Massage Therapy CEs | Massage Concepts and Techniques

Certified Fertility Massage Therapist

Massage Therapy continuing education CEs earned: 16. The average massage therapist should expect to devote one clock hour for every CE credit earned, based on NCBTMB calculations.

Fertility Massage Course Classification: Kinesthetic (course materials teach specific techniques to use on clients during a massage therapy session.)

Course Format: This course is offered online, available instantly at your convenience. We are not currently offering live seminars.

Please note that it is up to the massage therapist to determine if teaching fertility massage techniques to your clients is considered within your scope of practice in your jurisdiction.

Approved by: Institute of Somatic Therapy (Judith Koch) is approved by the NCBTMB (Provider #280672-00) as a continuing education Approved Provider. Institute of Somatic Therapy is approved by New York (#0019) and Florida (#MCE-326 and 50-1116 for CE Broker purposes). Our courses are valid for AMTA, ABMP, and most individual states. Some states limit how many hours can be done online or by home study, and some states limit approved topics. Please refer to our State Guidelines section for specific information about your state. Laws can and do change, and your state will hold you responsible for knowing the laws that apply to you. Nothing on our website should be considered legal advice.

Attention Florida Massage Therapists: This course is approved by Florida as an approved distance learning course for required hours of "relevant to massage therapy" category hours through 8/31/2025. You are still allowed to complete the 12 required "relevant to massage therapy" hours via approved online courses through at least 2025. The approval number for this course is 20-795812.

Tuition: US$209. Tuition includes instant online access to all of the course materials except Hethir Rodriquez's streaming video, which you will be given pre-paid access through the Self Fertility Massage website. You will receive a separate link to access the video, usually with 1-2 business days (weekends and holidays excluded) after enrolling in the course. The digital access to the course will be through Hethir's website. All other course materials are accessible through our website instantly upon enrollment, so you may begin working on the course instantly. If you have not received your link to access the video within 2 business days of enrolling, please contact us at the contact link above.

To enroll: Simply click the green "buy now" button. You will see the course in your shopping cart, with the option to continue shopping (if you want to enroll in more than one course) or checkout. Once you click checkout, it will take you through the process of creating a new account if you do not have one, or logging into an existing account if we find an account already associated with your email address. You do not need to have an existing account before you add a course to your shopping cart.

Package Option: If you wish to enroll in this course along with two or more of our courses, such as prenatal, doula, or infant, you can click on the following link: Create Your Own Customized Discount Package. With the coupon codes found there, you can receive a discount of 8%-15% (depending on tuition value) when you enroll in any three or more of our courses at the same time. Coupon offers are not retroactive. Coupon must be entered during the checkout process, or it expires.

Course Materials: Self Fertility Massage streaming video with Hethir Rodriguez, CMT, MH, accompanying course materials by Judith Koch Stapleton. You will also watch a number of online videos as part of the course. (Although the photo of the streaming video shows a DVD, you will not be receiving a hard copy DVD, only access to streaming video.) Please note that upon enrollment, IST will purchase your access to the streaming video through the Natural Fertility Shop website. Once we have purchased this access on your behalf, if you request a refund or exchange on the course, we are unable to refund that segment of your tuition, as the digital access through Hethir is not refundable under any circumstances.

Course topics include:

Reproductive Anatomy
Causes of Infertility
Benefits of Fertility Massage
Contraindications for Fertility Massage
Outcome Based Evidence for Fertility Massage
Fertility Massage Steps (Routine)
Aromatherapy, Herbs, Diet, and Exercise - Impact on Fertility
Course Study Guide for Online Exam
Course PDF files also include 2008 and 2015 medical research studies on fertility massage, and Medscape Infertility Practice Guidelines.

Course Description: In the Fertility Massage course, Massage Therapist and Master Herbalist Hethir Rodriguez shares how you can use massage to help improve some women's chances of increasing fertility through a variety of massage techniques. [Note: the cause of infertility will determine if these techniques may be effective. Many common causes of infertility may be helped by these techniques, but many causes of infertility cannot be.] The material is designed from a self-massage perspective, so it does not specifically cover body mechanics to perform these techniques on your clients

The course covers a series of techniques that you can use on, and teach to, your clients. You will study deep tissue massage, myofascial release, reflexology, aromatherapy, and more, all targeted to the reproductive organs. These techniques are designed to help increase circulation, break up adhesions, and promote health for the reproductive system and the entire body. You will study the female reproductive system, benefits and contraindications to fertility massage, and scientific studies the show the effectiveness of fertility massage. You will also be exposed to arguments that fertility massage is not effective and is unethical. It is important to study both sides of this issue, especially given the emotional fragility of many infertile clients. It is extremely important that you know the limitations of fertility massage and that you do not give infertile clients false hope.

