Q: Is it appropriate for a licensed massage therapist (LMT) to advertise using the word “rehabilitation”?

A: Although there is no prohibition per se, the Medical Board discourages an LMT’s use of the word rehabilitation when advertising services.  According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, rehabilitation, in part, is “to restore or bring to a condition of health or useful and constructive activity.”  The practice of massage therapy as the “treatment of disorders of the human body” seems to fit within the popular definition of rehabilitation.  However, there is a more technical meaning of rehabilitation within the healthcare community, which encompasses, among other tasks, the establishment of a problem list, a comprehensive care plan and the structuring of therapeutic goals.  The more technical definition falls within the scopes of practice of such professionals as physicians, physical therapists, speech pathologists, athletic trainers and occupational therapists.  Furthermore, a prohibition included in the recently passed scope of practice for LMTs is “[t]he prescription of therapeutic exercise for the purpose of rehabilitation or remediation of a disorder of the human body,”  Ohio Administrative Code Section 4731-1-05 (F)(5).  For the aforementioned reasons, use of the word rehabilitation by an LMT may be misleading in the context of the healthcare profession.