Updates
What goes in this log
Only what happened
Each entry is an event that already took place, dated the day it reached this site. No forecasts, no pending bills presented as law.
Regulatory changes are confirmed first
A scope or board change is added once it has been read against its source, not when it is first reported.
Corrections are logged too
When we fix a mistake, the fix is dated like any other change. Our corrections policy
October 2026
- Site
Four new comparisons, ten in all
Chiropractor and athletic trainer, chiropractor and massage therapist, physical therapist and massage therapist, and strength and conditioning specialist and personal trainer, each with a write-up on how the two divide the work and the laws and certifications behind it.
- Site
Bodies reach 35: world federations, compacts and certifiers
Added the IOC, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, World Physiotherapy, the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, the World Federation of Chiropractic, the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, the massage therapy certification board, accreditor and association (NCBTMB, COMTA, ABMP), the physical therapy, occupational therapy and massage licensure compacts, and two personal trainer certifiers (ACE, NASM). Each name and address is taken from the organization's own site.
- New guidance
Guidance registry reaches 80 documents, with the IOC added
Twenty more documents: nine IOC consensus statements (training load and injury, load and illness, injury surveillance methods, REDs, mental health 2019 and its 2026 update, supplements, youth development, pain management, heat and altitude), three WHO publications, three from FSBPT including the seventh edition of its Model Practice Act, APTA's 2026 Code of Ethics, both recent NBCE practice analyses of chiropractic and the BOC's 2024 standards. The IOC is now listed among the bodies.
- New guidance
Guidance registry reaches 60 documents
Twenty documents added: eight NATA position statements (fluid replacement, lightning safety, ankle sprains, pediatric overuse injuries, acute skin trauma, joint dislocations and both dietary supplement statements), six APTA clinical practice guidelines (hamstring strain, lateral elbow pain, hip fracture in older adults, nonarthritic hip pain and both editions of carpal tunnel syndrome), AOTA's 2020 and 2025 codes of ethics, two NSCA position statements and two ACSM statements. NATA's 2026 dietary supplement statement replaces its 2013 statement, APTA's 2026 carpal tunnel revision replaces the 2019 guideline, and AOTA's 2025 code replaces the 2020 code.
- Site
Topics reach 24: medications and ordering laboratory tests
The last two of twelve new topics. Applying prescribed topical medications varies by state for physical therapy, occupational therapy and athletic training and is excluded for chiropractic and massage. Ordering lab tests varies for chiropractors and is not typically within the other four professions' scope. Every topic now has scope statuses for five professions and a clinical explanation, each with its sources.
- Site
New topics: direct access and telehealth
Every state allows some direct access to physical therapists, and chiropractors are first-contact providers; occupational therapy varies, from limited direct treatment in Kansas and New York to referral required for medical cases in Washington. Telehealth is within physical and occupational therapy practice, with care counted where the patient is located.
- Site
New topics: diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound and return to play clearance
Physical therapy boards that have addressed it treat point-of-care ultrasound imaging as within physical therapist practice; for chiropractors it varies, allowed by rule in California. Return to play clearance after concussion is set by each state's youth concussion law, which names different professions.
- Site
New topics: photobiomodulation and shockwave therapy
Laser therapy is within scope for four professions and outside massage practice. Shockwave therapy is named in no practice act we read, so it varies by state for four professions; APTA's heel pain guideline treated it as outside US physical therapist practice, while its newer practice advisory points physical therapists to their state rules.
- Site
New topics: soft tissue mobilization and traction
Both with scope statuses for five professions and a clinical explanation, each with its sources. Traction is not typically within massage therapy scope: every massage law we found that mentions it excludes it.
- Site
New topics: vestibular rehabilitation and aquatic therapy
Both topics with scope statuses for five professions and a clinical explanation, each with its sources, including a 2021 Texas Supreme Court decision on chiropractic vestibular testing.
- Site
Clinical explanations on all twelve topics
Manipulation, mobilization, exercise, dry needling, cupping, IASTM, electrical stimulation, ultrasound and kinesiology taping now carry clinical explanations, each with its sources listed and its evidence and safety stated with the certainty the research supports.
