Ahhh . . . just thinking about a massage can be relaxing.
For many people, the hands-on therapy is a simple cure for everyday ills, aches and stresses. It's become so popular, in fact, that we can have our kinks worked on or worked out, not just at posh resorts, but at the airport or grocery store too.
And yet a lingering stigma dogs the profession, leaving some tense, aching Americans nonetheless reluctant to bare their body parts to strangers.
A new law could bring peace of mind and guidance to those who hesitate, as well as some welcome regulation to massage therapists who say it's about time.
Lucy Wojskowicz, owner of Laguna Canyon Spa in Laguna Beach, looks forward to the day when she and other massage therapists can get their credentials to practice massage therapy without being associated with the adult entertainment industry.
"In the past, when I applied for city permits, I got grilled as if I were running a massage parlor," the 41-year-old spa owner said. "They don't consider what I do health or therapy. I'm the same as a prostitute. It's embarrassing."
State laws across the country, including one in California that went into effect Jan. 1, aim to legitimize the profession, crack down on prostitution rings masquerading as massage centers and better protect the public.
"We want to put the unsavory past behind us," said Bill Brown, director of government and industry relations for the American Massage Therapy Assn. "One goal of getting states to regulate the practice of massage therapy is to curb prostitution and stop unethical practices that occur with no repercussions."
The California law creates the Massage Therapy Organization, which by fall will be ready to grant state certification to massage therapists who've had 250 or more hours of training and who pass an exam on ethics, anatomy and methods.
"The law lets those who want to receive the services of a massage therapist know with certainty that the massage therapist has met certain training criteria to become certified," said California state Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach), who fostered the measure.
Massage therapists and law enforcement agencies welcome the law. "The law protects consumers from financial and physical harm, and from people who have a different agenda in mind once they get you on the table," said M.K. Brennan, a massage therapist and AMTA president, adding that a properly trained massage therapist has a knowledge of anatomy and understands appropriate draping, boundaries and ethics.
