My last post, Moving the Massage Profession Forward requires that you have an in-depth understanding of the past and the history of where the massage therapy profession started and the many things that go along with that story.
For over 128 years, the massage therapy profession has been entangled with and often confused with sex work. The whole entanglement started in Great Britian though in 1894 when the British Medical Association (BMA) inquired into the education and practice of massage practitioners in London, and found that prostitution was commonly associated with unskilled workers and debt, often working with forged qualifications. In response, legitimate massage workers formed the Society of Trained Masseuses (now known as the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy), with an emphasis on high academic standards and a medical model for massage training. See History of Massage Being Entagled With Sex Work on my other website www.lookbeforeyoubookamassage.com
1900 – 1945 and beyond. “From the beginning of the twentieth century to beyond World War II, two key drivers of large-scale sexual exploitation, specifically of East Asian women and girls, were the aggressive agenda of the Imperial Japanese Army and the proliferation of US military presence throughout the region of East Asia. Throughout the early 1900s, Japan engaged in multiple wars across Asia and the Pacific (Min, 2003). At the time, Japan had a longstanding history of legal prostitution (Min, 2003). To support the extensive war effort, the Japanese government began the mass mobilization of women for military sexual slavery (Min 2003; Tanaka 2002). Government-controlled “comfort stations” were instated as early as 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War (Min 2003; Soh 2008). A “comfort station” was a euphemism for a military brothel, where young women and girls were forced or coerced into prostitution (Min 2003; Soh 2008; Yoshiaki 1998).” The Historical Roots of Human Trafficking (pp. 65-66). Springer International Publishing.
In August 16, 1943. Post graduate class of the College of Swedish Massage on East Ohio Street in Chicago, IL was presented with the idea of forming and association of Masseurs and Masseuses. The purpose would be to further the interest of it’s members and help each other become more efficient in their work. There was a letter in which Milton Niedfeldt wrote to Dean Swanson of the college in early 1943 suggesting they start an organization for their school. Some of the classmates were members of other organizations but were dissatisfied with them feeling like it was just a way for sales people to bother them. This led to the formation of the American Association of Masseurs and Masseuses (AAMM). It’s origins were a grassroots effort that spread across the country. It went on to become what is not the American Massage Therapy Association. See the complete history or AAMM at www.massageschoolnotes.com with scanned documents and newsletters of the original association.
Forty-four years later, once again disgruntled massage therapists (according to Robert Calvert in his book “The History of Massage”) branched off and started ABMP in 1987 by Sherri Williamson and was first called The Associated Professional Massage Therapists (APMT). A History in Archetypes by Patricia Benjamin further explains the history of ABMP. Back then, AMTA was often viewed as The Swedish Massage Organization and it viewed massage therapy as a profession. Membership was open to all allied health professionals and not just massage therapists and viewed massage therapy as an industry.
“This marketing campaign ignited a fierce competitive rivalry with AMTA. APMT positioned itself as an alternative professional association that was fighting for freedom to practice against the AMTA’s attempts to create a monopoly controlling the profession. AMTA viewed APMT as weakening the profession with lax standards and duping members into thinking it was a comparable organization.” History in Archetypes by Patricia Benjamin
During this interesting time, AMTA took important steps and created the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage (NCBTMB) and Bodywork and also the Commission on Massage Training and Accreditation (COMTA). The National Certification Exam was originally started as an AMTA entrance exam and quickly moved to becoming a national exam which we all know is not so national. See also: History of National Certification Board in Massage and Bodywork.
AMTA also created the Commission on Massage Training/Accreditation (COMTA) in 1989 to set educational standards for the massage therapy profession with a goal of eventual recognition by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE).
“The process of establishing an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) began in the early 1980’s when AMTA national officers visited the USDE to make contact with federal officials. In 1982, the AMTA Council of Schools was established, in recognition of a shared concern among educators and school directors for the quality of massage therapy education. Early council work focused on the need to develop and maintain educational standards.” https://web.archive.org/web/20030715223625/http://comta.org/about.htm
AMTA’s support of NCBTMB wandered back and forth over the years. At one time they denounced the exam and favored the exam created by the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards as the main licensing exam. They now currently (2024) fund the NCBTMB in creating Board Certification which is different than the original so called National Certification Exam.
In 1990, AMTA also created the Massage Therapy Foundation and continues to fund the Foundation each year with the mission of advancing the knowledge and practice of massage therapy by supporting scientific research, education, and community service. The Foundation is able to provide these services by individual gifts, industry support, and fundraising events.
