Free TX Massage Jurisprudence Exam Flashcards

The state agency that licenses and regulates Texas massage therapists, instructors, schools, and establishments. TDLR took the Massage Therapy program over from the Department of State Health Services on November 1, 2017, under Senate Bill 202 (2015).

18 years old. Occupations Code 455.156(b)(3) and 16 TAC 117.20(a)(3) both require an applicant to be at least 18.

Occupations Code 455.156(b)(1): 200 hours of techniques and theory with 125 of them Swedish massage, 50 anatomy, 25 physiology, 50 kinesiology, 40 pathology, 20 hydrotherapy, 45 laws, rules, business practices and ethics, 20 health, hygiene, first aid and CPR, plus a 50-hour internship.

45 hours. Occupations Code 455.156(b)(1)(G) and 16 TAC 117.20(a)(8)(G) require 45 hours of massage therapy laws and rules, business practices, and professional ethics standards. This is the coursework the jurisprudence exam draws on.

Every applicant must submit a complete, legible set of fingerprints so TDLR can obtain criminal history information from DPS and the FBI (16 TAC 117.20(e), (g); Occupations Code 455.1525). TDLR runs the check again at each renewal (Occupations Code 455.160(h); 16 TAC 117.24(c)) and is automatically notified of later arrests.

Occupations Code 455.152, broadened effective September 1, 2025 (HB 1732, HB 1778, SB 703), permanently disqualifies anyone convicted of, pleading guilty or nolo contendere to, or given deferred adjudication for human trafficking (Penal Code Chapter 20A), sexual assault, indecent assault, aggravated sexual assault, prostitution-related and other listed sexual offenses, attempts to commit them, or substantially similar federal or out-of-state offenses.

Occupations Code 455.161 requires every student enrolled in a Texas massage school to hold a TDLR student permit naming the student and the school and, since September 1, 2025 (HB 1562), including a photograph of the student's face, displayed at the school. The permit fee is $25 (16 TAC 117.100(b)(1)) and it never authorizes practice as a licensed massage therapist.

16 TAC 117.23(b) requires public display at the licensed business location or the licensee's primary place of employment. With no primary office, the licensee must carry the current identification card. A displayed license must have a current photograph attached to its front (117.23(d)).

Pass either the State of Texas massage therapy exam TDLR administers through PSI, or the MBLEx from the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards. MBLEx candidates must also pass the Texas jurisprudence exam. The TDLR exam already includes law and rules content, so no separate jurisprudence exam follows it.

State laws and rules governing massage therapy practice, meaning Occupations Code Chapter 455 and 16 TAC Chapter 117. 16 TAC 117.22(a)(2) requires passing TDLR's jurisprudence exam before a license is issued. TDLR delivers it online through its vendor eStrategy Solutions.

The exam must be completed within 30 days of paying the registration fee. After 30 days the registration expires, the exam is invalidated, and the fee is not refunded. Testing again requires re-registering and paying a new fee.

$34, charged by eStrategy Solutions, the vendor TDLR links to for the Jurisprudence Exam for Massage Therapists. Do not confuse it with the $60 fee for the PSI-administered State of Texas massage therapy exam.

Two years. 16 TAC 117.22(c) requires exam results showing the applicant passed within two years of the license application. That limit does not apply to an applicant already licensed in another state or jurisdiction who applies under 16 TAC 117.20.

The NCBTMB Board Certification exam, the BCETMB. TDLR states the current NCBTMB board certification examination is not an acceptable licensing examination. National board certification is voluntary and is never a substitute for a Texas license.

100 scored items in 150 minutes, plus 10 non-scored items with 15 added minutes, and 70% correct to pass. The fee is $60 and the exam is closed book. Content is 38% Swedish techniques and theory, 8% laws and rules, and 5% ethics.

A license is valid two years from issuance (16 TAC 117.24(a); Occupations Code 455.160(a)). The initial application fee is $100 and the two-year renewal fee is $75. All fees paid to TDLR are non-refundable (16 TAC 117.100(a)).

