Where do ethics come from? That’s metaethics. People were discussing principles of how to behave correctly early in human history. In Greece, Hesiod wrote in the 700s BCE that you get back what you put out. Three centuries later the philosopher Aristotle wrote two treatises called Ethics, arguing that human well-being fostered by the virtues are the basis for ethical behavior. Besides writing about ethics, the Greeks were big on massage—Homer wrote about massage oil and athletes were massaged before the Olympic games.

Massage ethics in the United States date at least from 1943 when the American Association of Masseurs and Masseuses (later the American Massage Therapy Association) was formed in Chicago and adopted a pledge embracing “ethical practice” (dues were fifty cents). This organization established a code of ethics in 1960.

The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) began in 1992. The NCBTMB’s Code of Ethics is undated but they implemented the latest edition of their Standards of Practice on September 15, 2000.