How should I choose a therapist?
Choose someone who has advanced training and
experience dealing with injury cases, as well as sound
knowledge of a broad range of appropriate therapies,
evaluation/assessment, scope of practice issues, and
insurance billing. Ask your therapist about their
background, experience, and training.
There used to be a Medical Massage National
Certification Board (MMNCB), which offered an
examination for massage therapists with certain
advanced training. Those who passed this exam earned
certification as Nationally Certified Medical Massage
Therapists (NCMMTs). This is by no means the only
measure of a qualified orthopedic massage therapist. But
we believe it is a good one. Our therapists went through
advanced medical massage training programs which
prepared us to sit for this exam.
As far as we can tell, there are three therapists in the
Portland area who earned this designation and are
currently practicing. Two of them are at Oregon Clinical
Massage.