Massage therapist organizations

There are many different massage therapist organizations with many different purposes. Many separate techniques have their own professional association to support their work.

ABMP
Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP) is the largest membership organization of Professional Massage Therapists and Bodyworkers in the United States.

The AMTA
The American Massage Therapy Association was founded in 1943. Now the American Massage Therapy Association® represents more than 55,000 massage therapists in 27 countries. It is the largest non-profit professional organization of massage therapists in the United States. AMTA works to establish massage therapy as integral to the maintenance of good health and complementary to other therapeutic processes; to advance the profession through ethics and standards, certification, school accreditation, continuing education, professional publications, legislative efforts, public education, and fostering the development of members.

Massage Therapy Foundation
The Massage Therapy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt (non-profit), public charity that promotes research, community service and education in the field of therapeutic massage and bodywork. It was founded in 1993 by the American Massage Therapy Association.

Beginning in 1993, the Massage Therapy Foundation began awarding grants to community service organizations such as hospices, shelters, and outreach programs. The purpose of the program has been to provide massage therapy services for members of society who are unlikely to have access to such services.

They support clinical research related to massage therapy, and make independent research articles and data available through their website.

In 2005 the Massage Therapy Foundation embarked on several new initiatives including the Student Case Report Contest and the Highlighting Massage Therapy in CAM Research Conference, the first of its kind to be held in the United States. The Foundation received a $30,000 grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) to help support this event.

The AMTWP
The Association of Massage Therapists and Wholistic Practitioners is a national association for people who provide massage therapy treatment in Canada. Its members are massage therapists and other touch therapists throughout Canada, but are primarily in Alberta.

The CMTA
The Canadian Massage Therapist Alliance is the national alliance for the provincial massage therapy associations in Canada. Its membership consists of the provincial associations as a whole, not individual members.

The CMTO
The College of Massage Therapists of Ontario regulates the profession of massage therapy in the province of Ontario.