Every massage therapist needs a helpful massage intake form that will ensure their clients have an enjoyable experience and get the most out of their time in the clinic. This form should be customized for each client and should include specific questions about health history, treatments received in the past, injuries, past and present symptoms, allergies, and any other relevant information. Furthermore, if you are using special products or oils in your practice it is important to ask this question on your form as well.

Here are some steps you can take to make your own helpful massage intake form.

How to build a form

Before building your own massage intake forms you need to think about what kind of information you will want to collect from your clients. To do so, you should ask yourself the following questions: What is the purpose of this form? Is it just to gather some basic information so that you can assess how they are doing? Or is this to be used as a referral guide or interview guide?

Whatever the case may be, you need to know what type of questions will help you determine whether or not they have a certain condition or if they are a good candidate for certain treatments.

Once you have determined what type of questions will be asked on your intake form, it’s time to begin building it. There are many ways to build an intake form online; there are also many free templates available online for different purposes.

Questions that should be asked

The following are a few questions you can ask of your clients on a massage intake form:

• Do you have any health conditions or injuries?
• Do you have any allergies?
• Have you received any treatments in the past?
• Do you have any related symptoms or conditions, such as back pain, headaches, muscle spasms, migraines, etc.?
• Have you taken any medications in the past 48 hours?
• If I could ask you anything else about your treatment history before we start would that be helpful?

Questions that should not be asked

It is best not to ask any questions that relate to past or present medical treatment. If a client has received an injury in the past, it is not necessary to ask what type of treatment they received. Likewise, if a client has allergies, it is best not to include them on the intake form as there are other ways of asking about allergies.

It is also important not to include questions about height, weight, race, or age when asking for information about health history and injuries. Asking these questions can be uncomfortable for some clients who may feel embarrassed by these questions and choose not to answer them.

Conclusion

In order to build a form that works, first you must establish the purpose of the form. A form is only good if the information collected is going to help the business. If you are building a form to obtain feedback from potential clients, you should ask questions that will help you understand their needs and desires.

To make it easier for potential clients to fill out your form, put yourself in their shoes. Ask questions that are clear and concise. You can also use visuals to break up text-heavy questions. Adding a privacy policy at the beginning of the form will also help your forms stick in the minds of your clients or potential clients because it will remind them of your business’s commitment to privacy.