Oregon Careers in Healthcare

With the many wellness spa and massage parlors available for relaxation services all over the globe, it is indeed very hard for us to find a practitioner who is really good at it. Having all the credentials you need to practice a profession is very important, so it is safe to say that one of our criteria in searching for a suitable massage therapist is to find one with certification and licensing. But do they need both? What do a certified massage therapist and a licensed one have in common? What aspect of their occupation are they different? Read this article for details and if you want to find certified therapists who offer remedial massage in Sydney CBD.

Licensed or certified massage therapist: What’s the difference?

While both titles are meant for anyone who wanted to practice massage therapy and would want this to become their occupation, we must first know the difference between these two credentials.

Getting a license specifically means getting approved by the government to practice a profession. It is not necessarily education-bound, it simply is your requirement to practice your craft legally in a state or a country. There are countries who allow common people with basic knowledge for massage therapy to have a license just for the sake of statistics and census. However, there are also regulatory bodies who issue a license to massage therapists only if they also have board certification.

A certification, on the other hand, is proof that your massage therapist underwent a program that trained and educated them on how to practice massage effectively. This is the education criteria that licenses typically require before they get issued with a working permit. However, not all certified massage therapists can immediately perform their profession. There are states that require them to also get a license or permit to work.

To simplify, all licensed massage therapists can practice massage therapy with or without training certification. However, all certified massage therapists are trained, but not all of them can practice their profession.

Licensed or certified massage therapist: Do you need both?

The answer to this question deeply relies on the rules and regulations of the state where you would want to practice. In the United States of America, most of the states require a professional to be a licensed massage therapist of a licensed massage and bodywork therapist. Of the 46 US states that have massage therapy requirements upheld (Kansas, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wyoming do not have formal massage therapy regulations), only Indiana, Delaware, and California require a certified massage therapist distinction. But if you really want to make sure that you get the best therapist or if you are a practitioner and you would want to make sure that you are allowed to legally practice your craft, check out local government offices and websites to get an idea.