§3552. Definitions
As used in this Chapter:
(1)"Advertise" or "advertising" means to publish, display, or disseminate
promotional information and includes but is not limited to the issuance of any card, sign, or
direct mail, or in any newspaper, magazine, publication, or any announcement or display via
any televised, computerized, electronic, or telephone networks, magnetic signs, or media.
"Advertise" shall not include the following:
(a)Telephone directory information including white pages, yellow pages, and any
internet publication made by the phone directory company in which one is listed.
(b)Building signs identifying the location, unless the building sign contains
promotional material.
(2)"Applicant" means an individual who applies to the board to request the initial
issuance or r
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§3552. Definitions
As used in this Chapter:
(1) "Advertise" or "advertising" means to publish, display, or disseminate
promotional information and includes but is not limited to the issuance of any card, sign, or
direct mail, or in any newspaper, magazine, publication, or any announcement or display via
any televised, computerized, electronic, or telephone networks, magnetic signs, or media.
"Advertise" shall not include the following:
(a) Telephone directory information including white pages, yellow pages, and any
internet publication made by the phone directory company in which one is listed.
(b) Building signs identifying the location, unless the building sign contains
promotional material.
(2) "Applicant" means an individual who applies to the board to request the initial
issuance or reinstatement of any form of licensure that the board is authorized to issue
according to this Chapter.
(3) "Asynchronous distance learning" means the instructor and the students in the
course all engage with the course content at different times and from different locations.
(4) "Board" means the Louisiana Board of Massage Therapy.
(5) "Bureau" means the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information
of the office of state police within the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
(6) "Criminal history record information" means all state records of arrest,
prosecution, conviction, and national records that shall include fingerprints of the applicant,
biometrics, and other identifying information, if so requested.
(7) "Department" means the Louisiana Department of Health.
(8) "FBI" means the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States Department
of Justice.
(9) "Inactive status" means the status in which a licensed massage therapist has,
pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter, notified the board of intent to voluntarily cease
activity as a massage therapist for a period of time not to exceed five years.
(10) "In-person, in-class, instructor-supervised" means students physically attend
class or clinical session at the approved school location with their instructor and other
classmates.
(11) "Lapsed license" means a board-issued license which has not been renewed for
a period of more than two years and the holder of the license has not taken inactive status.
(12) "Licensee" means any person or business that has a professional or
establishment license issued by the board.
(13) "Licensure" means any form of licensure that the board is authorized to issue
in accordance with this Chapter.
(14) "Massage establishment" means any place of business that offers the practice
of massage therapy and where the practice of massage therapy is conducted on the premises
of the business. A place of business includes any office, clinic, facility, or other location
where a person or persons engage in the practice of massage therapy. The residence of a
therapist or an out call location which is not owned, rented, or leased by a massage therapist
or massage establishment shall not be considered a massage establishment unless the location
is advertised as the therapist's or establishment's place of business. The term "massage
establishment" shall not include physician offices, physical therapy facilities, chiropractic
offices, or athletic training facilities, whether or not they employ, contract with, or rent to
massage therapists, or institutions of secondary or higher education when massage therapy
is practiced in connection with employment related to athletic teams.
(15) "Massage therapist" means a person who engages in the practice of massage
therapy for compensation.
(16) "Person" means an individual, corporation, association, or other legal entity.
(17) "Practice of massage therapy" means the manipulation of soft tissue for the
purpose of maintaining good health and establishing and maintaining good physical
condition. The practice of massage therapy shall include advertising or offering to engage
in the practice of massage therapy and holding oneself out or designating oneself to the
public as a massage therapist or massage establishment. The practice of massage therapy
shall include effleurage (stroking), petrissage (kneading), tapotement (percussion),
compression, vibration, friction (active/passive range of motion), stretching activities as they
pertain to massage therapy, Shiatsu, acupressure, reflexology, trigger point massage, and
Swedish massage either by hand, forearm, elbow, foot, or with mechanical appliances for the
purpose of body massage. Massage therapy may include the use of lubricants such as salts,
powders, liquids, creams with the exception of prescriptive or medicinal creams, heat lamps,
hot and cold stones, whirlpool, hot and cold packs, salt glow, body wraps, steam cabinet
baths, and, with appropriate training, the use of nonprescriptive, off-the-shelf commercially
available electromechanical devices for which they are trained which mimic or enhance the
actions possible by the hands. It shall not include ultrasound, laser therapy, LED therapy,
microwave, colonic therapy, injection therapy, manipulation of the joints, the use of electrical
muscle stimulation, or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation except microcurrent.
Equivalent terms for massage therapy are massage, therapeutic massage, massage
technology, body work, or any derivation of those terms. As used in this Chapter, the terms
"therapy" and "therapeutic" shall not include diagnosis, the treatment of illness or disease,
or any service or procedure for which a license to practice medicine, chiropractic, physical
therapy, or podiatry is required by law.
(18) "Professional Massage Therapy Association" means a statewide organization
or statewide chapter of an organization which meets all of the following criteria:
(a) Either directly, or through the parent organization, qualifies as a tax exempt
nonprofit organization under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(6).
(b) Within Louisiana, offers a voting membership to licensed massage therapists who
practice or reside in Louisiana and who maintain their voting membership in good standing.
(c) Within Louisiana, is administered by a governing body composed of officers
democratically elected by the organization's voting membership within Louisiana.
(19) "Real-time synchronous distance learning" means students attend class session
virtually at the same time as the instructor and other classmates.
(20) "Writing" means a written communication transmitted either by United States
mail or by electronic means such as email.