Chiropractors, Dentists, Acupuncturists*, Midwives, Pharmacists, and many more health professions are all regulated by colleges under the Health Professions Act (HPA). Most professions in the health care industry are regulated under the HPA. The HPA delegates the regulation of health care professions to regulatory colleges who develop, maintain and enforce professional regulations, standards of practice and codes of ethics. One major responsibility of regulatory colleges, is to investigate complaints about members of the profession it regulates, and discipline those members based on these investigations. Massage therapists are not regulated under the Health Professions Act. Alberta is one of the few provinces in Canada who do not regulate massage therapy under their Health Professions Act. A massage therapist stated in an interview with CBC, “massage therapy can do more harm than good, which makes the therapist’s qualifications vital” explaining why this issue is important.
Sexual Misconduct
There have been countless complaints against certain massage therapists throughout the province regarding inappropriate, and sometimes illegal behaviour regarding sexual misconduct. Just recently, a massage therapist was sentenced to 4 years in jail for sexually harassing women over the course of a few years. Without a regulatory college, there is no professional body that can discipline professionals for acting in an unethical way.
Risk of Injury
In other health professions, a practitioner without the proper training could potentially harm their client. Massage therapy is no different. Without the thousands of hours of training and education that most massage therapists agree should be required. Injuries can be easily prevented, and the risk can be outright eliminated so long as practitioners receive the proper education.
Massage therapy needs to be regulated. Anyone can call themselves a “Massage Therapist” in Alberta, even if they are not properly educated causing a lot of confusion with consumers. There needs to be some regulatory action. Whether it is moving massage therapy into the Health Professions Act, or if it’s creating transparency laws letting consumers know what a practitioner’s qualifications are. The risks are high, and this issue needs to be spoken about.
*Acupuncturists are not currently regulated under the Health Professions Act, they are regulated under the Health Disciplines Act. However this will soon be replaced by the Health Professions Act.