For the greatest chance of conception, these techniques should be performed on a very regular basis, three to five times per week (excluding the week of menses, or ovulation to menses if trying to become pregnant). Since most infertile women will not have the time and resources to get massage that often, you should be prepared to teach them the techniques to perform on themselves. Your fertility pricing should include several sessions where you perform the work, as you teach them the work, and then give her the freedom to perform it on herself, perhaps with you seeing her 2 – 4 times a month for massage and follow-up.

Testing: You complete your test online, and immediately upon passing, print your certificate for your CEs. To see how our online courses and testing work, we invite you to take our free sample course. You have one year from enrollment to complete the online exam.

Becoming a Fertility Massage Specialist: To earn the optional title of Fertility Massage Specialist, upon completion of the course and online exam, you will document two sessions on a client, teaching her how to perform self-fertility massage to help her toward her goal of conception. We do not require that your volunteer for the practical sessions actually becomes pregnant. There is a one-time processing fee of $35 payable when you access the online application. There is no expiration date or required renewal for this title. Neither the NCBTMB nor any state massage therapy boards make a determination on the awarding of the title of Fertility Massage Specialist.

We have been notified that the NCBTMB is no longer allowing approved CE providers to award certification titles without having received third party accreditation, which is not available to CE providers who are not affiliated with a 500 or more hour massage school. As a CE provider, and not an initial massage school, we do not fit in this category. We will therefore modify the title awarded upon completion of the optional internship. We had been using the title "Certified Fertility Massage Therapist", but to stay in compliance with the board rules, the new title will be "Fertility Massage Specialist". We are working with the board and our website development team to implement the changes in a timely fashion. Students who have already enrolled or enroll within the next few weeks will have a short grace period (exact date unknown at this time) to still earn the certification title. All enrollees, regardless of enrollment date, understand and agree that the title they earn will depend on the date that they submit the internship forms.

Required homework to earn specialty title: Perform two massage sessions on one infertile client (someone who has been unsuccessful after 12 or more months of trying to become pregnant.) The process consists of a self-analysis of your practice sessions. For example, you will answer questions such as: Looking back at your session, what was the best part of the experience? How you can build on that in future sessions? What was the biggest challenge with this massage? What can you do to mitigate this challenge so it is less a problem in the future? What questions did your client have? How can you implement that information into future work? Based on this experience, what are three things you can do better next time?

To find the homework documentation requirements: There is a PDF located in the course materials, in the PDF section to the right. Just log into your account, click “access course” to the far right of the course title, and then access the course materials. From there, look to the right at the PDF file section. You can refer to this documentation as you are performing the homework. When you are ready, you will complete the online submission process.

CE Broker Reporting: Institute of Somatic Therapy will automatically report your hours to CE Broker in applicable states ONLY IF you have provided your license number in your online account with us. You can verify your license information by logging on to our website, and reviewing your account information. If your license is not shown there, please select “edit” to include it.

Student Comment: The content was so condensed, I had to review quite a few times prior to testing. For someone who has a bachelor degree in philosophy and focus in nursing, I've had my fair share of reviewing anatomy and physiology four separate occasions. This course was great, thorough and applicable. The course gave a whole lot more content for the CEs that were offered and I will definitely have to go back and review all of the content a few more times. (Comment received through our anonymous course feedback form.)

Can massage help infertility?

Whether or not massage can help infertility is determined by the cause of the infertility. Female infertility can have many causes, and can arise from different factors. The woman’s ovaries must be releasing an egg (ovulate), the partner needs to produce a healthy supply of viable sperm, intercourse needs to occur in the time window corresponding with ovulation, and the fallopian tubes must be functioning properly, as does the uterus and hormone production. Infertility can happen at any of these stages. The techniques taught in our fertility massage course are most useful for clients whose fertility is caused by fallopian blockages.

What do they do in a fertility massage?

Our Fertility Massage Specialist students will study deep tissue massage, myofascial release, reflexology, aromatherapy, and more, all targeted to the reproductive organs. These techniques are designed to help increase circulation, break up adhesions, and promote health for the reproductive system and the entire body. Therapists will study the female reproductive system, benefits and contraindications to fertility massage, and scientific studies the show the effectiveness of fertility massage.

What is the success rate of fertility massage?

There are very few studies that give a definitive answer to the success rate of fertility massage. First and foremost would be knowing the cause of the infertility. Fallopian blockages are the main cause of infertility that could benefit from fertility massage.

