Pediatric physical therapy and massage

[Mija]

As a physical therapist who has been working many years in the pediatric field, I have become increasingly aware of the benefits of soft tissue mobs/massage for children with special needs. I am interested in starting a private business that would offer these services to children in their homes as an adjunct to their typical therapy regiman and am concerned about the need for a massage therapy license. I am aware that massage is within our scope of practice as PTs, but would just like to assure that I am covered with my PT license. Thank you in advance for your thoughts! Mija

[CH]

Many pediatric PTs I know offer massage. It is within our scope of practice, but it depends who is paying. If you are billing privately, i.e. private pay, it is definately legal, at least where I live in CA. If you are trying to get insurance to pay, that would be trickier, unless it is just part of your session, which can be billed under a relevent manual code, I assume.