Entry requirements
Education, examination, and application
- Credential
- Licensed Massage Therapist
- Minimum education
- 625 hours
- Approved education
- The Board's current laws-and-rules guidance presents a 625-hour framework. Section 37:3556 preserves a federal-triggered transition between a 500-hour supervised program and a 625-hour program with specified in-person, synchronous, technique, clinical, anatomy, physiology, and Louisiana-law components. Follow the Board's current 625-hour applicant instructions and confirm which statutory path applies.
- Examination
- The rules accept MBLEx or another board-approved national examination accredited through the recognized national accreditation framework; the examination generally must have been passed within two years.
- MBLEx relationship
- MBLEx is an accepted national examination, but the rule permits another qualifying board-approved national examination.
- Application
- Submit the board application, statutory fees, education and examination evidence, fingerprint-based criminal-history review, license verifications where applicable, and required disclosures.
- Application fees
- Section 37:3562 lists a $75 application fee and a separate $125 original massage therapist license fee. Fingerprint-vendor charges are separate.
- Background check or fingerprinting
- The board requires fingerprint-based criminal-history review for initial licensure and reinstatement through the current IdentoGO process.
- Reciprocity or endorsement
- A currently licensed out-of-state applicant may receive credit when the originating jurisdiction substantially conforms to Louisiana requirements. The Welcome Home Act supplies an additional residency-based route for qualifying applicants.
- Additional requirements
- Applicants must satisfy current education, examination, background, identity, and disclosure requirements. The forthcoming provisional pathway has separate establishment and disclosure conditions.
Renewal
Renewal and continuing education
- Cycle
- Louisiana massage therapist licenses renew annually.
- Deadline model
- The current renewal form uses an April 1 through March 31 license year with expiration on March 31.
- Fees
- Section 37:3562 lists a $125 annual therapist renewal fee and a $100 late-renewal fee.
- Continuing education
- A therapist completes 12 hours of qualifying continuing education for annual renewal; the first 12 months after initial licensure are exempt under the reviewed rule.
- Required subjects
- Qualifying CE must meet board content and provider rules. Verified online or home-study education may qualify under the current guidance.
- Documentation
- Licensees retain and submit qualifying CE documentation as required by the board renewal and audit process.
- Carryover
- Section 37:3561 permits excess CE to carry forward after the licensee has satisfied the current renewal-year requirement, subject to board rules.
- Late renewal
- Reinstatement is available under the statute for a lapse under 24 months with required fees and CE; after more than 24 months, a new application and 24 CE hours are required.
- Inactive license
- Section 37:3561 authorizes inactive status subject to the board's process and conditions.
Practice information
Scope, titles, and local requirements
- Scope of practice
- Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 37, Chapter 57 and the board rules define and regulate massage therapy practice.
- Protected titles
- A person generally must hold the state credential to practice or represent themselves as a licensed massage therapist, subject to statutory exemptions.
- Restrictions
- Licensees must comply with scope, conduct, sanitation, identification, establishment, and renewal rules.
- Municipal or local requirements
- Chapter 57 supersedes local therapist and establishment licensing and regulation while preserving zoning, local health, occupational taxes, and generally applicable rules.
- Establishments and other regulated activities
- Massage establishments must register or obtain the separate state credential and comply with LMT identification and operating requirements.
- Practitioner notes
- Confirm the Board's operative education-hour interpretation and the August 1, 2026 provisional-license implementation before relying on either pathway.
Change history
Public record revisions
Future verified changes will be listed from this Git-backed record.