Timeline of Timelines:
The History of the Massage Therapy Profession
in the US.
Massage therapy didn’t become the profession it is today by accident. Every law, credential, organization, controversy, and standard has a story. This project is documenting those stories—so we can understand where we’ve been, why we are where we are, and make better-informed decisions about where we go next.
Where we are today
Practice Framework, Licensing and Legislation, Healthcare Integration, Illicit Businesses. Science Literacy, Research Literacy and more.
Portability and the Profession’s Future
The interstate compact, workforce changes, healthcare integration, revised standards, accountability and current organizational conflicts.
NCBTMB announces the transition to
Board Certification
NCBTMB begins moving away from entry-level national examination (certification) toward a voluntary credential positioned above minimum licensure.
The Entry-Level Analysis Project develops its recommendations.
ELAP uses survey and job-analysis information to propose learning outcomes for entry-level massage education.
The Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge is published.
National organizations attempt to describe the profession’s shared knowledge, skills, and professional domains
Standards, Evidence and Public Accountability
Body of Knowledge (BOK), Entry Level Analysis Project (ELAP), The Massage Associations (AMTA, ABMP, AFMTE, COMTA, MTF, NCBTMB) research, continuing-education debates, establishment regulation and the profession’s response to trafficking.
The Alliance for Massage Therapy Education is established.
Schools, teachers, and continuing-education providers gain an independent organization focused on educator standards and educational policy.
The International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork begins publication.
The Massage Therapy Foundation creates an open-access, peer-reviewed journal centered on massage practice, education, and research.
Massage Envy is founded
The franchise and membership model eventually transforms consumer pricing, employment patterns, session volume, and public access to massage.
NCBTMB issues Standards of Practice.
FSMTB, the MBLEx, certification disputes, rapid licensing expansion, organization growth and the medical-massage controversy.
National Infrastructure
FSMTB, the MBLEx, certification disputes, rapid licensing expansion, organization growth and the medical-massage controversy.
Congress establishes NCCAM at the
National Institutes of Health.
Complementary and alternative medicine—including massage—gains greater access to federal research attention and funding
The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies begins publication.
Massage and related manual therapies gain a specialized scholarly publication connecting practice, research, and clinical theory
WA State Mandates Coverage of Massage by
Healthcare insurance
The Insurance commissioner, Deborah Senn, fought and won a battle with the health insurance carriers that mandated coverage of massage therapy for medical conditions. The Every Category Law stands today because of constant vigilence and advocacy.
The Touch Research Institute is established.
APMT becomes Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals.
The Massage Therapy Foundation is established by AMTA
Certification, Accreditation and Research
NCBTMB, COMTA, the Massage Therapy Foundation, state-board cooperation, research development and accelerating licensure.
COMTAA is created by AMTA
Associated Professional Massage Therapists is founded.
Later becomes ABMP
Massage Magazine begins publication.
National Certification Timeline of Events
The AMTA Entrance Exam Became a National Certification
The Deep Dive Narrative on the History of National Certification
Expansion and Professional Identity
AMTA growth, ABMP, the move from “masseuse” to “massage therapist,” school expansion and the beginning of national certification.
Esalen Institute opens in California
Esalen and the human-potential movement help popularize experiential bodywork and influence the development of Esalen massage and numerous later approaches.
AAMM becomes American Massage Therapy Association
Name change to establish massage as a “science and a knowledge” through education and scientific achievement, thereby differentiating it from “charlatans and quackery”.
A Profession Takes Shape
AMTA development, organizational identity, education, licensing debates and the massage-parlor crisis of the 1970s.
AAMM develops and adopts a model Massage Registration Act.
American Association of Masseurs and Masseuses (AAMM)
The formation of AAMM created the organization that would eventually become the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA).
Massage declines in nursing education
History of State Massage Licensing in the US
State Licensing of Massage Therapists began in Ohio
Historical Roots of Massage Entangled with Illicit Businesses
IIn 1894 the Society of Trained Masseuses (STM) formed in response to massage scandals published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The Society’s founders acted to legitimize massage, which had become sullied by its association with prostitution.
Massage, Medical Gymnastics and the Birth of Physical Therapy in the United States, 1880–1948
Ling, Mezger, medical gymnastics, massage in nursing, early training, professionalization and the 1894 massage scandals.
Massage in Medicine and Nursing
Hospital practice, nursing curricula, early regulation, medical massage, wartime use and the decline of massage within nursing.
The Birth of Modern Massage
Ling, Mezger, medical gymnastics, massage in nursing, early training, professionalization and the 1894 massage scandals.
Golden Age of Massage
Western Europe and the US. Gymnastics: Massage as Medical Therapy
Ancient and Early Foundations
Ancient healing traditions and early European medical references