National Massage Certification - Three Things to Think About in Choosing Your Credentials

In the profession of massage therapy, there is no one regulatory body that certifies/licenses for the practice of massage across the 50 states. 

Since 1992 the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) has been certifying massage therapists as part of the credentialing process in many states. More recently (2007), the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) has also served as a credentialing organization in some states.   Many states accept the passing scores from either organization's exams.  

Currently recognized in 33 states plus Guam, the Virgin Islands, West Indies, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, as the credential for practicing massage in these states, the NCBTMB offers two exams, the NCETMB and the NCETM. The two certification exams are composed of 160 multiple-choice questions and are essentially the same except one of them, the NCETMB, has a component that tests on Eastern medicine (meridians, chakras, doshas, and the like). Roughly 42% of the questions on both of the NCBTMB exams test anatomy and physiology and kinesiology content. Twelve percent of the questions test knowledge of pathology of the body. Forty percent of the questions are devoted to therapeutic massage assessment and application. Professional standards, ethics, business and legal practices are the subject of the remaining 6% of the questions. Both of these exams costs $225. The test-taker is permitted two hours and 40 minutes for taking either exam and the test-taker "sits" for their exam at a PearsonVue testing center (www.PearsonVue.com). Results are given immediately upon completion of the exam. 

The Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards is currently recognized in 18 states plus the District of Columbia. This 125 multiple-choice test costs $195 to take and is taken at a PearsonVue testing center. The test-taker is permitted 2, 1/2 hours to take the exam and the results are available immediately. The content emphasis is as follows: 25% anatomy and physiology, 13% pathology, 5% history of massage, 17% benefits and physiological effects of massage, 17% assessment and treatment of client with massage, 10% professional practices, and 13% on ethics, boundaries, and law.

To determine which exam is recognized in a state, the interested person should refer to the respective web sites of these organizations, www.ncbtmb.org for NCBTMB and www.fsmtb.org for the MBLEx (Massage & Bodywork Licensing Exam). In addition, it would be wise to check the state that you would like to practice massage in to confirm information found on these organizational web sites. 

I have taken the NCETMB and the MBLEx in the past year. Although the American Massage Therapy Association supports the MBLEx as the "exam of choice," I was not impressed with this exam for several reasons. 

First, as an Ohio massage therapist, I am uneasy about the lack of focus on anatomy and physiology, especially the latter. As a person laying hands on people, I should know the anatomy of the human body but better have a good sense of HOW things work too. Otherwise, physiological effects are pretty hard to determine let alone understand. For comparisons, fifty percent of the content tested on in Ohio is anatomy and physiology. Forty-two percent of the questions on the NCBTMB exams is AP related. 

Secondly, there were many common sense questions with obvious answers that would require no prior massage knowledge. In other words, the test is too easy. Why test at all if this is the case? A certificate or diploma from a massage therapy program of so many hours should suffice in this instance. 

A third concern...If there is to be a national certification exam in massage therapy that, if passed, will permit people to practice massage, then let's make the exam something that is rigorous enough that the passing rate isn't so high that passing the test doesn't merely serve as a right of passage to practice!

Before deciding the "route" you will take to get a national credential in massage therapy, do your homework and get full value for your commitment to the exam you choose!