As used in KRS § 309.350 to KRS § 309.364 unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) “Board” means the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Massage Therapy;
(2) “Board-approved massage program” means one which meets minimum standards for training and curriculum as determined by the board;
(3) “Compensation” means the direct or indirect payment, loan, advance, donation, contribution, deposit, barter, gratuity, or gift of money or anything of value;
(4) “Feldenkrais Method” means a system of somatic education in which touch and words are used to eliminate faulty habits, learn new patterns of self-organization and action, and improve a person’s own functional movement patterns. The method is based on principles of physics, biomechanics and an understanding of, or learning about, human development. The practice is federally trademarked and requires permission from the Feldenkrais Guild to use the term and methodology;
(5) “Massage therapist” means a person who is licensed by the board to administer massage or massage therapy to the public for compensation;
(6) “Polarity therapy” means diverse applications affecting the human energy system.
These applications include energetic approaches to somatic contact, verbal facilitation, nutrition, exercise, and health education. Polarity therapy does not make medical claims, diagnose physical ailments, or allow prescription of medications. Standards for schools, education, and practice, the administration of a code of ethics, and a registration process are provided by the American Polarity Therapy Association. The practice of polarity therapy is federally trademarked;
(7) “Practice of massage therapy” means the application, by a massage therapist licensed by the board, of a system of structured touch, pressure, movement, and holding to the soft tissues of the human body with the intent to enhance or restore the health and well-being of the client. The practice includes the external application of water, heat, cold, lubricants, salt scrubs, or other topical preparations; use of electromechanical devices that mimic or enhance the actions of the hands; and determination of whether massage therapy is appropriate or contraindicated, or whether referral to another health care practitioner is appropriate; and
(8) “Trager Approach” means a form of movement education that uses subtle directed movements and the skilled touch of a practitioner. The Trager Approach combines physical movement with sensory awareness and internal imagery designed to increase the client’s self-awareness and generate physiological changes in the body tissues so as to allow the client to experience a new way of moving his or her body. The practice is federally trademarked.
Effective: June 29, 2021
History: Amended 2021 Ky. Acts ch. 29, sec. 1, effective June 29, 2021. — Amended
2010 Ky. Acts ch. 112, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2010. — Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch.
29, sec. 1, effective July 12, 2006. — Created 2003 Ky. Acts ch. 45, sec. 1, effective
June 24, 1003; and ch. 70, sec. 1, effective June 24, 2003.
Legislative Research Commission Note(7/12/2006). Section 1 of 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 29 (Senate Bill 91) made no changes to this statute. The changes to KRS § 309.350 contained in the introduced version of the bill were eliminated by Senate Floor
Amendment 1, which was adopted by the Senate, after which Senate Bill 91 was passed by both chambers with no changes to the existing text of KRS § 309.350.
Legislative Research Commission Note (6/24/2003). 2003 Ky. Acts ch. 45, sec. 1, and
2003 Ky. Acts ch. 70, sec. 1, are substantially identical and have been codified together.