The Adams Institute of Manual Therapies (AIMT) became the goal of Tracy Adams in 2019 after teaching for multiple massage programs in the Cincinnati area. She began researching programs across the country, and speaking with many experts, owners, program directors, and instructors, discovering common problems in many of the programs of both active and inactive schools. A common theme she observed was a great many of these programs were being ran by business groups with little to no manual therapy experts involved. Often, the only massage therapists in the schools were the instructors themselves. This was also the environment that she was accustomed to teaching in, and often, it was a real problem. Curriculums varied school to school, some better than others, but she found that the skill levels of the graduating students from schools not being led by medical massage therapists varied drastically and they seemed to have lower MBLEx pass rates and lower job placement rates. Sometimes students were placed with a single massage therapy instructor for the duration of their program length without administration being able to judge whether or not an instructor truly held the expertise to singlehandedly guide classes of students to pass the licensure exam and lead them to a successful career. Tuition rates continued to rise, and high skill level massage therapists grew more in demand every year. She believed there could be a better way.

While continuing to teach through the third school program, Tracy began writing curriculum for AIMT. The pandemic added a new level of exploring teaching and learning flexibility and fluidity that had not previously been explored. Her passion lies in the instruction, so she surrounded herself with experts in other areas necessary, and began the journey in the middle of a pandemic.

The Adams Institute of Manual Therapies offers varying levels of education and skill training with an honest integrity and a clear path of choices for students to achieve exactly the kind of career they want. Tracy and her team are also working hard to create a strong peer unity and a place where crowdsourcing information and research for the betterment of manual therapies can happen. AIMT is not only the place for your licensure path, it is your place to begin advanced level training, continuing your education, and a lifetime resource of support for our graduates, therapists, clinicians, and clients. Together we are stronger.