Legal Definitions

Baaaa!

Ready for a sheepish confession to complete this silly pun?

It turns out that the Department of Health website links that I was complaining about earlier work just fine - if you're using Internet Explorer. If you're a Firefox user such as myself and you want to see these links, you'll need to open up a different browser.

The waiver at the bottom of my intake form is based on
the legal definition of massage therapy, and looks like this:

"I have listed all my known medical conditions and physical limitations and will inform my massage therapist of any change in my physical health at the start of each session.

I understand that a massage therapist must be aware of any and all existing physical conditions to ensure appropriate treatment.

I further understand that a massage therapist neither diagnoses conditions nor prescribes treatments, nor performs thrusting joint or spinal adjustments.

I understand that this massage does not involve touch of a sexual nature, and that I may halt or end the session at any time if I feel uncomfortable."

Basically what this means is that massage therapy:

- does affect the body, and could harm you if the therapist doesn't know about certain health conditions beforehand

- is not the same as seeing a doctor - we can't diagnose or prescribe, nor are we chiropractors

- is not sex work, and should not been seen as a way to work with sexual energy/needs

and

- is something that you, as the client, are ultimately in control of - if something isn't working for you, please let us know so that we can change it, or stop entirely if that is what you need.

For a more in-depth accounting of what massage therapists should and shouldn't be doing, there is a longer list of laws, as well as information about how and when to make a complaint.

I hope that this helps ewe ;)

Checking up on healthcare providers

If you've ever been curious about whether a healthcare practitioner is behaving properly, you might be interested in knowing that the Washington State Department of Health has both very specific guidelines about allowed and prohibited behaviors for different classes of practitioners*, and also that you can search providers' credentials to see if there have been complaints filed against them.

Practitioners should ideally have their license numbers on their promotional materials, but if they don't, they should at least be willing to provide them if you ask. You can also look them up by name, but this might not work quite as well if the person doesn't go by their legal name, or if it is a very common name.

If you were to look me up by name, though, you would find that I am licensed as a Massage Practitioner (MA00016246) and that I am registered as a Nursing Assistant (NA00193321).

*The legal parameters for massage therapists are usually listed under Licensing/Certification, then Massage Therapists, then Laws, but it appears that the link is currently broken. This may have something to do with the fact that there are only two employees working for the state who handle ALL of the licensing, which also means that it sometimes takes months for new practitioners to receive their licenses after they've submitted their applications and money. *sigh*

One thing that is always surprising about massage is how hard it is for people to make the time and allow themselves to be taken care of. I understand financial difficulties, but it's clear to me that money is not the obstacle for many people.

Case in point: gift certificates.

Some people call right away, and make use of their gift certificate within a week or two. Most schedule a massage within a few months, depending on their often busy schedules. And a handful of people I don't hear from for six months, a year, or ever.

While plenty of people have said that this is just a lucky situation for me - making money without really working - it always makes me sort of sad. When I sell someone a gift certificate, they have found me and decided that my work would be a special gift. I have all intention of making their gift a special one - I think of us as co-conspirators in making their loved one feel good. So when they don't appear, I feel a little like I've promised to do something and not followed through.

I don't usually take it personally - I know that people get busy and lose track of things and sometimes just have their own reasons for not wanting to be massaged. I trust that they will make it in when and if they are supposed to.

It did become an issue when I started planning to move to a new area, however. I moved my home in August, but continued to do massage in Bellingham until the end of 2008. So last spring I went through my gift certificate log and contacted everyone I'd sold an unredeemed gift certificate to, to let them know that I'd be leaving the area, and that they might want to nudge the recipient.

Some of these people had purchased the session years ago, but I contacted them all because my conscience was going to poke at me relentlessly otherwise. Sidenote: since 2004 my conscience has had backup - in Washington State it is illegal to put an expiration date on any gift certificate or gift card that has been paid for with money. (Donations are different.)

So, while I'm not taking it personally, and you can technically wait as long as you want (assuming the business still exists) to cash in your gift certificate - why wait? If it feels selfish to lie on a table and do nothing while someone else works to make your feel better, think of how much easier it is to be kind to other people, to focus, to stay healthy, and to appreciate the world around you when you are feeling more relaxed. I think that you might actually be doing us massage therapists and everyone around you a favor.