Medical Massage

Medical massage is an outcome-based massage, primarily the application of a specific treatment targeted to the specific problem the patient presents with a diagnosis and are administered after a thorough assessment/evaluation by the medical massage therapist with specific outcomes being the basis for treatment. It is also known as clinical massage or treatment massage.

There are many massage schools and programs that teach medical massage as a technique. Though medical massage is any massage treatment used to treat specific medical conditions, there is no one technique that is “medical massage”. Medical massage is taking whatever style of massage the practitioner knows and applying that technique to specific conditions to bring about specific outcomes.

Massage has been used as a medical treatment dating back to the Chinese over 5000 years ago. The American Medical Massage Association and The United States Medical Massage Association followed with similar goals of lifting the profession to higher standards and, in turn, giving patients a better outcome. The AMMA has worked with the medical community to bring massage therapy into the mainstream; they have done this through a board of advisers that includes massage therapists, physicians, chiropractors etc.

Any Licensed Massaged Therapist is qualified to do medical massage if they have training on how to treat specific problems. State Licensure is the only qualification needed to bill for massage therapy. Massage customers should ask thier therapist about their training and experience in treating the specific conditions that they have. Washington State and Florida are currently the only states which mandate that Massage Therapists be allowed to be contracted providers with health insurance companies. Currently, the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010 does make provisions for every type of provider to be covered in insurance plans. It is possible that massage will be covered by insurance under this new Act.