Sep 07
29
Proof of Harm in Massage Therapy
One of the reasons that massage licensing boards and other associations are in favor of licensing massage always seems to come back to the idea that massage can do harm to clients and the public should be protected from harm.
The Safety of Massage by Edzard Ernst had the conclusion: “Massage is not entirely risk free. However, serious adverse events are probably true rarities.”
Keith Grant also did research on medline publications on “Injuries Reported in Medline as Related to the Practice of Therapeutic Massage (.pdf file) 1965 to 2003″
The abstract of this paper states his conclusions;
“Medline citations from 1965 to 2003 were searched for cases relating
significant injury to the practice of therapeutic massage. Eleven such cases
were found from over 12 million medical citations. While this number is far
too small for statistical analysis of injury patterns, six recommendations for
training and practice were obtainable from these reports on mechanistic
grounds. A conclusion of the general safety of massage follows from
the paucity of report injury cases in conjunction with corroborative
insurance statistics.”
Others use the claims of individual massage therapists of stories from clients who were ‘injured’ by other massage therapists in the form of bruising or other stories of massage sessions that were lacking in results. While I am sure there are many cases of this type of problem, the harm is minimal enough that they don’t report it.
What some will find harmful, others will find beneficial.
The claim that licensing is needed to protect the public from harm has yet to be proven. Until then, what needs to be done is to study the current licensing and the effects of licensing on a massage therapists ability to create a sustainable massage business and also provide quality service to clients. The variations in the laws of each state vary so greatly and leave the massage profession looking unorganized and unprofessional. What is allowed and accepted in one state is not allowed in other states. Are you still wondering why it is so difficult to build a massage practice ?
Please let me know what is going on in your state as far as licensing and legislation issues? Does the licensing of massage affect your ability to build a practice? If you are in an unlicensed state do you think that licensing is needed?
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