997 the Times of Lake Charles featured her as one of “Forty Under Forty” for long- standing achievement. In 1998, she was honored with a front page photo and article on the local paper, the Lake Charles American Press. In 2003, she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana AMTA chapter for her contributions to the profession.