2018 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 12 - Professions and Occupations
Health Care
Article 35.5 - Massage Therapists
§ 12-35.5-110. Scope of article - exclusions - authority for clinical setting

(1) Nothing in this article 35.5 prohibits or requires a massage therapy license for any of the following:

• (a) The practice of massage therapy that is a part of a program of study by students enrolled in a massage therapy program at an approved massage therapy school. Students enrolled in such programs are to be identified as "student massage therapists" and shall not hold themselves out as licensed massage therapists. Student massage therapists shall practice massage therapy only under the immediate supervision of a massage therapist holding a valid and current license. Faculty members teaching nonclinical aspects of massage therapy are not required to be licensed under this article.

• (b) The practice of massage therapy by a person employed by the United States government or any federal governmental entity while acting in the course and scope of such employment;

• (c) The practice of massage therapy by a person who is a resident of another state and who is in Colorado temporarily under one of the following circumstances:

  • (I) The person is traveling with and administering massage therapy to members of a professional or amateur sports organization, dance troupe, or other such athletic organization;

  • (II) The person provides massage therapy, without compensation, at a public athletic event such as the Olympic games, Special Olympics, youth Olympics, or marathons, if the massage therapy is provided no earlier than forty-eight hours prior to the commencement of the event and no later than twenty-four hours after the conclusion of the event;

  • (III) The person is part of an emergency response team or is otherwise working with or for disaster relief officials to provide massage therapy in connection with a disaster situation; or

  • (IV) The person is participating as a student in or instructor of an educational program, if:

    • (A) The program does not exceed sixteen days in duration; or

    • (B) The program exceeds sixteen days in duration and the person obtains a grant of an extension of time from the director prior to the seventeenth day;

• (d) The person provides massage therapy to members of the person's immediate family;

• (e) The person provides alternative methods that employ contact and does not hold himself or herself out as a massage therapist. For the purposes of this paragraph (e), "alternative methods that employ contact" include, but are not limited to:

  • (I) Practices using reflexology, auricular therapy, and meridian therapies that affect the reflexes of the body;

  • (II) Practices using touch, words, and directed movements to deepen a person's awareness of movement patterns in his or her body, such as the Feldenkrais method, the Trager approach, and body-mind centering;

  • (III) Practices using touch or healing touch to affect the human energy systems, such as reiki, shiatsu, and meridians;

  • (IV) Structural integration practices such as Rolfing and Hellerwork; and

  • (V) The process of muscle activation techniques.

• (f) (I) The practice of animal massage if the person performing massage on an animal:

  • (A) Does not prescribe drugs, perform surgery, or diagnose medical conditions; and

  • (B) Has earned a degree or certificate in animal massage from a school approved by the private occupational school division of the Colorado department of higher education under article 64 of title 23, an out-of-state school offering an animal massage program with an accreditation recognized by the United States department of education, or a school that is exempt under section 23-64-104.

    • (II) As used in this paragraph (f), "animal massage" means a method of treating the body of an animal for remedial or hygienic purposes through techniques that include rubbing, stroking, kneading, or tapping with the hand or an instrument or both, which techniques may be applied with or without the aid of a massage device that mimics the actions possible using human hands.

(2) If there is a continued pattern of criminal behavior with arrests, complaints regarding sexual misconduct, or criminal intent that is related to human trafficking disguised as a legitimate exemption, the director may, at his or her discretion, determine that a practice is no longer exempt from licensing pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of this section.

(3) Nothing is this article prohibits the practice of massage therapy by a person who is licensed or registered to practice medicine, nursing, osteopathy, physiology, chiropractic, podiatry, cosmetology, or any other health care profession, as long as the practice is within the limits of each respective practice act.