Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia
Department 345 - RULES OF GEORGIA BOARD OF MASSAGE THERAPY
Chapter 345-8 - REQUIREMENTS - BOARD RECOGNIZED MASSAGE THERAPY EDUCATION PROGRAM
Rule 345-8-.01 - Curriculum Requirements. Amended
Current through Rules and Regulations filed through March 20, 2024
In order to be a Georgia Board recognized massage therapy education program, the program must have a minimum curriculum of five-hundred (500) total clock hours of supervised classroom and supervised hands-on instruction. For purposes of this rule,"supervised" means the supervisor is physically on-site, qualified and immediately available. The minimum required subject matter and activities and the minimum required hours are as follows:
(a) A minimum of one hundred twenty-five (125) hours of in-class supervised instruction in human anatomy, physiology and kinesiology;
(b) A minimum of forty (40) hours of in-class supervised instruction in pathology;
(c) A minimum of two-hundred hours (200) in massage therapy theory, technique and practice, which must include in-class supervised instruction of clinical techniques and hands-on clinical practice and must include, at a minimum, the following subject matters: effleurage/gliding; petrissage/kneading; compression; friction, tapotement/percussion; vibration; direct pressure; superficial warming techniques; pumping; stretching; jostling; shaking; rocking;
(d) A minimum of one hundred twenty-five (125) hours of in-class supervised instruction in contraindications, benefits, universal precautions, body mechanics, massage history, client data collection, documentation, and legalities of massage, professional standards including draping and modesty, therapeutic relationships and communications;
(e) A minimum of ten (10) hours of in-class supervised instruction in ethics and business (to include a minimum of six (6) hours in ethics); and,
(f) Of the five hundred (500) total clock hours, the curriculum must include a minimum of fifty (50) hours in supervised student clinical practice, but no more than sixty (60) hours in supervised student clinical practice. Nothing in this rule shall be construed to prohibit a massage therapy school that has a curriculum greater than five hundred (500) hours from having more supervised student clinical practice so long as it has at least four hundred and forty (440) hours of in-class supervised instruction.
(g) If an applicant transfers from another massage therapy education program into a massage therapy education program recognized by this Board and any of the clock hours from the original program(s) are accepted as a part of the program to which the applicant transferred, the name of the original program and the clock hours accepted from that program must be identified on the transcript provided to the Board. If the transferred hours are not from a board recognized massage therapy education program, the hours may not be used to satisfy the curriculum requirements of this rule.
O.C.G.A. §§ 43-1-25, 43-24A-3(4), 43-24A-8(6).
