CHARLOTTE – There are many massage therapists in North Carolina, both licensed and unlicensed. Why choose a licensed therapist? Those of us who are licensed have gone through a lot of training. I’d actually prefer we have even more training than the 600 required for graduating massage school. At my school, we actually graduated with 750 hours and I’m grateful for every bit. It allowed for extra neuromuscular training in addition to my other studies and I believe these extra hours have allowed me to treat a broader client base and expand my knowledge to help more.

In NC, according to ABMP (a massage therapist organization), in 2019 there were around 9000 licensed massage therapists in our state. Why is licensure important? When you walk into a place to work with an MT, you are entrusting us with your health. You are making the assumption that we will not do any harm to you and you are asking us to help you with a goal or a need that you have. So licensure IS important in making sure we are abiding by the rules set forth by our state. These rules are for your protection, and they work for our protection as well.

Get to know your massage therapist. Ask us where we were schooled, how many hours we studied and what kind of continuing education is required to keep our license active (24 hours every two years). Make sure if we are claiming to do certain modalities, that we have been properly trained. You’re the boss.

-Lisa Lane (#13098) is a licensed massage and bodywork therapist in the Mint Hill area. To book an appointment please visit ncmassagesanctuary.massagetherapy.com.