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New Massage bill quietly proposed in MA, changing scope of practice, upping hours to 900.

SECTION 1. Section 227 of chapter 112 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out lines 18 through 21 and inserting in place thereof the following sentence: -

Massage therapy shall include the prescription of stretching techniques and exercises but shall specifically not include diagnoses, the prescribing of drugs or medicines, spinal or other joint manipulations or any services or procedures for which a license to practice medicine, chiropractic, occupational therapy or podiatry is required by law.

SECTION 2. Section 229 of chapter 112 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (a)(5) and inserting in place thereof the following subsection: -

(a)(5) he shall have successfully completed a course of study consisting of at least 900 classroom hours at an accredited massage school which shall consist of 200 hours of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, 150 hours of kinesiology and/or mycology, 50 hours in the subject of hygiene, first aid, CPR, HIV including the instruction of infection control procedures, 180 hours of general theory and applications of massage therapy, 200 hours of additional instruction including a minimum of 75 hours of ethics, law, and business practices, and 120 hours of actual hands-on practical massage therapy in a clinic or other supervised setting;

SECTION 3, Said section 229 of said chapter 112 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding after subsection (c), the following subsection:-

(d) The board shall renew existing practitioners who, within a twelve month period following the effective date of this section have done one of the following: (1) completed 150 hours of continuing education as prescribed by the board; (2) passed the nation certification board for therapeutic massage and bodywork (NCBTMB) certification examination; or (3) is able to demonstrate that the applicant has been in active continuous practice of massage therapy for at least five years immediately preceding the effective date of this section.

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Comment by Alexei Levine on April 23, 2011 at 8:35am: contact your state senators and the senators on the joint committee at this link to let them know of your opposition to this bill: http://www.malegislature.gov/Committees/187/Joint/J17

Comment by Alexei Levine on April 21, 2011 at 11:40am

Is it common practice to delineate a required curriculum in a statute like this bill proposes?

Comment by Christopher V Jones on April 20, 2011 at 7:23pm: I second the need for the change to "myology" :) (unless they are adding mushroom gathering to our scope of practice!)

On a more serious note, what are people's thoughts on the scope of practice change to add prescriptive stretching and exercise? While this does not in any way force therapists to offer these services, I am nervous that those who have not had experience or training in corrective exercise (or any type of exercise really) will be giving out advice. Also, what liability implications does this have for us?

Comment by Alexei Levine on April 20, 2011 at 5:51pm: Mycology? The study of fungus? I hope they change that to myology :)

Comment by Mike Hinkle on April 20, 2011 at 3:32pm: Until massage therapists organize and vote accordingly, it will continue.

Comment by Gordon J. Wallis on April 20, 2011 at 3:24pm: Hmm,,When will it stop? I think the best thing is if you wanna be a massage therapist...You go to medical school first. Then after you graduate, take your National Certification, State Exams and be a Massage Therapist.

Comment by Alexei Levine on April 20, 2011 at 2:14pm: Many of the smaller massage schools will be forced out of business as we can't afford accreditation. The recent change by the board from 500 hours to 650 hours already forced Kripalu to close their massage school. This is all because of a proposed rule at the federal level requiring a program to be 900 hours long to qualify for federal funding. The big corporate schools don't want to have to compete with smaller schools that charge less.

Comment by Alexei Levine on April 20, 2011 at 1:39pm: Notice the requirement that all schools be accredited.

Comment by Mike Hinkle on April 20, 2011 at 12:17pm: And the quiet part is to keep the therapists from knowing about it until it is too late to oppose it.

Comment by Daniel Cohen on April 20, 2011 at 11:01am: So a person whose massage schedule is so busy and couldn't get the time off to do 150 hours, would after a year lose their license as unqualified to do massage. These lengthy hours for licensing are ludicrous. They are exclusionary and counter to the history of massage therapy providing part time and transition to a rewarding career.