Resources

American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA)
AMTA is the premiere non-profit professional association in the Massage Therapy field. Founded in 1943, the AMTA represents more than 58,000 massage therapists in 27 countries. AMTA works to establish massage therapy as integral to the maintenance of good health and complementary to other therapeutic processes; to advance the profession through ethics and standards, certification, school accreditation, continuing education, professional publications, legislative efforts, public education and fostering the development of members. Go to AMTA for more information.

Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy
Arizona Massage Therapist license requirements, renewals, address changes, etc. Visit the Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy for specifics.

Massage Therapy Foundation
The Massage Therapy Foundation advances the knowledge and practice of massage therapy by supporting scientific research, eductation and community services.

The Massage Therapy Foundation was founded by AMTA in 1990 with the mission of bringing the benefits of massage therapy to the broadest spectrum of society through the generation, dissemination and application of knowledge in this field. We do this by receiving donations and granting funds for research, community service, educational initiatives and conferences.

We also do this by providing direct consultation to the medical and research communities and by educating massage therapists about the world of research. For more information, see Massage Therapy Foundation.

National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork
The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) is an independent, private, nonprofit organization that was founded in 1992 to establish a certification program and uphold a national standard of excellence. Today, there are more than 90,000 nationally certified massage therapists and bodyworkers safely and competently serving millions of Americans each year.

To become nationally certified, practitioners must

• Complete a minimum of 500 hours of instruction
• Demonstrate mastery of core skills, abilities and knowledge
• Pass a standardized NCBTMB exam
• Uphold NCBTMB’s Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics

For more information, go to the NCBTMB website.

Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards
The mission of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) is to support its Member Boards in their work to ensure that the practice of massage therapy is provided to the public in a safe and effective manner. In carrying out this mission, the Federation ensures the provision of a valid, reliable licensing examination to determine entry-level competence.

The examination developed by the FSMTB on behalf of its Member Boards is the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Examination (MBLEx). To ensure the examination reflects current practice, a Job Task Analysis Survey was developed with contributions by over 50 content experts under the guidance of 15 testing and psychometric experts. The Job Task Analysis was further validated by input from 7,646 massage, bodywork and somatic professionals representing every state in the USA. The MBLEx is administered through Pearson VUE at high-security test centers across the United States