- Site
Clinical explanations for concussion, blood flow restriction and imaging
What each is, how it is thought to work, what the evidence shows and how certain it is, and safety, with every source listed.
- Board change
Occupational therapy boards listed for every state
All 50 states and DC, each read from the board's own site. Utah has repealed its separate occupational therapy board, so occupational therapists are licensed by the Division of Professional Licensing. With this, every state has a board row for chiropractic, physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic training and massage therapy.
- Board change
Athletic training boards listed for every state
All 50 states and DC, each read from official sources. California protects the title but has no state license; New York now licenses athletic trainers; North Dakota's board has no website of its own and works through the Board of Certification.
- Board change
Chiropractic board links corrected
Every chiropractic board row was researched again from the board's own site, replacing links that had never been opened. Most addresses changed, Arkansas and Iowa boards moved to new departments, and laws and rules, license lookup and renewal links are now listed.
- Board change
Massage therapy boards listed for every state
All 50 states and DC, each read from official sources. Kansas, Minnesota and Wyoming have no statewide license, California has voluntary statewide certification through the California Massage Therapy Council, and Vermont requires registration.
- Board change
Physical therapy boards listed for every state
All 50 states and DC, each row read from the board's own site, with links to the board's laws and rules, license lookup and renewal where it publishes them.
- New guidance
Guidance registry reaches 40 documents
Occupational therapy, chiropractic, massage therapy, exercise and WHO guidance added, completing the registry at 40 documents, each with its status taken from the issuer. The 2016 chiropractic low back pain guideline is now listed as superseded by the 2022 update, and ACSM's 2026 resistance training position stand replaces its 2009 stand.
- New guidance
Concussion guidance: the full consensus lineage
All six Concussion in Sport Group statements, Vienna 2001 to Amsterdam 2022, linked edition to edition, plus NATA's 2014 statement and its 2024 bridge statement, and AMSSM's 2019 statement. The bridge updates some of NATA's 2014 recommendations and leaves the rest in force.
- New guidance
Physical therapy guidance: ten clinical practice guidelines
Ten APTA academy guidelines, each confirmed as the latest revision with APTA Orthopedics, from low back pain (2021) to hip osteoarthritis (2025). The FSBPT dry needling resource paper is no longer listed: FSBPT keeps it for members only, and nothing it publishes confirms the current edition.
- New guidance
Athletic training guidance: eight documents
BOC's Standards of Professional Practice (version 4, effective February 2026) and Practice Analysis, and six NATA position statements, each with its status taken from the issuer and a summary written from the full text.
- Scope change
Scope statuses for imaging, electrical stimulation and ultrasound
Fifteen statuses across five professions, each with its sources. Every one of KinaVara's twelve topics now has a status for all five professions. Chiropractic imaging now separates Medicare payment rules from scope, and therapeutic ultrasound for massage therapists moved to not typically within scope.
- Scope change
Scope statuses for dry needling, cupping and IASTM
Fifteen statuses across five professions, each with its sources, including Florida's 2026 occupational therapy dry needling law and Oregon's 2025 physical therapy law.
- Scope change
Scope statuses for manipulation, mobilization and exercise
Fifteen statuses across five professions, each with its sources. Physical therapy spinal manipulation stays varies by state, with the state exceptions named; massage therapy and therapeutic exercise moved to not typically within scope.
- Scope change
Scope statuses for concussion, taping and blood flow restriction
Fifteen statuses across five professions, each with its sources. Two New York findings were corrected and four statuses moved to varies by state.
- Site
KinaVara launches its reference structure
Profession hubs, topic pages, the guidance registry and Get licensed are in place. A scope status shows as not yet covered until it has been researched.
- New guidance
Guidance registry opens with eleven documents
Consensus statements, clinical practice guidelines and position statements across the professions, each linking to the original. Summaries follow review.
- Superseded
Concussion consensus lineage recorded
The Berlin 2016 statement is listed as superseded by the Amsterdam 2022 statement, so older citations stay traceable.