Iowa Code » Chapter 152C — MASSAGE THERAPY
Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 152C.5 (2026)

Practice or use of title — license required

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section IA-LEGlegis.iowa.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

1. The practice of massage therapy as defined in section 152C.1 is strictly prohibited by unlicensed individuals. It is a serious misdemeanor for a person to engage in or offer to engage in the practice of massage therapy, or use in connection with the person’s name, the initials “L. M. T.” or the words “licensed massage therapist”, “massage therapist”, “masseur”, “masseuse”, or any other word or title that implies or represents that the person practices massage therapy, unless the person possesses a license issued under the provisions of section 152C.3.

2. It shall be an affirmative defense to a prosecution for a violation of subsection 1, in\n\nTue Dec 09 22:25:24 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 152C (32, 0) 3 MASSAGE THERAPY, §152C.6\n\naddition to any other affirmative defenses for which the defendant might be eligible, that the defendant is a victim of a crime that is a violation of section 710A.2. 92 Acts, ch 1137, §5; 2000 Acts, ch 1185, §5; 2019 Acts, ch 106, §1 \n

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 2017–2018 · leading case: In The Matter Of Prop. Seized From Bo (Brian) Li, Na Tian, & Wei Tian, 911 N.W.2d 423 (Iowa 2018).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
In The Matter Of Prop. Seized From Bo (Brian) Li, Na Tian, & Wei Tian, 911 N.W.2d 423 (Iowa 2018). · cites it 8× “Iowa Code § 152C.5. 3 The State also contends the legislative history supports the conclusion that the unlicensed practice of massage therapy is a serious misdemeanor.”
State of Iowa Ex Rel., Thomas J. Miller, Attorney Gen. of Iowa, Applicant-Appellee v. Awakened, Inc., Joshua Weber, & Heather Weber (Iowa Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 2× “See Iowa Code § 152C.5 (2015) (prohibiting unlicensed individuals from practicing massage therapy).”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.