What is Massage Therapy?

Massage therapy is manual manipulation of soft body tissues (muscle, connective tissue, tendons and ligaments) to enhance a person's health and well-being. There are dozens of types of massage therapy methods (also called modalities).

Registered Massage Therapists can help you with extensive soft tissue damage, injury, chronic disease, pain management, impaired mobility and for common treatments to help stress relief and maintain well-being.

In Manitoba, Massage Therapy will be regulated under the Regulated Health Professions Act in the coming years and our professional titles Registered Massage Therapist and Massage Therapist will be protected, giving assurance that the professional you see has graduated from an approved school and maintains their professional competency and standards of practice.

Currently, members of the Massage Therapy Association of Manitoba have graduated from an approved school and maintain their professional competency and standards of practice.

We are all proud to be Registered Massage Therapists

This insignia is your assurance you are seeing a Massage Therapist that has acheived the minimum nationally-accepted qualifications and standards of the profession.

Members of the MTAM have completed at least two years of education and a practicum at a recognized school of massage therapy.

Is your Massage Therapist Registered?

The titles Massage Therapist, Licensed Massage Therapist and Registered Massage Therapist are the agreed upon National Standard for practicing professionals from the regulated provinces: Ontario, British Columbia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland & Labrador. Members of the MTAM have used this designation in Manitoba for many years with the approval of the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO) who own the intellectual property rights and do so with the understanding that the standards practiced by MTAM members are meeting the nationally-accepted standards.

The MTAM recommends to our members to only use the following titles as is accepted nationally and will be used once our legislation is in place. Per A Report to the Minister of Health on the Investigation of the Application for the Regulation of Massage Therapy under The Regulated Health Professions Act

Section 81(1) of the RHPA prohibits any person other than a member of a college from using the term “licensed”. Section 4 of the Regulated Health Professions (Ministerial) Regulation specifies that members of MTAM and the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada Association may use the term “registered” as part of the title describing a member’s work.

The Council recommends that the following title and its variations, abbreviations and initials be restricted to members of the College of Massage Therapy of Manitoba:

- “massage therapist”,
- “registered massage therapist”;
- “licensed massage therapist”