Massage: Knowledge of legitimate business needed

Re: “Massage businesses selling something extra can be hard to catch, expert says” (TNT, 12/22)

As a credentialed reflexologist, I second former law enforcement officer and massage industry consultant Lavon Watson’s concern about the difficulty of stemming the rising tide of “outlaw” businesses providing massage services by untrained, unlicensed, and in some cases, trafficked workers.

There are tools to help the public discern whether a massage practitioner or someone claiming to do reflexology is a trained and credentialed professional or a possibly-exploited non-professional.

All legitimate reflexologists and massage practitioners in Washington state can be found on the Provider Credential Search page on the WA Department of Health (DOH) website, so if you know the practitioner’s name, click “Healthcare Provider”, select “massage” or “reflexology” from the dropdown menu, then search by name.

If you don’t have a name, you can find legitimate practitioners on state and/or national association websites. The American Massage Therapy Association Washington chapter website has a directory of area massage practitioners. The Washington Reflexology Association has an online directory of credentialed reflexologists searchable by city. If you need to find a reflexologist when you travel, there are practitioner directories on the websites of the Reflexology Association of America and the American Reflexology Certification Board.

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Massage: Knowledge of legitimate business needed."