Massage Intake Form Template

A massage intake template is the adaptable client-record starter that LMTs and studio owners reach for when one form can't cover every modality cleanly - prenatal clients, sports clients, lymphatic drainage clients, and Swedish clients each surface different starting questions. The template has to expose the variables: stable identity and emergency-contact core, body-map pain annotation with named regions (neck, shoulders, lower back, hips, quads, calves), current medications by name (blood thinners, muscle relaxers, steroids), prior modality history with date pickers, contraindication disclosure (recent surgery, undiagnosed pain, fever, communicable skin conditions), mobility limitations (rotator cuff, hip flexor, IT band), draping preferences, and referral source. For prenatal clients the template attaches a trimester and OB-clearance module. For sports clients it attaches a current-training-cycle module (in-season vs. off-season). For lymphatic drainage post-surgery clients it attaches a physician-clearance module. The template is operational, not legal - the consent form is the legal record.

Massage intake templates fail when the studio tries to cover every modality in one form: (1) prenatal trimester field stays optional because Swedish doesn't need it, then prenatal clients route through the wrong path; (2) the body-map gets replaced with one open box because the template wasn't modular; (3) medication capture collapses into a generic line; (4) sports-specific training-cycle questions inherit into prenatal flow where they're irrelevant.

State massage boards (FL DOH Board of Massage Therapy, NY State Education Department, CA Massage Therapy Council, TX TDLR) treat client records as a 2-7 year retention obligation independent of intake template structure. NCBTMB Code of Ethics expects health-history capture. Marketing opt-in (CAN-SPAM, state email rules) belongs on the intake as a discrete checkbox. Review wording with counsel familiar with state-board rules.

A multi-therapist studio with 4-8 LMTs uses a templated intake so each therapist sees the right questions per modality. Prenatal clients see trimester and OB-clearance fields; sports clients see current-training-cycle; lymphatic drainage post-surgery clients see physician-clearance. One HQ change propagates to every therapist overnight, vs. emailing PDFs to eight therapists and hoping the latest version actually rolls out.

The expected output is an adaptable intake template with a stable body-map and contraindication core plus modality-specific modules for Swedish, deep tissue, prenatal, sports, and lymphatic drainage - each module surfacing the questions that actually matter for that modality.

A single one-size-fits-all intake misses the modality-specific questions that actually matter at the table. A templated approach lets the studio keep identity and body-map core stable, then attach the right modality module per appointment. Cloning beats rewriting - one HQ change propagates to every LMT instead of emailing eight PDFs.