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<br /> 2202-1 <br />2202. MASSAGE THERAPY AND COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE HEALTH <br />CARE PRACTICES AS AN ACCESSORY USE. <br /> <br />2202.005 PURPOSE <br />The purpose of this Section is to regulate massage and other complementary and alternative <br />health care practices when conducted as an accessory use to another principal business or <br />institution. These regulations are intended to protect public health, safety, and welfare; <br />safeguard client safety and privacy; prevent illicit or non-therapeutic activities; and ensure <br />that such services are provided in a safe, sanitary, and professional environment consistent <br />with legitimate therapeutic objectives. <br /> <br />2202.010. DEFINITIONS. <br /> <br />1. The term "massage therapy" means the rubbing, stroking, kneading, tapping or rolling <br />of the body with the hands or other parts of the body for the exclusive purposes of relaxation, <br />physical fitness, or beautification and for no other purposes. <br /> <br />The practice of massage therapy is hereby declared to be distinct from the licensed <br />practice of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, physical therapy, podiatry, and nursing, as well as <br />wellness programs sponsored by the management of senior housing complexes and the professions <br />of athletic coaching and training. Persons engaged in those professions are exempt from the <br />provisions of this ordinance. <br /> <br />2. The term "massage therapist" means a person who practices massage therapy. <br /> <br />3. "Massage Therapy Establishment" shall mean any room or rooms wherein a person <br />may receive a massage from a "massage therapist" for a fee. <br /> <br />4. "Sanitary" shall mean free from the vegetative cells of pathogenic-micro-organisms. <br /> <br />5. “Complementary and alternative health care practices” shall mean touch-based <br />practices in which physical contact is intentionally provided to a client for therapeutic, relaxation, <br />comfort, or general wellness purposes, including but not limited to those described in Minnesota <br />Statutes, Chapter 146A, whether or not the practitioner represents the service as improving health or <br />well-being. Examples include healing touch, reiki, energy work, relaxation techniques, and other <br />non-invasive practices intended to promote general wellness or stress reduction. The term applies <br />only to practices in which physical contact is a purposeful and integral component of the service. <br />Incidental or minimal contact that occurs solely for positioning, guiding, or placing objects does not <br />constitute a complementary or alternative health care practice. All such practices shall be non-sexual <br />in nature and conducted in a professional setting consistent with legitimate therapeutic objectives. <br />The term does not include activities otherwise regulated as medicine, chiropractic, physical therapy, <br />or massage therapy under other applicable provisions of this Code or State Statute. <br /> <br />6. “Complementary and alternative health care practitioner” means a person who <br />practices complementary and alternative health care practices.