At least 12 hours of TDLR-approved or recognized continuing education per license term (16 TAC 117.30(a)). A clock hour equals 50 minutes. First aid and CPR courses may supply no more than six of those hours per renewal period (117.31(a)(2)).

Anything teaching massage therapy techniques or manipulation of soft tissue. 16 TAC 117.31(c) allows online or correspondence CE only when the subject matter is something else. Independent study is otherwise unacceptable under 117.32(4).

16 TAC 117.24(b)(4) requires the HHSC-approved human trafficking prevention training under Occupations Code Chapter 116 before every renewal, with proof as TDLR prescribes. HB 2059 (2019) created the requirement, and TDLR describes it as a one-hour course.

Expired 90 days or less costs 1.5 times the renewal fee. More than 90 days but under 18 months costs two times the fee. At least 18 months but under three years costs two times the fee and requires the executive director's approval.

Occupations Code 455.001(8): manipulation of soft tissue by hand or through a mechanical or electrical apparatus for body massage, including effleurage, petrissage, tapotement, compression, vibration, friction, nerve strokes, and Swedish gymnastics. Massage, therapeutic massage, massage technology, myotherapy, body massage, and body rub are synonyms.

Occupations Code 455.001(11): any service offered or performed for compensation at a massage establishment that involves physical contact with a client. It may include oil, lubricant, salt glow, a heat lamp, hot and cold packs, or a tub, shower, jacuzzi, sauna, steam, or cabinet bath.

Occupations Code 455.151(c) bars anyone from performing or offering, for compensation, any service with a purported health benefit involving physical contact with a client unless the person holds an appropriate Chapter 455 license or is authorized under other law.

Occupations Code 455.002: massage therapy is a health care service when performed for therapeutic purposes, and it is not the practice of chiropractic. Therapy here never includes diagnosing or treating illness or disease, or any service requiring a medical, chiropractic, physical therapy, or podiatry license.

Occupations Code 455.004 exempts Texas-licensed physicians, chiropractors, occupational therapists, physical therapists, nurses, cosmetologists, athletic trainers, and similar licensed professionals while practicing within their own license scope. It also exempts TEA-approved or otherwise state-approved schools and state-approved instructors.

16 TAC 117.24(e) forbids it outright. A person whose license has expired may not work as a massage therapist, imply the title licensed massage therapist or massage therapist, or use RMT, LMT, MT, or any facsimile of those titles.

16 TAC 117.90(u): the licensee must drape the genital area and gluteal cleavage of all clients at all times, and the breasts of female clients at all times unless performing breast massage specifically authorized under 117.91. Draping must protect the client's safety, comfort, and privacy.

16 TAC 117.91(a) requires an initial consultation before the first session, signed by both client and licensee. It must state the techniques anticipated, the body parts to be massaged or avoided with indications and contraindications, the draping and breast-massage consent statements, and the rules for ending a session.

16 TAC 117.91(c) requires new written consent, signed and dated by the client, before each session in which breast massage of a female client will be performed. It may go on a new consultation document or a separate one. Consent never carries over between sessions.

16 TAC 117.91(b): whenever the client's reason for seeking massage therapy changes, or the anticipated techniques or the body parts to be massaged or avoided are modified. The licensee must then provide an updated consultation reflecting those changes.

16 TAC 117.90(g) requires the written consent of a parent or guardian before providing massage therapy services to a person under the age of 17.

16 TAC 117.91(a)(5) to (7): the client may ask the licensee to stop and the licensee will end the session; the licensee may end the session if uncomfortable for any reason; and the licensee must immediately end the session if the client initiates verbal or physical contact that is sexual in nature.

16 TAC 117.92(a) includes touching genitalia or the anus, touching a female client's breasts outside authorized breast massage, offering or agreeing to either, kissing, Penal Code Chapter 21, 22 and 43 sexual and prostitution offenses, seductive behavior or gestures, and inappropriate sexual comments about a client's body.

