A license to feel rubs some the wrong way.

• Author: Saunders, Barry
• Position: Massage therapists

True story: I went to a massage parlor in Durham the other day - strictly in the interest of journalism, the public's right to know and all that - and, lo and behold, I actually got a massage.

That may not sound remarkable to you, but physical therapists in North Carolina consider it big news. And so unusual that most of them want to see massage therapists - and not just the ones at places with neon lights - banished from the face of the Earth. They'll settle for denying them a professional license to practice their trade.

Physical therapists regard their massage-therapy counterparts with the same warmth a vegetarian has for a medium-rare pork chop. That is to say, none at all. Most physical therapists, many law-enforcement officials and a majority of state legislators consider massage therapy - one of the world's oldest health treatments - uncomfortably close to the world's oldest profession.

Yet massage therapists are as disdainful of massage "parlors" as everyone else. (I'm not: My shoulders and back felt great by the time "Glenda" got through with me.) In a concerted effort to change their occupation's image from a front for prostitution, North Carolina massage therapists are trying to police themselves by requiring professional licensure for anyone seeking to enter the field. Masseurs and masseuses would have to complete 500 hours of instruction and pass a certified board test from the American Association of Massage Therapists.

Not the most rigid, to be sure, but a far cry from the current - some say antiquated and demeaning - business-license requirements that now vary from city to city. Until last year in Durham, where I got my massage - again, strictly for the sake of this story - anyone hoping to legally knead some flesh had to submit to a police background check, mug shot, fingerprinting and communicable-disease exam.

North Carolina is the only state on the East Coast not to offer professional licenses to massage therapists, says Terrie Rhodes, chairperson of the N.C. Legislative Task Force of Massage Therapists. Despite the entreaties of a high-powered Raleigh lobbying firm, the massage therapists have not been able to persuade enough lawmakers to bestow upon them the legitimacy that licensure would confer. But they are making another push this session.

For now, physical therapists can breathe a sigh of relief, since they fear licensing massage therapists would only further blur the lines distinguishing their more highly trained...