Massage can help to restore the uterus to its normal position and shape if it has become tilted or compressed by a fecal impacted intestine. Massage helps improve circulation to the reproductive organs. The result of improved circulation is bringing fresh oxygenated blood and nutrients to the organs, as well as to the ova. Massage can help loosen scar tissue and clear blockages to the Fallopian tubes, relax a stomach that is hardened from stress or digestive issues, and promote liver health to process toxins from the body. Massage can help to loosen impacted feces in the large intestine, too much of which could potentially put pressure on the uterus.

There are a few scientific studies that have shown a positive correlation between fertility massage and becoming pregnant. In May of 2015, Alternative Therapies published a study correlating manual physical therapy with improved fertility. The article, titled Ten-year Retrospective Study of the Efficacy of a Manual Physical Therapy to Treat Female Infertility, followed nearly 1400 infertility patients. Of the patients whose infertility was caused by blocked fallopian tubes, more than half experienced clearing of their blockages, and over half of those women went on to become pregnant. Of the patients in the study whose infertility was attributed to endometriosis, over 40% became pregnant, as did over 50% of women with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Again, the key to whether or not massage will help is the cause of the infertility.

Is fertility massage ethical?

There are more causes for infertility that massage cannot help as compared to causes that massage can help. As a result, ethically it is important that Fertility Massage Specialists are cautious in their marketing and statements to clients or potential clients. Therapists need to be clear that many causes of infertility cannot be addressed by this method, and ask potential clients about their diagnosis to attempt to be certain if you can offer them help. Because they are already in an emotionally fragile state, easily clinging to any hope, it would be extremely unethical to imply that you can help them under situations where that is not realistic.

Do you offer installment payments or financing? We accept credit cards, so you can make payments to your credit card company as it fits your budget. We do not offer private financing.

Will your online courses work on my phone, tablet, or other device? Yes. Since technology continues its rapid pace forward, it is impossible for us to provide a current and complete list of all devices on which our courses will work. We invite you to take our free sample course so that you can personally test if the online content and streaming video work on your device.

Can I print the online test to work on it at my convenience? When you access the online course, you can print the course study guide, which contains the test questions. You may refer to it while completing the online exam.

What happens if I fail the test? Do I have to pay again? No. If you happen to fail our test, you can continue to retest until you do pass at no additional charge. With most of our courses, as noted above, the test will be different each time you take it. You can print out your test results to use as a reference for studying before taking the test again.

What is the difference between cognitive and kinesthetic courses? Cognitive courses are those that teach concepts related to massage therapy, but do not teach specific hands-on techniques. Courses such as ethics, pathology, anatomy, and research are classified as cognitive. Kinesthetic courses are those that teach specific hands-on techniques that you can use on clients during a massage therapy session. Some states limit how many kinesthetic courses can be completed in an online or home study setting. Refer to our state guidelines page for specifics about your state.

Press Release: Fertility Massage Studies Show Promise

It has long been theorized that the relaxing benefits of massage were helpful in women achieving fertility. That has now been backed up by two studies that lend credence to the theory, when using specific fertility-enhancing bodywork techniques.

The first study, published 6/18/2004 by Medscape General Medicine OB/GYN & Women’s Health, studied two groups of women. One group was seeking to become pregnant on their own, the other group was preparing to receive in vetro fertilization (IVF). Both groups had suspected or confirmed pelvic adhesions or inflammatory diseases such as endometriosis. Both groups received targeted bodywork therapy to their abdominal and pelvic area. In the first group, of the 14 patients available for follow-up, 71% became pregnant within one year, and three of them became pregnant a second time. Of the IVF group, there was a 66% successful rate of embryo transfers, which is significantly higher than the estimated odds ratio.

The second study also produced significant results. Published in the January/February 2008 issue of Alternative Therapies, 28 infertile women who had been diagnosed with complete Fallopian tube blockages received 20 hours of manual physical therapy treatment to their abdominal area. Within one month, they underwent medical testing to determine the status of the blockages. Seventeen of the 28 patients (61%) showed that the blockage had been released, and nine of those seventeen went on to become pregnant.

Massage therapists are now able to learn a bodywork protocol to enhance fertility, and become fertility massage specialists, through the Institute of Somatic Therapy. Using the technique developed by Hethir Rodriguez, a Certified Massage Therapist and Master Herbalist, therapists can learn a specific procedure to address infertility. The technique consists of a series of deep tissue strokes, myofascial release, reflexology, and more, all designed with many benefits in mind. The reproductive organs gain improved circulation, bringing fresh oxygenated flood and nutrients to the uterus and ovaries. Scar tissue is relaxed and blockages of the Fallopian tubes may be cleared. The routine also addresses stomach, liver, and intestinal health, to clear blockages, help bring about ideal uterine position, and to achieve hormonal balance. According to Dr. John Lee, in his book Hormonal Balance Made Simple, hormonal balance begins in the digestive system.

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