ABMP Comments on USA Today Article About Massage Schools

USA Today recently ran a front-page article with the print headline “A Pipeline to America’s Sex Trade?”. (The full article is available online with a different headline via Yahoo at www.yahoo.com/news/massage-schools-across-us-suspected-100107791.html.)

Based on a report by the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation, the piece successfully outlines many issues in the massage and bodywork profession, including so-called “diploma mills,” illicit sex spas, and lax enforcement and communication among many state institutions and law enforcement. We are pleased these issues were brought to light for consideration by government, licensing, and education entities. 

However, we disagree with the sensationalism of the headline, and the practice of cherry-picking a handful of horror stories and giving the impression that all massage schools are complicit in these activities when the vast majority of the 919 state-approved massage schools across the country are operating legally and above board (www.abmp.com/updates/blog-posts/massage-schools-stay-resilient-during-covid-19-pandemic). We also disagree with the absence of any significant commentary in the article about the role that state licensing, and the enforcement of state licensing, plays in the fight against the issues identified in the article.

Specifically, the focus on a school in Minnesota—a state that has no licensing for massage therapists despite efforts by ABMP and others to create that system—should have necessitated a discussion of that issue. California, also mentioned in the article, has a system of voluntary certification that is better, but can still be improved. ABMP continues to work on licensing issues in those states, and generally as outlined in a recent Massage & Bodywork magazine article at www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1358392-may-june-2021/12.

We appreciate having allies in the ongoing effort to keep the massage profession free of the influence of illegal and illicit actors, and we are supportive of efforts to do that without the implication that professional massage therapists and legitimate massage schools are contributing to those issues. 

ABMP’s Government Relations team continues to work advocating on behalf of our members and the profession. Protecting our practitioners and their clients are first and foremost in our minds. For more information, visit www.abmp.com/members/career-development/regulation-advocacy.  

Category: 

News

Increasing Education Hours: A Trend on the Rise

Due to a revised federal rule change, states with minimum-hour education requirements lower than 600 are considering increasing their massage therapy program length. Find out which states have already introduced bills that would raise education hours, which massage boards have proposed and made final rule changes, and why this is becoming a national trend.

Blog

ABMP CE Summit: Headaches

 Headaches.

Join us online Tuesday, April 30, 2024, for the ABMP CE Summit: Headaches, which take learners on a journey from understanding headaches to working with clients with headache pain using multiple modalities and techniques.

New CE Course: Stretching the Hip

Dr. Joe Muscolino displays a massage therapy technique.

The new ABMP CE course, “Stretching the Hip,” is available in the ABMP Education Center to view and earn 1.5 CE hours.

Benefits

Podcast: Cancer, Clots, and COVID—A Complicated Client

A client was recently treated for colon cancer—and it didn’t go well. She had surgical complications, a bout of sepsis, and more. Is massage therapy safe? We discuss on this episode of “I Have a Client Who . . .” Pathology Conversations with Ruth Werner.

Please note: We have recently updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Learn more...