In 2005, the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards was created “The Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) (https://www.fsmtb.org/) was formed in 2005, emerging from a growing need for uniformity and cooperation among various state boards regulating massage therapy. The founding principle was to facilitate better communication and consensus-building among state boards, ensuring that massage therapists could meet standardized criteria of practice and ethics.” See also: The history of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards at my other site www.massageschoolnotes.com.
At their inaguaral meeting it was determined that: “Additionally, the meeting’s dialogue indicated three key issues of utmost concern for the massage therapy regulatory community:
- The need for consistent scopes of practice and entry-level standards across the country
- The need for a valid and reliable licensing exam that all jurisdictions would accept
- The need for a common database with licensing and disciplinary information, as well as the ability to store critical documents
The Alliance for Massage Education (AFMTE) came into being after a white paper was written by Rick Rosen calling for it’s creation. A national survey conducted in November 2010 by the Alliance indicated strong support within the educational community for this initiative. 80.4% of respondents agreed that competency-based national teacher training standards are needed, while 6.8% disagreed. (Archive.org AFMTE Website)
So we now have the big 7 associations:
- American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA)
– Non-profit membership organization with over 103,000 massage therapists.
-Run by a National Board of Directors with 3 president positions.
–State Chapters have separate Boards that are elected and all are volunteers.
–Assembly of Delegates: Each state elects one or two delegates who gather info from members on imporant issues and give that feedback to the AOD in the form of position or discussion statements.
-AMTA funds the NCBTMB, MTF and works closely with COMTA. (I am not sure if they give money to COMTA or not but they do give $300,000 to the NCBTMB and usually $350,000-$450,000 to the MTF.)
-Is working on a practice framework, getting massage covered by Medicare/Medicaid, Licensing and Legislation issues and many other things. - Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP)
-For profit membership association. No State Chapters. They have a government relations department that watches things that are happening and often get involved in state matters such as licensing and legislation. - Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA)
– The Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA) accredits both educational institutions and programs offering instruction in massage therapy and bodywork or esthetics and skin care. We were formed with the mission of establishing and maintaining the quality and integrity of our professions. With COMTA accreditation, you can be sure that the standards you’re meeting reflect the national needs of the profession. Since 2002, COMTA has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a specialized accrediting agency. (Comta.org) - Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB)
-The Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) is an autonomous, non-profit organization comprised of state boards and agencies that regulate the massage therapy profession.
-The CE Registry represents the culmination of one aspect of an initiative that was set in motion with the inception of the FSMTB to facilitate licensure portability through simplification of regulation and provision of uniform standards.
“A primary FSMTB goal is to support efforts among our member boards to establish compatible requirementsand cooperative procedures for the legal regulation of massage and bodywork therapists, in order to facilitate professional mobility and simplify and standardize the licensing process. A key initiative in fulfilling this goal is to establish robust, fair and reasonable standardized requirements of quality for continuing education.” From their CE Standards and Guidelines Booklet. (PDF)
– CE classes must also have “methods to assess the learner’s achievement of the learning objectives.” From their CE Standards and Guidelines Booklet. (PDF)
-Regulatory Education and Competence Hub (REACH). “REACH is an online platform providing massage therapists with continuing education courses and information supporting professional competence. REACH courses facilitate ongoing learning aligned with state requirements, remediation, and professional development. REACH was developed to provide additional educational resources to massage and bodywork therapy professionals and assist state massage boards. All REACH courses meet FSMTB Continuing Education Standards, which expert representatives from regulatory boards created. Providers must ensure that instructors have proficiency and qualifications to teach the course(s).” - Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF)
– The Foundation was signed into being by the Secretary of the State of Illinois on August 3, 1990. MTF is organized and operated exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes including: to advance the science and art of massage therapy through education about the benefits of this health service;to promote the development of knowledge, scientific advancements, and community services in the massage therapy field; to secure and provide funding for research, education, and charitable community outreach initiatives. - National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB)
-Created the National Certification Exam that was used for many years by most of the states as the basic licensing exam.
-Now offers a Board Certification
–CE approved provider program. Classes offered through AMTA National or AMTA Chapters must be NCBTMB approved instructors/courses.
– Funded by AMTA and income from CE approved provider program and Board Certification program. - Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE)
-Created the National Teacher Education Standards Project (NTESP) that created Core Competencies for Massage Education
-Created and oversees the Certified Massage and Bodywork Educator (CMBE) program
The AFMTE Educator Certification Program is currently a voluntary portfolio review process through which educators can demonstrate they have achieved proficiency in the Core Competencies for Massage Therapy Teachers.
