Thinking of a career as a Massage therapist? Is certification needed?

If you are considering a career as a massage therapist, here are a few things to bear in mind before making a decision about certification. Most states in the USA now require a certain number of training hours before you can officially call yourself a “Massage therapist,” although the hours required vary from state to state – so it is important to check locally what the requirements are. Once you have received the requisite number of hours you must pass a certification test at the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.

To become certified you must have completed a minimum of 500 hours of training and passed a basic exam. This is only if you wish to become nationally certified, and to keep this certification up you must then re-certify every four years and be able to prove you have received 48 hours of training and 200 hours of work experience in the four year interim. And of course pay for the recertification.

In ten years of practicing I was never once asked to produce a certificate and whether or not you need this will largely depend on whether you intend to be an independent practitioner or you plan on working for an organization of some kind. A spa for instance is unlikely to employ an unlicensed practitioner, whereas if you are working independently, the choice is yours. I personally chose to be an independent because of the type of work I preferred. Mostly working with clients in chronic pain and younger athletes who needed constant “tweaking,” as opposed to “feel good,” therapies.

For my purposes, I felt it unnecessary to recertify after the initial four year period. By this time I was well established and the only real benefit I could see from being a member was the possible promotional aspect of being listed in the NCBTMB’s “find a practitioner,” list. I initially certified thinking is was necessary, but realistically, it is not possible to objectively evaluate something as subjective as massage therapy. I have known fantastic body workers who have never had a day’s training and awful massage therapists with thousands of hours under their belts.

You are quite within your rights to call yourself a “Body worker,” or some other title if you choose not to certify. But if you are considering seeking employment in a spa or some other resort type environment, I would recommend the certification.

NCBTMB is here – website