Media Corner

ABMP Becomes Largest Massage Membership Association

Massagetherapy.com's Online Referral Service

Who Is Today’s Massage Therapist/Bodyworker?

Glossary of More Than 250 Entries on Massage Treatments

Searchable Archive of More Than 1,000 Articles, from Acupressure to Zen

Massagetherapy.com's Online Referral Service
Massagetherapy.com's online referral service is free to consumers and ABMP membership. This easy-to-use tool helps consumers make choices from among the thousands of ABMP practitioners listed and as many as 250 methods and types of massage, bodywork, somatic therapies and skin care. Every month, thousands of searches are conducted on Massagetherapy.com's online referral service.

Consumers who find their massage therapist or bodyworker through Massagetherapy.com's online referral service can be confident their session will be conducted by a professional who has received proper training. All practitioners on Massagetherapy.com's online referral service are members of Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals.

As the field has become more professional and the body of knowledge has grown substantially, consumers can be reassured by the many positive responses to massage:

Eighty-five percent express favorable feelings in a 2008 survey. Fully 69 percent expressed very favorable feelings about their most recent massage, with 44 percent rating it a perfect ten-out-of-ten.
Some massage and bodywork practitioners are licensed by the state (43 states, including the District of Columbia, have regulation), http://massagetherapy.com/careers/stateboards.php, while others are locally regulated www.municode.com.
Consumers may research and request certain techniques or modalities and have a right to request their preference for a male or female therapist.
As a condition of membership, ABMP verifies the training and credentials of each one of its practitioners and requires them to follow the ABMP Code of Ethics.
Practitioners who submit insurance claims for covered services are governed by many parts of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which is designed to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients/clients in matters of health and healthcare. (Practitioners also are bound by any applicable state regulations regarding confidentiality).
Scope of practice — There are some conditions for which massage is not recommended. ABMP practitioners are expected to know the limits of their scope of practice and to ask about specific health conditions to determine if massage, bodywork or somatic therapies are a good idea. In some cases, the practitioner may need a doctor’s permission before providing services.
Massage, bodywork and somatic therapies specifically exclude diagnosis, prescription, manipulation or adjustments of the human skeletal structure, or any other service, procedure, or therapy that requires a license to practice orthopedics, physical therapy, podiatry, chiropractic, osteopathy, psychotherapy, acupuncture or any other profession or branch of medicine.

For information on how a professional massage session is conducted, click here.

Glossary of More Than 250 Entries on Massage Treatments
Searchable Archive of More Than 1,000 Articles, from Acupressure to Zen