Though Rolfing is not massage therapy, it is often licensed under the heading of massage therapy. Heather worked as a Rolfer under the licensure of massage therapy in Washington State for 3 1/2 years. Until this past year, Montana was one of approximately 13 states that don't have state licensure for massage therapy.
House bill 662, providing for the state licensing of massage therapists, was signed into law by Governor Schweitzer on May 5, 2009. Rolfing, a form of Structural Integration, is exempt from this law. Structural Integrators desired to be kept exempt from this law because the work and goals of Structural Integration is distinctly different than the work and goals of massage therapy. As Deborah Weidhaas explains:
"One difference, in very plain and simple language, is that the practice and scope of massage is to relax muscles, improve range of motion (ROM) and improve circulation. Massage asks what is present in the body to relax. Structural Integration asks what is present in the body to change how it is organized and how it functions."1
The IASI (International Association of Structural Integrators) has created a certification process to address this question of licensure. Though Montana is not currently licensing Structural Integrators, I am a Certified Structural IntegratorCM and am certified by the NCTMB.
1 Weidhaas, Deborah. "Distinctions in Structural Integration," IASI 2006 Yearbook of Structural Integration.