Tonight on A Current Affair

Tonight, A Current Affair will be running a consumer expose on

"Australia's cheap and nasty" massage clinics.

My association of professional massage therapist (AMT) obviously shares members' concerns about the proliferation of "dodgy" massage establishments claiming to offer legitimate treatments. This is precisely why it's extremely important to tell the story that A Current Affair is unlikely to tell - of the thousands of reputable clinics and practices offering treatments that are delivered by qualified, highly professional practitioners. I would like to outline what people should be looking for in a practitioner and a treatment. So what should prospective clients look for in a therapist and a treatment?

Here are some talking points to emphasise in my social media pages: • Reputable therapists hold formal qualifications and appropriate insurances • Reputable therapists join professional associations and are bound by the Code of Ethics of that association. AMT members are also bound by the AMT Code of Practice, a comprehensive benchmark for the safe and ethical practice of massage therapy. • Reputable therapists provide a clinic environment that is clean, safe and comfortable • Reputable therapists perform a thorough case assessment, including relevant medical history. • Reputable therapists provide an explanation of the nature of the massage and techniques to be used in advance of the treatment, including the clinical reasoning for these. • Reputable therapists allow clients to exercise the right to consent to the massage techniques and approaches, including manual pressure, used in the treatment. • Reputable therapists give clients the option to ask questions and receive professional responses. • Reputable therapists give clients privacy while changing and the right to remove clothing only to their level of comfort. Yours sincerely, AMT