State Legislation and Massage Therapy Practices Quiz

State Legislation and Massage Therapy

• State legislation defines the scope of practice for massage therapists.
• Other fields that can practice massage include licensed physical therapists, physicians, registered nurses, osteopaths, and chiropractors.
• Massage therapists can perform various assessments, aiming to alleviate pain, enhance wellness, reduce stress, and improve circulation, but do not diagnose medical conditions or prescribe treatments outside of massage therapy.

Licensure and Certification

• Massage practitioners are required to display their licenses at their place of business in most states.
• The MBLEx test was created in 2007 by the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB).
• Completing and passing the National Certification Exam (NCE) earns a person national certification in therapeutic massage and bodywork, but not a license.
• Board certification credentials give credibility to the practitioner but do not take the place of a license.

ELAP Areas of Learning

• The ELAP areas of learning include:
  • Massage Theory and Principles
  • Massage Professional Practices
  • The Therapeutic Relationship
  • Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology
  • Assessment and Documentation
  • Massage and Bodywork Application
  • Palpation and Movement
  • Adapting Sessions for Clients' Needs
  • Career Development

Reasons for Revocation of Massage License

• Reasons for revocation of a massage license include:
  • Fraud or deceit in obtaining a license
  • Ethical or sexual misconduct with a client
  • Engaging in prostitution
  • Lying about continuing education completion
  • Lacking proper insurance
  • Practicing under a false or assumed name
  • Being convicted of a felony or nondisclosure of a past legal issue
  • Being addicted to narcotics, alcohol, or similar substances that interfere with performance of duties
  • Being willfully negligent in the practice of massage, endangering the health of a client
  • Prescribing drugs or medicines (unless a licensed physician)
  • Guilty of fraudulent or deceptive advertising
  • Practicing beyond the scope permitted by law or performing professional responsibilities that the licensee knows they are not competent to perform

Research and Evidence-Informed Practice

• Evidence-informed practice is a clinical practice based on a balance of three elements: current scientific evidence, clinical experience, and the client's wishes.
• Research literacy is the ability to locate, comprehend, and evaluate valid information and apply it to clinical practice.
• Good sources for doing massage research include PubMed, Clinicaltrials.gov, Massage Therapy Foundation, Cochrane Reviews, Google Scholar, and BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine Journal.
• Research involves a systematic and organized attempt to test a hypothesis and determine if an observation has validity.
• The steps in the scientific method are:
  • Observe and Review
  • Hypothesis
  • Predictions
  • Experiment
  • Report Results
  • Refine Hypothesis
• Meta-analysis is a statistical pooling of results from previous studies into a single quantitative analysis, providing the highest level of evidence for an intervention's efficacy.
• Case presentation involves providing all the methodological details necessary for another clinician to duplicate the work.

Evidence Reliability and Bias

• Bias refers to prejudice or preconceived opinions that interfere with objective assessment.
• Types of bias include:
  • Selection Bias
  • Confirmation Bias
  • Publication Bias
• Bias can affect evidence reliability by presenting selective information, making it difficult to form accurate judgments.
• Strategies to handle bias in sources include:
  • Diversifying sources
  • Critical appraisal
  • Triangulation
  • Having a healthy dose of skepticism
• Remember, even highly respected institutions can be biased, and staying alert and continually refining critical thinking skills is essential for maintaining evidence reliability.