16 TAC 117.92(c) bars practicing or allowing practice in the nude, partially nude, or in clothing designed to arouse sexual desire. 117.92(d) bars performing massage therapy at or for a sexually oriented business, with or without compensation, which Occupations Code 455.205(a) also prohibits.

Only licensees and people expressly exempt from Chapter 455 licensing (16 TAC 117.93(a); Occupations Code 455.205(c)). A sexually oriented business may never use massage or bath on any sign or advertising. Advertising massage services creates a presumption of regulated conduct.

16 TAC 117.93(b) prohibits advertising that misstates or omits a material fact, creates unjustified expectations of results, makes unsubstantiated comparisons with other providers, confuses credentials or licensure, promises waived deductibles or copayments, exploits a susceptible client's fears, or borrows another profession's reserved title.

16 TAC 117.93(c): when a massage therapist practices under an assumed name, each advertisement and every written use of that name must show the therapist's full legal name or license number. A massage establishment must list its license number with its assumed or legal name.

16 TAC 117.90(f) requires accurate records of the dates of massage therapy services, the types of massage therapy, and billing information for each client. Those records must be maintained for a minimum of two years.

16 TAC 117.90(q) requires notifying each client of TDLR's name, mailing address, telephone number, and web address, delivered on each written service contract, on a sign prominently displayed in the primary place of business, on a bill for service, or by another written and documented method.

16 TAC 117.84 and Occupations Code 455.155(c): the place is government owned; a licensed therapist practices solo without an assumed name or names themselves or their license number in advertising; a listed licensed health professional employs the therapist; or massage is offered at most 72 hours in any six months at a public or charity event.

16 TAC 117.82(a): a copy of the current massage therapist license, proof of eligibility to work in the United States, and a completed I-9 for employees, or a contract signed by both the owner or operator and the therapist for contractors.

16 TAC 117.82(c) requires separation from any room used for residential or sleeping purposes by a solid wall, or a wall with a solid door that stays locked during business hours. 117.82(k) and Occupations Code 455.202(b)(6) bar anyone from residing on the premises.

Occupations Code 455.207 requires each massage establishment and massage school to post a sign in English, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, and any other language the commission requires by rule, carrying a toll-free national human trafficking hotline number and DPS contact information for reporting suspicious activity, displayed in a conspicuous place clearly visible to the public.

Occupations Code 455.2035 requires a monthly progress report on each student certifying daily attendance and the credit hours earned during the previous month. On a student's completion of the course, the school must notify TDLR that the student is eligible to take the appropriate examination.

Up to $5,000 per day for each violation. Occupations Code 51.302(a) supplies that cap because Chapter 455 states no maximum of its own, and each day a violation continues or occurs is a separate violation.

Occupations Code 455.351(b): not less than $1,000 and not more than $10,000 for each violation, with each day a separate violation. The attorney general, a district, county or municipal attorney, or TDLR may sue for the penalty or for injunctive relief.

Occupations Code 455.251(b), as amended effective September 1, 2025: a conviction, guilty or nolo plea, or deferred adjudication for any offense listed in 455.152 (human trafficking, sexual assault, indecent assault, prostitution and related sexual offenses), or a finding that the licensee practiced massage therapy at or for a sexually oriented business. Revocation is mandatory, not discretionary; 16 TAC 117.111(c) carries the same rule.

Occupations Code 455.252, effective September 1, 2023, lets the executive director issue an emergency order halting operation of a massage establishment when law enforcement notifies TDLR of a human trafficking investigation, or TDLR has reasonable cause to believe a Penal Code Chapter 20A offense is being committed there.

16 TAC 117.83(h) and (i): clean linens on each client, and after one use they go into a fully or partially closed container and may not be used again until properly washed and disinfected in chlorinated bleach and hot water. Disposables that cannot be disinfected go straight into a waste receptacle.

16 TAC 117.83: hand washing facilities with hot and cold running water near the restroom, stocked soap dispensers and towels or hot air blowers, trash emptied daily, restrooms never used for storage, washable furniture kept clean and in repair, and lubricants and oils in closed containers.